Régates Royales Cannes - Trophée Panerai

Régates Royales Cannes - Trophée Panerai - Overall

by Carla Anselmi 29 Sep 2018 10:45 PDT 22-29 September 2018

Despite the capricious wind conditions - with the 200 boats and over 1,500 sailors forced ashore on two days due to the strong winds- the 40th edition of the Régates Royales – Trophée Panerai will remain in the regatta's history books as one of the most contested ever, with teams coming from all over the planet to grab the much longed for trophies.

The eight winners crowned during the crowded prize-giving ceremony are: Moonbeam of Fife (Big Boats), Elena of London (Schooners), Kelpie (Aurique), Argos (Classics), Resolute Salmon (Classic Racer), Cippino (Marconi > 15 m), Fjord III (Marconi < 15 m) and Vanessa (Spirit of Tradition).

A soft, gentle breeze accompanied the classic yachts gathered in Cannes for the closing day of the 40th Régates Royales – Trophée Panerai. In spite of a light southerly, not exceeding five knots, that forced the organisers to shorten the course, set between Cannes, Cannes, Mandelieu and the point of l'Esquillon, the elegant boats sailing in slow motion made for a great show for the many spectators taking advantage of the warm, sunny early autumn day on the Cote d'Azur.

Elena of London - Régates Royales Cannes - Trophée Panerai - photo © Guido Cantini / Panerai

And the winners are...

Two first and a third enabled the huge Elena of London to be crowned 2018 winner in the Schooner division, with Naema and Mariette completing the podium. Despite scoring a fourth on Sunday, Moonbeam of Fife maintained the top spot among the Big Boats thanks to a better partial score (2 wins) leading Mariska and Moonbeam IV. In the gaff cutter division, Alfred Mylne's designed Kelpie showed great consistency -one win and two thirds- to advance Kismet and Viola, celebrating her 110th anniversary in Cannes with a podium spot.

The Classics' podium remained an almost all Spanish affair with Eduardo Mendez's Argos and Pepe Negrete's Yanira prevailing on local skipper Philippe Monnet on Lys. Italian crew on Resolute Salmon kept their focus to finish second on the last race, whilst early leaders Sagittarius couldn't do better than a seventh and slipped back to second overall, with the last win going to French 12m I.R. France.

Argentina's Cippino was the undisputed leader of the Marconi >15 metres class, finishing five points ahead of Wendy Schmidt's Santana from the USA and 14 points ahead of Blitzen, whose crew comprised popstar Simon Le Bon and offshore female sailor Abby Ehler. Famous Argentinean designer German Frers led his to victory in the Marconi Arrow in second and France's Ellad in third.

And finally Patrizio Bertelli's Vanessa, with Olympic, offshore and America's Cup star Torben Grael at the helm, got her first title after being recently relaunched, leading Italy's Freya and Switzerland's Scherzo in second and third respectively.

Cippino - Régates Royales Cannes - Trophée Panerai - photo © Guido Cantini / Panerai

They said:

Jacques Flori, President of the Yacht Club de Cannes: "The conditions were not ideal on the first two days, but there was nothing much we could do, and on the other hand the crews had the chance to visit our beautiful town. On the following days we had more luck and could do some great racing. We're very happy to have ended this 40th edition on a high note."

Gérard Pascalini, Régates Royales' COO: "I'm very pleased. The atmosphere ashore and offshore, as well as the racing were great. The number of people who visited the race village is also very good, we had more than 100.000 visitors. Everyone in the organising team has worked around the clock to make this 40th edition unforgettable."

On Sunday at 11:00 part of the fleet will leave Cannes for the Coupe D'Automne delivery race to Saint Tropez, organised by the Yacht Club the France.

Final results all classes

Aurique

1-Kelpie (Olive Pelham)
2-Kismet (Richard Matthews)
3-Viola (Fabien Despres)

Big Boat

1-Moonbeam of Fife (Erwan Noblet)
2-Mariska (Benjamin Redreau)
3-Moonbeam IV (Mikael Créac'h)

Classique

1-Argos (Eduardo Mendez)
2-Yanira (Pepe Negrete)
3-Lys (Philippe Monnet)

Classic Racer

1-Resolute Salmon (Andria Zaoli)
2-Sagittarius (Thierry Laffitte)
3-France 1 (Thierry Verneuil)

Marconi (-15m)

1-Cippino (Daniel Sielecki)
2-Santana (Wendy Schmidt)
3-Blitzen (Charles Dunstrone)