Antara takes the honours on day one of Horus Superyacht Cup

by Martin Redmayne, The Yacht Report Group on 26 Jun 2009 Clouds gathered, the sky rumbled, lightning struck the skyline, threatening to spoil the start of the 2009 Horus Superyacht Cup, but as is always the case, they luckily did it again, the sun shone on the righteous and delivered a crystal clear day for a later than programmed start.

With a consistent light breeze the fleet lined up for the usual pursuit start, now under Bucket rules, with the graceful Perini, SY Antara skipping along gracefully over the starting line. Prior to the belated first gun, the fleet bobbed and weaved in and out of the inner bay, waiting for the wind to build and for the relaxed committee to decide when the race might start. Nothing wrong with that I thought, here was a regatta built on the 14 years of meticulous planning, a well-oiled machine, obviously my tongue in cheek tone is typical of the spirit of the HSYC. Everyone is here to have fun, the camaraderie, the continued gatherings of great yachts, the relaxed tone has always been the USP of this Palma Party.

With 18 yachts settling on the new dock yesterday afternoon, greeted by the new regatta village, everyone was wondering what to expect, but Patrick (Whetter) and the team had upped their game, the feel, look and presentation had matched everyone’s needs, closer proximity to the heart of Palma, a better dock location and a prettier backdrop. For those that don’t keep up to date with these things, the programme of events revolves around some serious fun and some serious racing, but not too serious, yes some of the usual race stars were on board, along with the typical designers of Frers and Tripp and others, all of whom seem to be drawn to these events to really see their work at work. The major yards and handful of brokers flew in last night too, to make this meeting of sailing minds complete, but ultimately the focus has to be the premier players who bring their yachts and compete, those wonderful and passionate owners that want to jostle for supremacy across the Bay of Palma. Having bumped into Mickey Gooch last night over a beer and when questioned why he does it, he replied, 'it’s for fun, I have an ageing gorgeous Perini, I love her, she’s not a thoroughbred, but I love sailing her and I’m just here to take part, no major expectations'. He added, 'In fact the only thing I want to leave with, is for my crew to walk off with the best Caribbean Crucial Crew Award' (the award bestowed on the coolest looking crew attending the Yacht Report’s first night Bar Be Que).

With what seemed to be a textbook start, Mickey, his mates, Captain Johnno and his Crew skipped over the line and headed off for the first mark. The rest of the fleet followed on his distant heels as his headed off towards the horizon, having gathered speed and a healthy advantage, he kept his eyes firmly set dead ahead and drove through the course and probably much to his amazement, found himself being the first Perini Owner to cross the finish line in the fourteen years of the Cup. This will be one happy Owner tonight, not only was he expecting to arrive across the line some time after waving the rest of the fleet past him, he was here to have fun and entertain himself and his family under the perfect blue skies, while cruising in true Perini pace across the shimmering blue. This may change his focus and no doubt his attitude to day two and three, I can see him in his bed tonight dreaming of victory, although who knows how favorable the conditions and the handicapping will be tomorrow. With a great forecast and the land heating up early enough, we can see a different type of wind, stiffer and building earlier, so his fellow competitors will have their feet on the virtual accelerator and be pushing more sail, speed and spirit.

Tonight, everyone will be enjoying the first night’s entertainment, discussing the tactics for tomorrow, where they may end up later in the night and who’s likely to be the main threat to Mickey’s lightning start, I would say all of them. It’s anyone’s race now, but with Open Season and Gliss the two runners up, getting their usual positioning high in the ranking, we can expect another great day tomorrow. The Horus Superyacht Cup has delivered again, it should be called, the upgraded, much improved event, software and hardware galore driving these pedigree seahorses through the stunning Bay in which the Cuppers seem to always love. It’s what a regatta should be and I think people who know how to have fun, with salt in their hair, wind on their face and beer in their hand, have all made Palma their home again. Congratulations guys, it’s good to be back at this new improved race and I think everyone feels the same. Lightning never strikes twice as they say, in this case I don’t think we’ll see many more thunderous clouds overhead, just the odd loud rumble, the grumbling rumble in the stomachs of the crew that over indulge on the roasted meat and beer flooding the dock tonight.