A breeze of between ten and 16 knots coupled with a fair amount of swell made for a fantastic first day of racing in the Bay of Palma. The Pantaenius Race Day took the fleet on a coastal course of more than 20 nautical miles, which covered the entire bay of Palma in two triangles.
59 metre ketch "Maximus" with early start
The 39-metre yacht "Cervo", which has been transformed into a racer for the Superyacht Cup, won the first race in Class A on her first appearance off Palma. She benefited from a time penalty that the 59-metre ketch "Maximus" for an early start, putting her and her 50-strong crew in second place ahead of the Truly Classic duo "Vijonara" and "Atalante" fell behind.
"It was a beautiful day in the bay with 12 to 15 knots of wind from the south, so we had a good race," said Jens Christensen, tactician of "Cervo". "The owner is of course very happy about the win, although we know we got a little help from our friends on "Maximus". Our goal is of course to beat them in the overall standings, which will be difficult."
Close races at the Superyacht Cup
In Class B, the defending champion of the Superyacht Cup Palma, the 80-foot Wally "Rose", continued her triumphant march to victory ahead of the Nautor-Swan duo "Umiko", "Dark Horse" and the brand new Y8 "Calabash". It's great that we've started our title defence with a win," said Rose captain Ben Potter. "But the competition is strong and it's been a close game all the way. But that's the great motivation. The crew is the same as last year, so we're in the right frame of mind to defend the title. Today's conditions were ideal for the boat. We'll see what the next few days bring!"
In the fiercely contested J-Class, the tide turned compared to the first prologue day. "Velsheda" - third in both races on Wednesday - won by 2:21 minutes ahead of "Rainbow", which took her third second place, and the double winner of the first day, "Svea", was only 26 seconds behind. With their results, "Svea", "Rainbow" and "Velsheda" are in first, second and third place ahead of Friday's races.
