Dear Islander,

I am writing this on 10th April , a little earlier than most months, due to us getting this issue available in time for us to distribute the magazines at the Palma Superyacht Show starting on 28th April. The Spring weather has definitely arrived here in Palma, let’s just hope it stays with us for our Nautifest event and the Superyacht Show. We have managed a couple of days on the water ourselves so far, but I’ve not been brave enough to test the water temperature yet!
Our Nautifest event will be well and truly over by the time you read this, and we are hoping to have had a great turnout for the event. It won’t be for lack of effort, I can assure you. We have 44 stands confirmed for the show so far, which we are very happy with on our first hosting of this show. We will report on the event in our next issue along with lots of photos. A video will also be available to watch on our website www.theislander.net
The first major regatta of the Med season, Palma Vela, kicks off on May 4th with a record entry list being anticipated this year. Again, we will report on this next month. The Med regatta calendar gets well and truly underway this month, including the TP 52 world championship in Scarlino, Italy and the opening Classic Regattas at Ibiza, St Tropez, Marseille and Antibes.
The big news to hit the press this month in Palma was the leak of plans to build a major Superyacht Marina here in Palma, just in front of the cathedral. This is reported to be a 440 berth facility with high end support structure including a Yacht Club, Restaurants, Shops, underground parking plus many other features. To avoid any misrepresentation, we will report fully on this once all the facts are known. The Chinese whispers abound at present, so we are in touch with the developers and will present a full report as soon as possible. Whatever the details turn out to be, this is surely going to be a huge shot in the arm for the industry and the Island as a whole, providing many job opportunities, and huge potential revenue. Fingers crossed this comes to fruition.

Fair Winds.