The sea breeze off Palma de Mallorca is reliable - especially in the summer months - at least most of the time. "We actually always have perfect sailing winds in summer," enthuses Palma-based yacht designer Javier Jaudenes about his home territory. The Spaniard worked at this Superyacht Cup (SYC) as a tactician on board his own creation, the 24-metre-long "Calabash" from the YYachts shipyards in Greifswald. The fact that the thermally strengthened sea breeze let the supersailors down on day 2 of the Jaquet Droz Race was also a new experience for the Superyacht Cup organisers. After four hours of waiting for the wind in the bay of Palma and in the summer heat, the event organisers cancelled a race - for the first time in the history of the SYC. Nevertheless, there was enough sailing action off Palma de Mallorca on two of the three days. The three participating J-Class yachts "Velsheda", "Rainbow" and "Svea" even sailed four races.
The sea breeze lets the Superyacht Cup sailors down for the first time
The last day of the competition - St. Regis Race Day - brought bright sunshine and a constant sea breeze of ten knots, which demanded the utmost concentration from the crews of the eleven participating yachts in order to keep the boat speed high at all times. Good tactics also played an important role on this light wind day on the east side of the Bay of Palma.
In Class B, last year's overall winner, the 24-metre yacht "Rose", won the Superyacht Cup Trophy again with her second race victory, the first successful defence of the title since "Kokomo" in 2002.
"The whole day was fantastic and we couldn't have asked for better conditions," said Rose skipper Ben Potter, "and the downwind start was something different and really exciting." He added: "As the boat is based here in Palma, we take part in all the regattas here. I'm sure we'll be back at the Superyacht Cup Palma next year - we love the great atmosphere and the organisation."
Victory in class A is decided by one second in the corrected time
There was a particularly close race in Class A. The 59-metre ketch "Maximus" won the final race - and the class classification - by just one second ahead of the 39-metre "Cervo". With a first and a second place, both of which were included in the classification, the giant ketch with a crew of 50 and 3980 square metres of sail area took first place.
Her skipper Lars Loftus: "Everyone is over the moon, it was fantastic. We wanted to sail the boat in a sporty and clean way and we stuck to our plan. There wasn't a single race where we didn't push. We fought to the finish!"
Meanwhile, "Svea" secured victory in the J-Class with her third win of the regatta series ahead of "Velsheda" and "Rainbow", who finished level on points, with the experienced "Velsheda" crew taking second place in the calculated classification.
"The downwind start at the last regatta was a little different, as we are used to starting downwind - but we did well," said "Svea's" tactician Bouwe Bekking. "The crew worked well together and the owner steered very well and calmly."
"Rainbow" finished level on points with "Velsheda", but took third place after the calculations and was honoured with the "Spirit of the Event" award at the prize-giving ceremony on the terrace of the Real Club Náutico de Palma.
Martin Hager
Editor in Chief YACHT
