Dear Islander,

As this issue of The Islander hits the streets, The Palma Superyacht Show and Palma Boatshow will be underway. We are told that all available space and berths are sold out with a lengthy waiting list, a far cry from the bad old days !

Palma Superyacht Show is now the largest Superyacht Sailboat show in the world and makes up around 60% of the 60 boats over 24 mtrs on show. This is unusual by today’s normal pattern at shows, with motoryachts making up the lion’s share of exhibits. There is an argument to say that the glamourous motoryachts attract the big crowds, but the sailing yachts attract the more serious punter! Either way, let’s hope that all the brokers have a good show, continuing the trend from last year. We will have a full report on the show in next month’s issue of The Islander.

I hope you all like our new format of The Islander magazine with the glossy finish to the cover and inside pages. We felt we needed to do this particularly to show off the photography at its best by sharpening the colours somewhat. We have received some great feedback and positive comments, so it’s here to stay!

This is the largest issue of The Islander that has ever been published, with the biggest print run in our 19 year history, so we thank all our readers, and especially our advertisers who make this possible.

This month also sees the second edition of the London Superyacht, Jet and Prestige Car Show held at Billingsgate and St Katherine’s dock from the 4^th – 6thMay. The first edition was a resounding success and attracted some of the industry’s big hitters as well as owners who found the venue ideally located close by The City. We shall be there for a couple of days and will bring you all the news in next month’s issue.

The regatta season kicked off here in Palma last month with a 700 boat fleet at the Princess Sofia Regatta for Olympic classes. They enjoyed a week of mixed weather and varied wind strengths, but as usual, the cream rose to the top in most fleets.

Early May sees the big opening regatta for the bigger boats with Palma Vela looking like it’s going to be a who’s who of yachting. The TP 52’s look like fielding a 9 boat entry even though this isn’t one of their official events. Again, a full report will be in next month’s issue as well as a preview on all the entries for the Palma Superyacht Cup.

Fair Winds