Lying beneath the limestone mountains of Mallorca, the Bay of Palma draws in a sea breeze almost every afternoon in summer. It builds lazily through the morning and peters away in the late afternoon. But it has its idiosyncrasies, as any racing tactician or a race organiser will know. Sometimes it can be patchy across the course, or streaky, or have dead zones, or even be very breezy.
What it will do is give a sailing crew a quiet morning ashore followed by a sporting afternoon’s racing – with a dash of uncertainty. Palma is always a favourite venue for sailing.
Nevertheless, the Superyacht Cup Palma, the longest running big boat regatta in Europe and now in its 27th year, was a slimmed down event in June. With just nine entries it was still feeling the pandemic’s disruptive effects. So this year’s fleet was split into two classes, which lent themselves to a subdivision of rivalries that organiser Kate Branagh called ‘dance partners’.
Comparable yachts such as the two 33m Vitters-built Malcolm McKeon designs and raced with an eye on each other. and , which have enjoyed a career of cruising, mustered crews of friends and experienced pros for another amicable clash. A match also developed between the 24m Farr-designed Wally (formerly ) versus Swan 100 and Swan 80 .
