The Superyacht Cup 2007 was very much more than a simple sailing superyacht regatta. Parallel to the sailing activity in the Bay of Palma, the shoreside interest and activity was more like one of the major superyacht shows like the Monaco Boat Show, but without motoryachts.
Many of the top builders like Perini Navi, Wally, Vitters, Alloy Yachts and Royal Huisman were there to showcase their production.
Several of the top naval architects were sailing aboard examples of their work and speaking to prospective clients back on the dock.
Out in the bay, the weather produced a variety of conditions which made the "pursuit style" of handicapped rallying even more interesting - from light winds on Sunday through variable gusty conditions on Monday, and a full 17 to 22 knot S. W. blow on Tuesday!
After three days of sailing, and always in immaculate style with colour-coded yellow shirts, the overall winner of the Superyacht Cup Ulysse Nardin was the superbly presented 42.8m (140ft) Bruce King designed ketch "Hetairos" - built in 1993 by Abeking & Rasmussen, a German boat builder of fine traditional yachts since 1907. (Picture below)
But, on every day of the regatta the star of the show for spectator value was the vast 88m (288ft) three masted "Maltese Falcon" leaving everybody in awe for her unique style.
Q & A With Kate Branagh from the SYC Team.
Q) The decision to change the date of the SYC to coincide with the America´s Cup obviously increased the participation and general interest level in the event. Did this exceed your expectations, and what kind of challenges did it give you with respect to organisation of the event?
A) We knew there was the potential for this many yachts to attend but it is always really hard to get commitment out of yacht captains - their schedules so often change and you never know they are 100% coming until they are here and tied on the dock!
We had estimated the number of yachts, crew, guests, sponsors, and press who would attend, but seeing everyone here together I think shocked us all! It was hard to imagine the size and impact of the event beforehand, there has never been a gathering of so many superyachts in one place....
The Port Authority had kindly given permission to use the Dique del Oeste dock site which made the whole event possible, but we had to work within the restrictions of the site and therefore controlling entry of everyone through advance accreditation, this was a really huge task. It was very unfortunate that we were not able to secure access of the outer dock wall walk-way, this would have enabled public access to see the spectacular line-up of yachts but maintain the security of the site. In future we very much hope that the Port Authority will be able to grant permission for public viewing access.
Q) How important was security - considering the high net worth individuals involved, and the considerable asset values present on site - and was the security operation a success?
A) Security on-site was a very important issue, both for the yachts and for the people attending. The requirement for accreditation definitely helped control the numbers but is was still important to have on-site security.
Q) The Chamber of Commerce estimated some impressive "nautical tourism" revenues coming directly from participants and visitors to the SYC, obviously various government departments and the Port Authorities were fully supportive of the event. Have you had indications from them "after the event" about how they perceived its significance, and whether they would support it on the same scale again in the future?
A) The Chamber of Commerce published results of a survey carried out at the Palma 2006 Superyacht Cup for 17 yachts, and based on the findings the projected direct economic impact for for this years event with 52 yachts was over 31 million euros, certainly a very significant impact for the Balearics. It is early days to get the approvals and permits for holding the event again, but all the government departments we worked with have offered their full support in the future.
Q) Some local Marine Service or Product providers have commented that they felt excluded from the business opportunities presented by the SYC , due to either prohibitive costs of sponsorship (for smaller companies) or by pre agreed exclusives being in place for certain types of sponsor businesses. (For larger companies)
They argue, that considering the support given from the publicly funded government bodies, the event should have been more accessible to all sizes of local marine suppliers, as a showcase for the wide range of services that Mallorca can offer the yachting industry.
Can you comment on these criticisms, and suggest if there may be a way forward to address them more amicably for future events?
A) This is an area we were very conscious of right from the beginning planning stages. Sponsorship is always a difficult balance for event organisers, without sponsors the event would not happen, and once companies make the decision to invest their marketing budgets on sponsorship it is important to protect their interests. Obviously a line up of over 50 of the world's largest sailing yachts offers a great deal of potential business for marine companies - big and small. Although only the top level sponsors were guaranteed 'exclusivity' within their category of business, it was important to protect all our sponsors from 'prospecting' by non-sponsors who chose not to support the event financially. Although this is difficult in practice to police 100% effectively, we could not allow access on-site to companies to promote their businesses if they were not a sponsor. As there was no public access (as explained above it was very unfortunate we could not have the use of the dock-wall walk-way) accreditation was only available to people taking part in the event, sponsoring it, or members of accredited press associations. Yachts requiring deliveries or services from non-sponsoring companies could obtain access through the captain of the yacht they were working on, so we were not refusing access, just restricting it to legitimately requested services. It would have been very unfair to allow 'cold callers' to have open access where it would be to the detriment of the sponsors who were supporting the event financially.
