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<\/p>\nThe 22nd Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race once again established itself as one of the most important regattas in the Mediterranean for classic sailing, and undoubtedly the most beautiful and spectacular thanks to its setting and people.<\/p>\n
The Menorca event brought together 41 boats from 12 countries during a week marked by shifting winds, beautiful coastal courses finishing in the port of Mahon, opposite the organising club\u2019s headquarters, and the delight of being able to set sail from that very spot. Four days of competition and a full social programme, despite weather conditions that forced the crews and the race committee to adapt to constant changes.<\/p>\n
Let the action begin!!
Menorca is popularly known as the \u2018island of calm\u2019\u2026 and it certainly is, until the manoeuvres begin to cast off the moorings of the Mediterranean\u2019s most beautiful boats. The crews are busy preparing the manoeuvre, hoisting the sails and trimming them to suit the ever-changing wind conditions\u2026 Starts are staggered at 10-minute intervals for each class, and on this occasion, two days\u2019 racing took place from within the port of Mahon, one of the largest natural harbours in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
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Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race \u00a9Luis Fern\u00e1ndez I lamarsalada.info<\/p>\n
Four intense days of racing
The first day was undoubtedly the most challenging. The easterly wind was highly variable, both in direction \u2013 ranging from 070 to 140 \u2013 and in strength \u2013 between 8 and 22 knots \u2013 and there was a real threat of a weather front bringing gusts in excess of 30 knots. Consequently, the race committee, led by Ariane Mainemare, delayed the fleet\u2019s start until the wind conditions became more favourable for sailing. Eventually, the Epoca, Classics and Spirit of Tradition classes were able to complete an 8.5-mile inshore course, whilst the Big Boats sailed 14.5 miles, with all boats finishing within the harbour of Mahon.<\/p>\n
The second day dawned hot, humid and overcast. On land, it looked as though there would be a lack of wind. But out on the water, the opposite was true. The start, inside the harbour, was once again one of the highlights of the day. The boats sought out the best tactical route amongst the cliffs, islands and coves of the harbour as the wind began to fill the sails. Once out into the open sea, a south-easterly wind set in with enough strength to keep the fleet moving. The sea, however, was choppy; the boats were pitching, and the crews were constantly working the sails. The course covered some 14 miles and included the ever-anticipated rounding of Isla del Aire, an iconic landmark of Menorca and of this regatta.<\/p>\n
On the third day, the scene of the departure from Mahon was repeated. The fleet left the channel in groups and set course for the open sea with a northerly wind, this time moderate. The course was once again 14 miles long: first out to sea and then back to Mahon.<\/p>\n
On the fourth day\u2014the final day of competition\u2014Mahon looked different. After three days of clouds, the sky was finally clear. The water reflected a different light, and the fleet prepared to set sail once more. It was a 13-mile course along the north coast, the last chance to shake up the standings. There were many tacks, crossings, sail adjustments, and long runs off the coast of Menorca. The final stretch of the race took them back toward the center of Mahon. Entering the harbor brought an end to four days during which the wind never allowed for the same sailing conditions twice.<\/p>\n
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Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race \u00a9Luis Fern\u00e1ndez I lamarsalada.info<\/p>\n
Big Boats.
William Fife III\u2019s 15-Meter dominates a week marked by shifting winds and defends its 2024 title in Mahon
In those conditions, The Lady Anne (1912) quickly found her stride. The 15-meter yacht designed by William Fife III and owned by Gonzalo Botin began to pull away from her rivals from the very first meters. Sailing downwind, The Lady Anne showcased one of her greatest strengths: speed. The boat glided along at a steady pace while her crew maintained control of the maneuvers and capitalized on every gust.
The Viveka (1929), Frank Paine\u2019s schooner, owned and skippered by Keith Mills, was the main challenger to Bot\u00edn\u2019s boat, managing to beat The Lady Anne on the third day and securing its only race win of the week.
Behind them, the Altair (1931) and the Cariad (1896)\u2014George Ruiz\u2019s schooner, nearly 40 meters in length, and the 36-meter ketch\u2014were engaged in a very different battle, further shaped by their respective configurations. From the water, both boats were hard to miss. Their large trapezoidal sails dominated the horizon, and their hulls moved forward with that blend of power and elegance that makes vintage boats more than just competitors.
On the second day, the Cariad was forced to withdraw after suffering a break in the mainmast\u2019s topmast, an incident that took one of the fleet\u2019s major contenders out of the competition.
The final race was a foregone conclusion: The Lady Anne had built up a sufficient lead in the previous days; she only needed to finish the last race\u2014even in third place\u2014to repeat her 2024 title, but she simply did what she had done all week: sail fast, maintain consistency, and avoid mistakes\u2014and thus she also won the final race. Viveka finished second, and Altair rounded out the podium.<\/p>\n
William Fife III\u2019s F15 thus once again makes its mark at the Repsol Copa del Rey. Three victories in four races and a new title for The Lady Anne, which remains one of the standout contenders on the race course.<\/p>\n
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Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race \u00a9Luis Fern\u00e1ndez I lamarsalada.info<\/p>\n
Gaff-Rigged Vintage Class
The Chinook beats its NY40 \u201csiblings.\u201d
Three NY40s were the stars of the \u00c9poca Cangreja class: Rowdy, Chinook, and Marilee\u2014three virtually identical designs commissioned by members of the NYYC in the fall of 1915, built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company and designed by the master Nathanael Herreshoff\u2014were competing against each other for the first time.<\/p>\n
Rowdy (1916) struck first. Donna Dyer\u2019s boat, after a strong start, proved particularly fast and finished the day with a lead of more than five minutes in corrected time over the Chinook. Her joy was short-lived, however, as after a lengthy hearing that even extended into the following day, she was disqualified due to a protest related to passing a mark. Thus, the day\u2019s winner was ultimately the Chinook, followed by the El Marilee (1926), which is celebrating its centennial this year.
