2010 Club Yachting Life Rally in Palma de Mallorca
by Merijn de Waard, Super Yacht Times on 7 Jun 2010
Life Rally - sunset siesta on Black Molly III Merijn de Waard
Not all yacht rallies of cruising sailors are concentrated on the popular 35-50ft cruising boat.
Here Merijn de Waard tells of his experience joining a rally of splendid Jongert sailing boats, up to 100 metres in length - the 2010 Club Yachting Life Rally in Palma de Mallorca.
Friday afternoon I arrived in Palma de Mallorca for the 2010 Club Yachting Life Rally organised by superyacht broker Dahm International. I was welcomed by the Dahm International team in their office in Club de Mar which graced brand new signs of their partnership with Oyster
Yachts, and its sister company Southampton Yacht Services. After meeting up with the Dahm International team I was guided to sailing yacht Black Molly III, a Jongert 30 Traditional, which would be my base for the next four days.
Club Yachting Life was founded in 1987 by Herbert Dahm with the idea of promoting contact among owners and yachting enthusiasts in order to encourage the exchange of ideas and to enrich community life in sailing sports. A first regatta of the Club Yachting Life, in June 1988 from Palma to Cabrera, was followed by competitions out of, among others, Monte Carlo, Porto
Cervo, Corsica, Menorca and St. Tropez, always accompanied by a well-developed social programme. The event was brought back to life in 2009 after the unexpected cancellation of the Jongert Regatta.
The first evening of the four day event started with a welcome reception at Pier 7 in Club de Mar, where Herbert Dahm welcomed everybody to the event, and Dahm International's Marketing Manager Stefanie Alsdorf informed us about the programme for the following days. The first night included delicious food, drinks and live music.
The following morning, I
joined Captain Romke Loopik on board sailing yacht Passe Partout, with her length of 42 metres the largest yacht in the fleet. Hence, Passe Partout offered the perfect platform to view the other yachts, especially from the top of the 40 metre mast.
All nine Jongert yachts left Club de Mar at 11:00 heading towards Dragonera. The following sailing yachts were participating in the Club Yachting Life Rally 2010;
• Ameena (Jongert 2900M)
• Black Molly II (Jongert 22ds)
• Black Molly III (Jongert 30T)
• Danubio III (Jongert 21s)
• Fidelitas (Jongert 32T)
• Inspiration (Jongert 2200s)
• Passe Partout (Jongert 42T)
• Sunbeam (Jongert 25ds)
• Toro del Mar (Jongert 2200M)
The morning lacked good winds, but as Captain Romke and his crew had predicted, the wind did pick up around noon, and soon the 42 metre long and 265 tonnes sailing yacht was sailing at 12 knots with an average wind speed of 20 knots. Sailing along the coast line of Mallorca we passed Illa del Toro, Illa Malgrats and Pantaleu. After several hours of sailing, greatly enjoyed by guests and crew alike, Passe Partout dropped anchor in the bay of Saint Elm in time for a splendid wine tasting event.
A 30 minute drive through the beautiful landscape of Palma
de Mallorca, we arrived at the Bodega Santa Catarina. Here guests were treated to a great picnic in the middle of the vineyards by Oyster Yachts, who recently announced Dahm International as their exclusive sales representative for Oyster Superyachts in Central Europe.
Having enjoyed a short siesta back onboard S/Y Black Molly III, we were tendered to the shore of Sant Elm to have dinner in the famous seafood restaurant Cala Conills. The fabulous seafood, a spectacular sunset, and a great musical performance by the guests of S/Y Danubio III concluded a great day of sailing.
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