Five champions for a deluxe Panerai Copa del Rey
A great final race crowned Hallowe’en (1926) the Panerai Copa del Rey champion in the Big Boats vintage yachts class. InigoStrez’s yacht did a nearly perfect third and final set to take the leadin real and corrected time over her main adversary,Moonbeam IV (1914), which came in second.
Despite being smaller, the winning yacht, which sails with the Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and whose history includes having held the Fast Net race record for 13 years(from 1926 to 1939), was the fastest in the large yachts fleet The final race played out with a NE wind of between 15 and 18 knots veering east and waves over two metres high.
Nord wind (1939), the yacht built by the German navy at the start of World War II, came third, after Moonbeam of Fife (1903) withdrew from the final race after breaking a shroud on the Friday.
The Vintage Marconi class (yachts launched before 1950 with triangular-rigged sails) was comfortably won by the Cippino (1949), owned by Daniel Sielecki, who sails under the flag of the Yacht Club Argentino. She came first in the three races in the Panerai Copa and was crowned best yacht on the national classic yachts circuit following her victories in the Puig Vela Clásica Barcelona Trophy and the IllesBalears Clàssics regatta organised by Club deMar Mallorca.
The Ardi, a 1968 One Ton designed by Abeking and Rasmussen, won the classic category (yachts launched between 1950 and 1975), which attracted 20 competitors,thanks to a good last set in which she was beaten only by II Moro di Venezia (1975). Barbara Trilling’s Argos (1964), which had reached the final session tied with the Ardi on points, had a bad day and crossed the finishing line in seventh place, putting her third in the general category. The Guía (1967) came second after doing well today and ended fourth.
The Calima (1970), the king of champions of the Panerai Copa in Mahón, today wrote a new page in its incredible sporting success. Javier Pujol’s yacht, a Spark man & Stephens built at the Carabela shipyards in Spain, won the last race of the competition in the Spirit of Tradition class to deliver her 11th win in the most important event on the Spanish classic and vintage yachts circuit. She fought it out to the end with the Lohengrin (1974), which came second, and the Legolas (2003), which took bronze.
