The first 30 hours of racing: Black Jack seeking record

• Black Jack runs: past the Porto Cervo gate at 14:53, the record is not impossible
• The ranking in IRC is very open and changes all the time. Now in the lead Kuka 3


First night of navigation for the Palermo-Montecarlo 2023, which left yesterday from the Gulf of Mondello just before 1pm, which is approaching 30 hours of racing. A regatta with two faces: on the one hand the solitary race of the 100-footer Black Jack, owned by Australian owner Peter Hamburg, which at 5 pm on the second day of regatta is engaged in the passage of the Bocche di Bonifacio and has an advantage of almost 50 miles over the second, the 90-foot Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC.

Black Jack had the merit of never stopping, overcoming the pitfalls of some gusts of wind in which many of the boats in the race fell. With an average speed of over 10 knots, the Australian maxi is not far from the target necessary to break the record (47 hours and 46 minutes) which belonged to the same hull, when it was called Esimit Europa 2, set in 2015. A lot will be played out in the second night: if Black Jack manages to catch the expected flow of winds from the South West and accelerate towards the Principality of Monaco, it is not impossible to imagine his arrival in the early afternoon of Thursday 24 August. In Montecarlo, meanwhile, the organizational machine of the Yacht Club de Monaco is in operation and is ready to welcome the sailors.

Fleet very close behind the leaders: apart from the second, the 90-footer Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC which races with the colors of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, which slowed down during the night and then picked up good speed again, and is expected at the port gate Cervo in today's evening, the bulk of the boats sail almost on sight. The VO70 I Love Poland, is third in real life, ahead of the Cookson 50 Kuka 3 of Franco Niggeler, aboard Mitch Booth and Pietro D'Alì, which at the 17 o'clock reading was reported at the top of the IRC corrected time classification. Also from the tracking, the first of the 8 crews that run in doubles is Muttley, the Figaro 3 with Luca Bettiati and Federico Sazzini. But it is a largely provisional ranking and subject to continuous updates. It is a Palermo-Montecarlo that is proving to be beautiful and very open.

The direct link to the tracking on the official website to follow the regatta: https://cf.yb.tl/pm2023

ORGANIZERS, CIRCUITS AND PARTNERS - The Palermo-Montecarlo has been organized for 18 years by the Circolo della Vela Sicilia with the collaboration of the Yacht Club de Monaco and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and under the aegis of the Italian Sailing Federation, UVAI (Unione Vela d'Altura Italiana) and the IMA (International Maxi Association).

Included in the "long" regatta circuit of the FIV Italian Offshore Sailing Championship, among those with the highest coefficient for the purposes of scoring for the final classification, the 500 miles of the Palermo-Montecarlo are also part of the following prestigious circuits: the IMA Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge; the Mediterranean Offshore Trophy; the Mediterranean Trophy for the Class40; and the 2023 edition of the Championnat et Trophées Inshore et Offshore Méditerranée en Équipages-IRC.

The event is also directly promoted by the Sicilian Region Department of Tourism, Sport and Entertainment, with the participation of the Metropolitan City of Palermo and the support of the Sicily Foundation. Sponsor partners are Tasca d'Almerita and Porsche, Centro Porsche Palermo.