Martin Atilla, with the Palamós Optimist Trophy champion trophy (Photo: Alfred Farré)

The Latvian regatist, Martín Atilla (BSS), has proclaimed himself the absolute winner of the 29 Palamós Optimist Trophy-13 Nations Cup, which has been held from 15 to 18 February in the waters of Palamós Bay and in which 551 regatists from 30 countries have participated. The Majorcan Maria Perelló (CN S'Arenal) has been second and first female, while the French Manhes Andréa (ASPTT Marseille) has closed the podium in third position. Spain has taken another year to the United Nations Cup.

Martin Atila was the best with two first and a quarter, taking the precious Palamós Optimist Trophy, followed two points by the world champion María Perelló, who thus fired with the absolute subchampionship and the victory in the female category. Perelló won the last test, in the previous two he had done a 4-3. Third was the French Manhes Andréa, with a partial of 3-1-6. Killed to 10 points with the third, but already in fourth position finished the Dutch Olivier Jacquet and fifth was the Nacho Baltasar (CN Ràpita) ballet.

18 / 02 / 2018: The lack of wind, leaves the outcome of the Optimist Palamós for the last day

Surprisingly, wind conditions are being a disaster in Palamós (Photo Alfred Farré)

The third day of the Palamós Optimist Trophy-Nations Cup was again marked by meteorology and the loose wind was very roll, with moments of rain and it ended with a total calm that did not allow any manga to be disputed.

After a first deferral on the ground, on noon the Regatas Committee decided to send the fleet to the sea after a smooth north-east breeze of 2 to 5 knots has been rolling to the east. With the entrance of the chubacco entered a breeze from the north-west between 4-12 knots very ragged, but it has ended up falling.

At the time when the wind blew, the Regatas Committee tried to get out of groups that could not compete on Friday, but at a short time the wind was losing intensity, with what they had to cancel.

17 / 02 / 2018: Mesquida and Andrea win in their groups in the Palamós Optimist Trophy

The wind came up very late (Photo Alfred Farré)

The wind remarked the second day of the Palamós Optimist Trophy-Nations Cup, and did not make its appearance until noon. From the direction of the race a two-hour delay was taken, at the expense of a soft breeze from the east that reached the knots that allowed to give only two of the five expected exits, as the wind rolled and ended down. They were able to compete with the White and Green groups, leaving the Blue, Yellow, Pearl and Esmeralda unable to participate. The victories were for the Majorcan Marc Mequida and the French Manhes Andréa.

In the White Group two regatists of the Nàutic S'Arenal Club shone with their own light, on the one hand Marc Mesquida who won the only disputed test, which together with the second position obtained in the general will place him at the top of the table. His club partner, the champion of the world María Perelló, marked a third, thus keeping her options for victory intact. The Danish Malthe Ebdrup entered between Mesquida and Perelló. The British William Pank arrived as a leader on the second day, but today he finished the trial in twenty-fifth position.

In the Green Group another of the regatists of Club Nàutic S'Arenal, Pau Mesquida, was marked a third. In front of him, two French were classified, the Manhes Andréa (ASPTT Marseille) won the test and the second was Zou Schemmel (SR Antibes), a regatist who had won the manga and was one of the five co-leaders of the general.

For the third day of the Palamós Optimist Trophy-Nations The organization has decided to advance one hour the departure of the tests, which will pass from 11 to 10 hours the start of the competition, in order to recover the evidence that could not be disputed. This Saturday, the last scheduled day of qualifying tests, provided that at least four tests are completed in each of the groups. The White and Green are missing two and the rest three.

16-02-2018: Partial leadership for England, France, Switzerland and Spain at the Optimist Trophy in Palamós

Exit from one of the sleeves of the first day of the Palamós Optimist Trophy (Photo: Alfred Farré)

The first day of the 29 Palamós Optimist Trophy-13 Nations Cup was marked by the initial absence of wind, but in the first hour of the afternoon it made an act of presence a soft wind of Garby (southwest) between 5- 6 knots, enough for the five groups to dispute a test each.

After the first day of competition, the Palamós Optimist Trophy-Nations Cup is led by the British William Pank, the Latvian Martin Atilla, the French Zou Schemmel, the Swiss Simon Mille and the Spanish Nora García of the Náutic Club El Masnou. Alex Martín (CN El Masnou) and Pau Mesquida (CN S'Arenal) have finished the first second day and Cristina Pons (RCN Palma), third. The world champion, María Perelló (CN S'Arenal) and the Spanish subchampion Nacho Baltasar (CN Ràpita), have completed rooms in their respective groups.

The first three days of the Palamós Optimist Trophy-Nations Cup will be classified, and on Sunday the fleet will be distributed by groups and classification.

15 / 02 / 2018: The world champion Perelló among the favorites in the Palamós Optimist

Palamós is dressed in white with the 551 ships of Palamós Optimist Trophy (Photo: Alfred Farré)

The Palamós Optimist Trophy-Nations Cup is one of the world references of the Optimist class, in its twentieth edition it has managed to gather 550 optimist from a total of 30 countries.

Ballet regatist Maria Perelló of the Náutic S'Arenal Club, part as one of the great favorites after proclaiming in 2017 in Thailand, world champion of the Optimist class in the female category. Other favorites are the Dutch Olivier Jacquet - eighth in the World - and the Balear Nacho Baltasar de la Rápita, subchampion of Spain. Spain is the country with the largest number of participants, 95, followed by France with 68, Germany with 67 and Switzerland with 64.

The countries participating in this year's edition of the Palamós Optimist Trothy-Nations Cup are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and United States.

There will be a single race field where three exits are expected in each of the five groups of 110 ships. The first three days (15-16-17 February) will be classified and on Sunday 18, depending on the classification of each ship in the previous phase and if a minimum of four sleeves have been disputed, the regatists will be included in the groups Gold - which will fight for the podi-, Silver, Bronze, Esmeralda and Pearl.