The majorcan Nikko Palou, European sub champion of the Optimist

The racer of Real Club Náutico de Palma Nikko Palou has been crowned European sub champion of the Optimist class at the greek island of Tesalónica. The race, which reunited 166 sea enthusiasts in the male category, was completed from the 19th to the 21st of July.

The majorcan Nikko Palou has tied a draw from points away of the winner, Iason Panagopulos. The third place was given to the Spanish Mateo Carbonell. 

Palau has expressed his satisfaction and he has recognised that, even though he proposed himself to make a good race, he did not expect to get to the podium: “I planned to make it to the Top 10, maybe Top 5, but I really did not expect to be classified in second position it is more than I could have imagined. It is my best result until this moment, as I had never got a medal at an international race. My objective now is to make a good impression in the European teams, at the end of August in Holland”.

The trainer of RCNP Jaime Genovard has explained that Palou has made an “excellent” championship, keeping calm at all moments and overcoming some “really difficult” situations, such as the penalization of being out of line and with a black flag in the fifth race, which luckily he was able to get discarded that mistake. Even though the weak wind was not in his favor, Palau knew how to manage his boat fast. His final clean 27 points is the result of the sum of the four first trials, second, third, fourth and two sevenths. “The championship started with a weak wind and then it grew stronger, but I have been pretty comfortable all the days”, explains Palou. 

Genovard states that his pupil “is an example for all the team at Real Club Náutico de Palma, mostly for the younger ones, as they never miss the training and always work to get better”.