With all but one of the participating superyachts outfitted with North Sails, we knew the Superyacht Cup Palma would bring a handful of new entries to the #NSVictoryList, but in what combination?
The event came down to the last race of the regatta, and in the end, Ganesha claimed Overall victory in addition to her Class B win. J Class Svea won the J Class division while Kiboko Tres took the top spot amongst the A Class.
“It was a bit of a surprise win, and we certainly weren’t expecting it, either the class or the overall,” commented Ganesha skipper Alex Pamment. “It was very, very close. Yesterday we came second by one second, but today the weather gods were with us, and we were able to get a result. The tacticians had it tough, but we were able to make the right calls.”
The Superyacht Cup Palma is one of the most anticipated regattas on the superyacht summer calendar. This year’s event saw eleven yachts competing across three classes with nine North Sails experts onboard throughout the fleet.
Superyacht Sales Leader Jens Christensen and Palma-based Mark Salder sailed on Ganesha. North Sails Palma Service Manager Tom Webb stepped off the loft floor to join the Savannah crew, who claimed second in Class B.
The J Class Svea bolstered their race crew with recent North addition Bouwe Bekking, Grand Prix Sales Leader Paul Westlake, and Superyacht Leader Quinny Houry. The Superyacht Cup is Svea’s first regatta under a new ownership group, and the rumor on the dock is that they trained hard in the days leading up to the event.
“We are thrilled, delighted to have won our class – we are over the moon,” said Svea co-owner Niklas Zennström. “We came to this event having put in a training week before to get to know it, as many of us have never sailed a J Class before. To win the class is very special, much more than we expected as this was going to be a learning regatta.”
Also scattered across the J Class division, Heine Sorensen, sailmaker to Topaz, was on board to see his work in action and was joined by North colleague Eckard Kaller. Meanwhile, Tom Dodson from North Sails New Zealand assumed his established race crew position with Velsheda.
North Sails is a longtime sponsor of the Superyacht Cup Palma. Whether onboard with clients or dockside with the Palma-based service team, this is an all-hands-on-deck event. Additionally, our sister-companies Southern Spars and North Actionsports, joined us to support the regatta. North Sails teamed up with Southern to host the post-racing social event on Thursday, and each of the three podium positions was gifted one of the recently launched North Standup Paddleboards.
A huge thank you to the event organizers who power through long days to ensure this event runs smoothly. See you in 2023.
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