Dutch beauties excel at Palma Superyacht Cup

by • July 22, 2014 • Destinations, Mediterranean, Photo Gallery, spotlight, SuperyachtsComments Off on Dutch beauties excel at Palma Superyacht Cup1769

Right from the first day at the Superyacht Cup in Palma held from 18th to 21st June, there was a significant Dutch presence among the assembled superyachts including the new generation of J-class yachts, who had the honour of starting proceedings at this ever popular event, which is the longest running superyacht regatta in Europe.

The Bay of Palma was full of the world’s great sailing yachts; including five classics built by the Netherlands based Claasen Shipyard. These were: Atalanta, Heartbeat, Lionheart, Drumfire and Firefly. What a splendid sight it was, as the Regatta Village is located at Muelle Viejo, (Palma’s Old Port area) with the majestic Palma Cathedral as a backdrop.

Firefly, always resplendent with her huge bright orange spinnaker, and well known locally being home based at Mallorca’s Port Adriano Marina, came to Palma with her crew still pumped up from winning the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Sardinia only a few weeks before. The first race, specifically for the iconic classic J Class yachts, set the tone for what was to come.

At exactly 13.00, the five mighy Js, Lionheart, Velsheda, Hanuman, Ranger and Rainbow, crossed the starting line in unison and set off on the 20-km course. At the end Ranger came in first, with Hanuman second and Lionheart third, just 100 metres and 15 seconds behind.

All five of the Classen yachts performed exceptionally well in the overall four race series, as the crews were pushed to their limit in a series of breathtakingly exciting and extraordinarily close races. The fierceness of the competition makes it all the more admirable to report that Lionheart and Heartbeat both came out top in their class. Lionheart won two of the four J-class races outright and shared the King’s 100 Guinea Cup with Hanuman on another.

Heartbeat won Class 3, coming first in two races and second in the other. Drumfire was third in Class 3 and Atalante sixth, while Firefly came fifth in Class 1. With such small margins of victory, all of the yachts can be delighted with their performance as can Classen’s designer Andre Hoek! At the end of the week the overall winners in Class 1 and 2 respectively, were Ganesha from Vitters Shipyard, and Unfurled from Royal Huisman, again both well-known Dutch yacht builders.

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