Svea are J Class winners at The Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille
by J Class Association 27 Jun 21:38 BST
25-27 June 2026
Svea are J Class winners at The Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille © Sailing Energy / The Superyacht Cup
Swedish flagged Svea maintained their record as the dominant J Class crew as they got the better of newcomers Rainbow at the prestigious The Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille. But whilst Svea won all but one race there are clear signs activity is building and Svea will experience more challenges in the very near future.
Svea built a solid lead early on today's 26 nautical miles coastal course which spanned the width and depth of the bay and crossed the transitional zones separating two opposing sea breezes at least three times. With winds varying between six and 20 knots there were not many opportunities for the crews to get bored, especially on a brisk final upwind leg and a fast run back through the finish.
From a downwind start in a gentle 6-7knots breeze Svea and Rainbow were very, very even until the first mark rounding. Svea were more or less faultless in the execution of their spinnaker drop when Rainbow held theirs late and overran the buoy rounding leaving Svea to stretch away to an immediate lead which they could not close down.
Svea retain the title they won here in 2024 when the J Class were building up to the J Class Barcelona Regatta at the America's Cup - which the Swedish boat won. Competing at their first regatta as a team Rainbow, with new owner Peter Harrison on the helm, have shown great promise but have been narrowly overshadowed by Svea.
The Swedish team have been slicker but, speaking for the team, winning navigator Steve Hayles was more excited to be back racing J Class yachts again than glorying in any kind of victory. And he remains as proud as ever that the Svea team stick to their key philosophies of bringing on and developing new, young talent, female and male. And there have also been a few changes to the Svea afterguard since Barcelona, with Tony Rey joining as tactician.
"All in all, it is nice to get a good result. But that did not even really feel like the focus here." Hayles said at the race dock at Palma's Club de Mar, "It has been about getting the boat sailing again and it is so nice to have the Rainbow guys in the class and hopefully building for the future."
He enthuses, "We are always trying to bring through female sailors and young sailors. The permanent crew race with us as well and so we have five girls racing with us this week which is really awesome and they are really involved. The boats are quite loaded up but there are powered winches but there are roles for everyone and we are still bringing in young guys too."
He concludes,"It has been fantastic. We have two very, very good teams here and two fantastic boats and I know I always say this but it is such a privilege. You sit there taking it all in whilst at the same time there is a pretty serious yacht race going on. But the sheer size of the boats and what you can do with them is so impressive, but it actually does feel like a yacht race."
He considers the difference between the teams at this event, "It is very, very difficult. You get to know the boat, and we know our boat, that is the difference this week. Look across at their team and they are equally talented, they have experience, but we have made all the mistakes before, and we have banked enough knowledge. Now there are more boats coming and it is only going to get harder for us."
For the Rainbow team this regatta is only just the beginning. Most of the team have J Class experience from other Js notably Ranger, Velsheda and Lionheart but only some mechanical skills are directly transferable. Tactician Ed Baird concluded, "This boat is new to all of us and we have been learning every day how to make it go better. It is really interesting the things that it does, and you have to be careful about some things and then it will do other things beautifully, so we are lining up against the fastest J Class yacht in the world. They got the better of us this week, but they should have as they are a little quicker. But, wow! What great fun to race these boats."
He added, "There are lots of ideas swirling around to step up the performance of the boat a little bit because it has been left alone for a while and it needs a little love. It is in very good shape, and the equipment works very well, the guys are fantastic, but there are always things you can do to go a little faster. I think we are learning what our modes are and that is something that Svea have a good handle on. And so we are trying to find out when we can sail a little high and slow and when we have press hard or when we have to turn quickly on a manoeuvre and when we can go a little slower. It is such a different boat compared to anything else that any of us sail that it takes time. There are only a couple of the permanent crew that have been on the boat when its raced before. We have a lot of crew who have raced J Class yachts but not this particular boat."
The next J Class event will be Les Voiles de Saint Tropez 26th September to October 4th.
St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Coastal:
1 Svea corrected time 2hrs 59mins 56 secs
2 Rainbow 3hrs 04mins 22secs (+4 mins 32 secs)
Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille J Class Series Results:
1 Svea 1,1,3 (DNS), 1,1 7pts
2 Rainbow 2,2,1,2,2 9pts