I don’t know about you, but I will be glad to see some cooler weather hitting our shores ! Us northern Europeans aren’t built for this intense heat !!
The past month or so has seen two world class regattas being staged in the Bay of Palma, firstly the TP 52 Super Series, held from Puerto Portals followed immediately by the annual Mapfre Copa del Rey, hosted as always by the fabulous RCNP. We are so lucky to have this first class organisation as our local yacht club, providing the very best in race organisation and on shore hospitality.
This year’s event saw for the very first time in Balearic waters, the foiling GC 32 catamarans battling it out. What a spectacular sight they were too !!
Sailors from all around the globe love to come and sail here because they know they will always get a top notch regatta. The TP 52 regatta contained a full list of “A “list of the very best pro sailors on the planet and witnessing some of their boat handling was poetry in motion !
The local waters have also seen many very large charter yachts taking advantage of our wonderful conditions and spectacular anchorages. It is now very clear that the removal of the matriculation tax is having a very positive effect on the charter market in the Balearics, with a huge increase in the number of larger yachts using our waters. This, of course, results in a trickle-down effect of increased business for many companies in the islands, and in some part benefits all the local inhabitants.
The big event this month for our Superyacht industry is, of course, The Monaco Yacht Show. There will sure to be a mass exodus from Palma to this annual extravaganza of what’s biggest and best in the Superyacht World , as well as being a meeting point for who’s who of the industry. We will have a full report in our November issue of The Islander.
Preceeding this is the Cannes Boatshow, which is seemingly becoming an increasingly important show for many brands, and is attracting larger yachts each year. This year’s show sees Perini Navi exhibiting for the first time, with the 38 mtr sailing yacht Dahlak on show. Many of the major production builders will have new models on show, including Absolute , Sunseeker, Beneteau, Azimut, Benetti CNB and Lagoon.
In the UK, Southampton will once again play hosts to the largest in water show for 10 days, hoping to keep up its impressive run of 100,000 plus visitors. No mean feat these days.
Fair Winds