Highland Fling 18 wins Multihull Cup 2024 in a close encounter of the finest kind
by Phil Riley 30 Sep 2024 05:03 NZDT
27-29 September 2024
The final destination of the Multihull Cup 2024 Trophy went down to the wire today, with just 20 seconds deciding the outcome of what has proved to be a highly competitive and friendly encounter in Mallorca.
Going into Sunday's 24 Nm coastal race decider a win would secure an overall victory for either Lord Irvine Laidlaw's distinctive VPLP-custom Highland Fling 18 or Adrian Keller's Irens sleek 78-ft Allegra.
With the wind off Mallorca's striking southwest coast again keeping tacticians, helms and navigators on their toes, Highland Fling 18 was able to stretch ahead and finish over 13 minutes ahead of Allegra on the water — followed by a nail-biting wait for the corrected time verdict.
When it came it was — by a 20 second margin after over two and a half hours of racing — in favour of the spectacular, 80-ft red-hulled Highland Fling. The outcome left the front running duo tied with two wins apiece, with Lord Laidlaw's catamaran claiming overall victory on countback.
"It was great, we have finally got the boat dialled up and doing what she should do," said her delighted skipper Xavier Mecoy, universally known as 'X'. "It has been a hard road to get there, with a lot of modifications to the boat, and our learning curve is going through the roof and we still have a long way to go."
And he added: "Other than that to have a multihull event is great, the camaraderie here between the teams makes it more of a family event off the water.
With the race outcome in the balance until the very end, Allegra's tactician Paul Larsen was able to enjoy the quality of the course: "The race went really well — at first we thought it was going to be a long course as there wasn't too much wind at the start. The first leg was a little bit painful but when we got down the bottom the breeze really kicked in and it was a little bit fruity — it was a really close race."
Such were the conditions that the crew of the 60-ft Banuls Design McConaghy-built Dragon — who were unable to repeat their Multihull Cup triumph of 2019 — were also able to celebrate at the Port Adriano prize-giving.
Tactician Ben Kelly said: "We had an awesome day on Dragon today — spectacular views, nice breeze, and we were in there for a little while as we did great downwind, but harder back upwind. All on board are wrapped and very happy, and we've had a wonderful time at the regatta."
The final race took the Multihull Cup fleet on a coastal course, first to a windward mark east towards Illa del Toro, and then back west and a port side rounding of the rugged Dragonera Island national park taking in Cape Tramuntana and the historic Llebeig Lighthouse, before returning via a mark off La Mola to the start-finish line.
At the Prize-Giving, Multihull Cup Event Director Andrea Grimm was able to confirm that Multihull Cup 2025 with be held from 26-28 September next year, once again hosted by Port Adriano.
Ned Collier Wakefield, tactician on Highland Fling, commented: "It's been a fantastic event and we'd be super-excited to come back next year, hopefully with a few more boats — so a message to any multihull owners out there to come along, the guys are doing a great job here."
The Notice of Race for 2025 will be posted on the website and confirmed in a follow up email soon.
www.multihullcup.com