On the water, the differences between the three were small, but any mistake could translate into minutes when applying the time adjustment. Unstable conditions and cross seas made the day particularly challenging.
The second race changed the landscape. This time it was the Chinook (1916), owned by Paolo Zannoni and skippered by Stefano Westermann, that found the right combination of speed and consistency. It won by a mere 20 seconds on corrected time over the Marilee and took the lead in the overall standings. The Rowdy did not have its day and finished third, more than six minutes behind the winner.
The third race once again put the three NY40s in the spotlight. Rowdy regained its rhythm and won, this time by 1 minute and 19 seconds over the Chinook. The victory allowed the boat, based at the Real Club N\u00e1utico de Palma, to climb to third place in the overall standings.
There were no surprises on the final day. The Chinook was crowned champion, having maintained control of the standings for much of the week. The Marilee finished second and the Rowdy\u2014which had won the last two races\u2014third. Trailing behind was the iconic Gipsy (1927) from the Spanish Classic Sailing Foundation, which will celebrate its centennial next year. The one that did celebrate its anniversary this year was the Bon Temps (1926), with a crew consisting almost entirely of family members, finished in 5th place.<\/p>\n
The three Herreshoff-designed boats\u2014three of the only four survivors of the twelve originally built\u2014each have more than a century of history. In Mah\u00f3n, they proved once again that the NY40s still have a lot to offer when they line up at the starting line. Fast and elegant, they are the true \u201cFormula 1\u201d of vintage and classic yachts.<\/p>\n
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Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race \u00a9Luis Fern\u00e1ndez I lamarsalada.info<\/p>\n
Bermudian Vintage Class
Jens Kellinghusen\u2019s impeccable yawl Varuna (1939) won three of the four races and led the standings until the very end.
The Bermudian Vintage Class began with a razor-thin margin between the leaders. The swell was one of the main factors affecting the day\u2019s racing. The Argyll (1948), a yawl designed by Olin Stephens, struggled to perform at its best in choppy seas, although the wind eventually stabilized, allowing the boat to take the lead. However, the Varuna (1938), designed by Sparkman & Stephens and owned by Jens Kellinghusen, found its rhythm, won the remaining three races, and held first place until the end.<\/p>\n
The Argyll finished second, and the Sonny (1935) rounded out the podium after a particularly consistent week, with three third-place finishes and one fourth.<\/p>\n
Classics
Barbara Trilling\u2019s Holman 42 Argos (1964) clinched its eleventh title in Mah\u00f3n after dominating a week of ups and downs
The Argos began the Repsol Copa del Rey as one of the heavy favorites and wasted no time in living up to that status. Barbara Trilling\u2019s boat\u2014a ten-time winner of the regatta\u2014took the lead from the very first race with a four-minute advantage on corrected time over the Ojala II and more than five minutes over the Clarionet.
But that early dominance didn\u2019t mean the standings were settled. The Mowgli (1965) emerged on the second day and issued the first serious challenge.
It proved to be nothing more than a mirage; the Argos won the remaining two races and claimed its eleventh Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Boat title. The Clarionet finished second, and the Mowgli took third place.<\/p>\n
The Argos, designed by Kim Holman, once again demonstrated why it has become the benchmark boat in the class, with three first-place finishes and one second-place finish despite a highly controversial decision by the CIM to apply correction factors to the boat\u2019s rating; however, the crew sails so close to perfection and the boat is so fast that, even with a penalized rating, they manage to win the vast majority of the races on corrected time.<\/p>\n
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Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race \u00a9Luis Fern\u00e1ndez I lamarsalada.info<\/p>\n
Spirit of Tradition
The Andalucia-Barlovento had a perfect Cup, winning all four races and repeating its victory in Mahon.
The Andalucia-Barlovento (1973), a Lotus E3 Scandinavia 40 designed by Harry Becker, owned by Domingo de Torres, and helmed by local Olympic and World Championship sailor Fernando Rita, leveraged its knowledge of the race course and impeccable sailing to take the lead in the standings from the very first race.
The SPIRIT 46 Legolas (1996) finished second, and the SPIRIT 52 MOD Flight of Durgan (2007) rounded out the podium.<\/p>\n
In the end, the boats returned to their moorings. The sails were lowered one by one, and the activity on the water gave way once again to the calm of the harbor.<\/p>\n
With the awards ceremony held on the Club\u2019s magnificent terrace, the 22nd Repsol Copa del Rey came to a close, with The Lady Anne as the winner in the Big Boats category, Chinook in the Square-Rigged Vintage class, Varuna 1939 in the Bermudian Vintage class, Argos in the Classics class, and Andaluc\u00eda-Barlovento in the Spirit of Tradition class.<\/p>\n
Five winners and one constant throughout the week: in Mahon, even before the boats, it was always the wind that decided how the race would be sailed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 22nd Repsol Copa del Rey Vintage Yacht Race once again established itself as one of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[127,29717],"class_list":["post-78915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-repsol","tag-repsol","tag-repsol-copa-del-rey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}