The La Larga is cast off with more than thirty boats in the race

This Saturday, at 12:00 hours, the bay of Palma has heard the starting horn of the prologue race of the PalmaVela, La Larga, which starts this year with 36 teams on the starting line of the most important offshore regatta of the Real Club Náutico de Palma.

The fleet faces a course that could vary between 160 and 225 miles depending on the class and the weather forecast, with the forecast still very changeable with a Saturday of wind and sun and a very unstable Sunday.

The longer boats, with the first of the two options, will complete 225 miles passing Cabrera, Formentera, Ibiza and Dragonera before setting course for the finish in the bay, whilst with the second option they will complete a total of 208 miles with a similar route but without the last passing point in Dragonera.

The rest of the fleet has two other possible routes: one of 185 miles to Ibiza and Formentera and another of 160 miles, passing Cabrera, Tagomago and Dragonera.

Four categories and a strong fleet of more than 30 boats on the starting line.

With nearly 40 teams registered in the different ORC and A2 categories, the spectacle is more than guaranteed. In its fourth edition, La Larga has achieved a new success in terms of participation, bringing together a powerful fleet that promises a very close win.

Gabriel Medem's ‘Aviador’, winner of the last edition in ORC 1, and Juan Lallemand's ‘Guaguanco IV’, defender of the A2 4-5 title and recently proclaimed winner of the 200 miles A2 in the ORC B category, will not be missing.

The winner in ORC A, Rufino Cardo's ‘Computer’, will also be at the legendary regatta in Altea, and among the most outstanding sailors on the national scene are Didac Costa on ‘Barakah’ with Daniel Martín in A2; Patxi Rivero as skipper on board ‘Calima’, who will compete for the title in the ORC division; and Joan Balaguer with ‘Korrigan 4’, who has just finished seventh in the last A2 World Championship and will compete in La Larga with David Pella.

‘It's going to be a very interesting and beautiful regatta. I like everything about sailing and even more if it is offshore sailing, and even more so if it is held in an environment like this one, where you can do very interesting courses", says Didac. ‘The weather is going to be a bit choppy, which makes it all the more exciting’.

Patxi Rivero, for his part, adds that ‘the weather situation at this time of year here in the Balearics is complicated. At the beginning it looked like we were going out with quite a lot of wind and now it looks like it's going to ease up a bit, although the tricky part is going to come later, when there's a rain front and then some calms’.