Inaugural Vendee Menorca Week at Club Maritimo de Mahon
by Josh Sharp 22 Jun 2013 14:45 BST
10-15 June 2013
Vendee Menorca Week © Josh Sharp
The inaugural Vendee Menorca Week took place between 10 and 15 June. Starting from Mahon Yacht Club the event for IRC class boats circumnavigated Menorca over 5 days of racing.
Sponsored by Anderson Entertainments, the event was the idea of South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club member and XC42 owner Mike Crompton, whose "Xpletive" finished the week in 3rd place overall.
The Week blessed with blue skies did suffer from some light conditions but the day two stage from Fornells to Ciudadella provided perfect racing conditions with seconds separating the leading boats on the water.
The event was dominated by teams from the UK, the winner being a Jeaneau Sun Odyssey 45 DS, "Mack the Duke", chartered for the event by Rick Hartley. Second overall was the Dufour 40 Sport "Pandora" skippered by Jon Morrison.
The event majored on Menorca as it is an ideal venue to circumnavigate in 5 days or less. This allowed for fluctuating weather conditions but without recourse to night racing.
Overnight stopovers were designed with social events at each venue. Anderson Entertainments provided a lavish last night party as well as sponsoring one of the charter boats, a Bavaria 38, "Panemunte". This and other boats were made available from Menorca Cruising to teams travelling from the UK.
The organiser's efforts to make this an easy event to enter bodes well for the future with other skippers, particularly from the UK, expressing an interest in next year's event.