Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, 2nd place in real time

• Palermo-Montecarlo, 3 more boats on the finish line, and many arrivals expected during the night!

• Sprint for 3rd place: the Cookson 50 Kuka 3 beats the VO70 I Love Poland by a few minutes

• Update on upcoming boats and a look at the provisional leaderboard in IRC

Day 3 with important arrivals in Monaco, on the finish line of the Palermo-Montecarlo 2023. The podium of the boats arrived in real time is completed, but you also start looking at the IRC ranking, to whose winner the Angelo Randazzo Trophy will go, after the maxi Black Jack, first in line honours, secured the Giuseppe Tasca d'Almerita Trophy.

Second at the finish line is the 90-footer Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC, owned by Claudio Demartis, racing with the Circolo della Vela Sicilia flag. The arrival of Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC at the finish line was difficult, with very little wind. The helmsman Roberto Ferrarese and the crew did wonders to make it move forward in a light air, with a last jibe to be on the layline to get the finish line, between a yellow buoy in front of Monaco's Port Hercule and a flagpole on the outer quay.

Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC closed its race with a total time of 71 hours, 46 minutes and 3 seconds to complete the approximately 500-mile course.

About two hours passed before two other boats appeared on the horizon of the Principality, both remained very close for most of the regatta: Gregor Baranovski's VO70 I Love Poland, and Franco Niggeler's Coockson 50 Kuka 3 with an important crew led by the two Olympians Mitch Booth and Pietro D'Alì. The two hulls almost started a match race, with several gybes to guess the shortest route to get to the line, in a 6-7 knots wind.

In the end, the smallest and lightest 50-footer won the day, a boat designed and equipped for these offshore regattas that offer the most diverse conditions: Kuka 3 finishes the Palermo-Montecarlo 2023 in third place in real time, with arrival just before 3pm and with a time of 74 hours, 8 minutes and 22 seconds. Just 8 minutes later I Love Poland arrives, a heavy round-the-world racing hull, with a time of 74 hours, 16 minutes and 36 seconds. Great race for Kuka 3, which has long been indicated by tracking as the leader of the IRC classification.

However, the weather scenario is changing: a group of a dozen competing boats is sailing in the Ligurian Sea, pushed by the wind from the South-West which has strengthened up to 12-13 knots. An evening and an early part of the night are announced with many arrivals and some could be decisive for the ranking. In order, and according to the distance from the finish line: Sisi, the Austrian VO65, skippered by Gerwin Jansen, at 18 o'clock is 30 miles from Monaco and running at 14 knots, arrival estimated at 21:50. Then Made in Midi by Kito de Pavant, first of the Class40 expected around 11pm. Then Elo II, the proto of the Italian Yacht Club with Mauro Pelaschier, which should arrive before midnight.

After that it will be the turn of a group that will arrive at very close range, with positions that could change:, Dominique Tian’s Ker 46 Tonnerre de Glen, the Maltese Aaron Gat Floridia’s ICE 52 Otra Vez, Artie Jeep of the other Maltese Lee Satariano, and Afazik Impulse, Neo 430 of the Frenchman Yves Grosjean, which among other things brings the message of the association for the reintegration of aphasic people into the sport. Also keep an eye out for two French boats that could enter the fight for victory in the IRC: Chenapan 4, Gilles Caminade's Ker 40, and Team 42, Daniel Segalowicz's Solaris 55. The group of these arrivals, scheduled between one and two o'clock tonight, is completed by the Class40 ACI40 of Ivica Kostelic.

Well behind there is a new group of boats expected between day and night on Saturday 26. The tracking indicates that Moogli, Carolin Petit's Dufour 36 with an all-female crew, is the only one to have chosen to leave the Corsica to the left, without going through the Bocche di Bonifacio. While the first of the crews in double remains Colombre, JPK 1080 of the Venetian Massimo Juris paired with the ex Mini Transat Andrea Iacopini.

For Palermo-Montecarlo 2023 these are days and nights of emotions in the wind.

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.