The Superyacht Cup - Day 2
by Aquamarine 20 Jun 2014 11:24 BST
18-21 June 2014
The Bay of Palma set a typical challenge for the Superyacht fleet making their first coastal course of the Superyacht Cup. With progressive changes in pressure and wind direction as the 21 boat fleet crossed the bay and passed upwind and downwind, it was the teams which had the best handle on the big picture and could second guess the changes which rose to the top of the three classes.
While the five strong J Class did their second windward-leeward of the week, a coastal course of 28.6Nms was set in the SSWly sea breeze. Crucial choices were to take the left of the first beat where there was more wind pressure and a beneficial left shift, and, correspondingly to recognise the breeze becoming lighter and shifting back as the fleet raced downwind towards the shore.
The sea breeze built from a gentle 8 to 9kts for the first starters of the fleet which is set of at two minutes staggered intervals. By mid race there were 13-16kts at times which placed a premium on good boat handling and excellent communication. Those teams which had not sailed together before or had changes in line up found they suffered against the crisper crew work around the intense course.
The course opened with a four miles upwind leg, rounding a mark to starboard on to a fetch which some could set Code Zeros, before a three miles downwind leg. With the breeze easing it was important to compensate and keep up the boat speed sailing higher angles. There was then an upwind leg to the Sech mark on the outer edge of the bay, followed by a fetch to the centre of the bay, then re-hoist the spinnaker. Then it was upwind to a port rounding and then a critical reach to the finish with the breeze lifting approaching the finish.
Aboard Ganesha, the 46m/149ft new Dubois design, the local knowledge of navigator Nacho Postigo and firm understanding of the impending changes in the breeze of tactician Matt Humphries were the foundations of their comfortable owner driven win in Class 1. They won their seven boat division by over seven minutes.
" It was interesting." Postigo recalled, " It was a very typical day on the Bay of Palma when the wind in the morning is the Xaloc wind which is more southerly. The more you go out of the bay the more it goes to the left. And more importantly there is a big difference in pressure. The left side of the bay has much more pressure. On the left you can have 15 or 16 kts of pressure while on the right it can be quite light and so the course was interesting because it mixed the two sides of the bay. It was difficult to predict what was going to happen next on the course. Our guys on the boat did a very good job manoeuvring the boat, on the bow and at the mast."
Among the keys to their success were choosing the left side of the first beat and giving themselves a fast, high passing lane coming into the first mark which allowed them to pass many boats unhindered:
"Our first leg was the best, where we probably did best. Compared to the boats around we looked to have overstood the layline but that let us come in with speed and we could roll the whole line. In these things when you start so far behind the important thing is the passing lanes. We managed to get a very good passing lane there, getting five or six boats in a row there. And the gybe sets at the marks, playing the right shifts on the downwind legs. Our owner drives all the time and loves it."
Meanwhile Postigo is enjoying a big change between his own solo Mini 6.50 project and navigating the superyachts. He has just won his first solo race from Rome, raced the Superyacht regatta in Sardinia, delivered the Mini back to Palma to jump on board the 149 footer Ganesha.
"It is a contrast from the 20 footer to the 150 footer. I finished from Rome and went to do Sardinia on the big boat then went and delivered the boat here and now back on the 150 footer. It is a bit bizarre to come back and have a whole lot of people on the boat when you are used to being on you own."
Another Palma sailor was making winning calls in Class 2. Gaia, the 101ft/30.6m Spirit Yachts won with Miguel Sanchez calling the shots on his home waters:
"We made some little mistakes but overall we sailed generally well, in the end the big boats overtook us when the breeze is up. We have some new crew and it is their first time with us and there was some disorganisation in the boat handling and manoeuvring but for sure the last race will be our best!
"We did Loro Piana earlier in the month and have some new crew since after refitting through last winter. In Sardinia our kites were not so good but we have a different one here, we were much better today so we are quite happy here."
And last year's overall winner, Heartbeat, the Hoek designed Classen built 80ft/24m sloop, was back to her winning ways in Class 2. The first boat to start she finished just under four minutes ahead of second placed Maria Cattiva.
www.thesuperyachtcup.com/palma