Close racing the order of the day at landmark Superyacht Cup Palma event Thursday 24 June 2021
Close racing the order of the day at landmark Superyacht Cup Palma event Thursday 24 June 2021
The frustrations of a challenging year were blown away Thursday as a solid sailing breeze kicked in to help celebrate the opening day of the 25 th anniversary of Superyacht Cup Palma. Near ideal conditions once again graced the Bay of Palma, delivering tight and exhilarating racing on a 23nm course to the nine-strong fleet of superyachts, their owners, captains and crews.
Umiko – at 24m the smallest superyacht in the fleet – was the first away on the Pantaenius Race Day course, followed by her Class A rivals Missy, Shamanna and Nilaya at two minute intervals. In Class B the first two starters chose alternate routes to the first mark, with the majestic 46m Aquarius – the largest and heaviest yacht at SYC – opting to head west on her first leg, while Baiurdo VI headed for the left side of the racecourse having made a perfectly timed start. The SYC first-timer Ravenger was next up, hotly pursued by the 46m Ganesha, and Scorpione of London and her lime green shirted crew. Missy was first around the first mark, the Pantaenius buoy, with Umiko and Shamanna jostling for position some 800m astern, and off towards the New Zealand buoy, the second of five marks. Eventually the 33m Missy would give ground on the water to her slightly larger rivals Shamanna and Nilaya, with the former narrowly taking line honours by less than 30 seconds on the opening day. However, the sophisticated ORCsy handicap system flipped the leaderboard, giving Nilaya the opening race win by just 10 seconds – after more than two hours of racing – from Missy, Shamanna and Umiko.
“It was pretty close, though just before the finish we thought we were looking good,” said Volvo Race veteran Bouwe Bekking who is racing on Nilaya. “It had been quite difficult on the beats because we didn’t gain anything, but the crew were good and on the run the gybes were going nicely, and the owner did a good job of driving.