We also introduced a special low-cost opportunity for local companies to be present in the “Service and Maintenance area”, specifically because we did not want industry people to be excluded on the basis of cost. We canvassed as many people as we physically could in the time available, and were rather disappointed with the take-up, especially in the light of the ructions this caused with some of our sponsors.
Q) Was there any aspect of the event that you might wish to change in the future?
A) The public viewing access would be a huge advantage and offer everyone the chance to see the spectacular sight of these yachts close up. There are many areas we can also improve on, as this was the first event of this size held here in Palma and many lessons were learnt. Hopefully we can improve on it in many ways and provide the Balearics with a top level international event as well as promoting Palma as one of the leading Superyacht locations in the world.
Q) What was the most significant factor contributing to the overall success of the SYC?
A) Location! Palma is a popular destination for many yachts, so we did not have too much trouble convincing people this was the right place, there are not many ports in the world that could offer the excellent sailing conditions, dock space, yacht services, communications and infrastructure for this many big yachts. It is also important to point out that we had to take over a commercial dock site, transform it into an entertainment, business and networking centre in a hospitable environment, for only a four day period, and then hand it back to the Port Authority two days after the last race. This was without doubt the hardest task.
Q) What can we expect from the organisers for next year and beyond?
A) Later this year we have the Superyacht Cup in Antigua (December 12th -15th) where we are expecting up to 15 yachts, and then the first Superyacht Cup Transatlantic Challenge, which will start from Antigua and finish in Vigo, with a stop-over in the Azores. Beyond that.... we hope that the Superyacht Cup Palma will become a permanent fixture in June.
The Dock Masters role - by Oscar Siches
It all started for me in mid April when I was invited to take the responsibility of Dock Master of the Superyacht Cup.
I knew I was up for something a lot more important than just a gathering of a few big sailing yachts. A quick look at the entry list was like reviewing the very best of the Yacht Report listings. Scary !
A couple of meetings further and I was feeling totally integrated with the (relatively small) team. We knew we were going for something big, but did not imagine how BIG it was going to become.....
Patrick kept very cool, seasoned by the previous four experiences, and that gave us that wonderful feeling of having a solid pillar to lean to if necessary. Days and weeks passed by and finally we were in June. My first hands-on experience was to deal with the port authorities and Palma pilots on the traffic rules and security issues arising from the fact that we were generating two major bursts or superyacht traffic through the ferry and passenger cruises area of Palma harbour.
As ex-skipper, I knew that there was nothing I could teach to all those guys running most of the very best yachts in the world. I realised my only chance of succeeding was to put all that knowledge to work to everybody’s advantage.
Contact with all yacht captains was made by e-mail and the general idea of how the docking part of the event was going to be run was informed. The response of most yachts was quite immediate and I could feel that such advanced information was already appreciated. A few very interesting issues were raised, for instance, if there was a possibility of dropping the anchors and chains and leave them with a guideline to be picked up when returning every day to port. We were gaining time and adapting the procedure as much as possible before the yachts arrival.
Next task was to decide the yacht distribution in the harbour. Ground lines were provided for the smaller, light ones, specially the Wallys. As much as possible we grouped boat types and brands ( classics, Pierinis, Alloy, Dubois, etc) taking care of not having big size differences side by side. Maltese Falcon was allocated the first mooring with clear manoeuvring place for obvious reasons. Classics were placed facing the harbour way out. Patrick’s experience was very helpful and some common sense helped with the rest. Still, we were running mostly a theoretical model not having been tested before.
A schedule of arrivals was updated daily, and missing confirmations requested by e-mail or telephone. We were receiving some 25 boats on Wednesday, 10 to 15 on Thursday and Friday and the rest on Saturday, plus 5 to 7 support power boats, among them the 99m “Christina O”.
On Monday 11th the dead weights were launched. Tuesday the 12th we were authorised to start with laying the chain between the existing bollards to provide flexible mooring points. On Wednesday the yachts started arriving while we were still stretching the chain, a task much heavier than planned, The Oscar Sierra team pulled all known tricks to finish in time. We berthed some 27 boats that day and went home exhausted but quite pleased with the results. Our plan was working.
Thursday was relatively quiet on arrivals, but many of the yachts wanted to leave for testing and practice, which generated again some 50 movements in total that day. I pinched two guys from the shore part of the organization, Patrick was a bit worried about missing extra hands in the mooring team, and I tasked Pedro, my right hand at Pantalan del Mediterraneo, to get 3 to more guys for the next days.
Friday and Saturday were very busy but controlled. The last and ultimate test was to come: to get 52 superyachts to leave the moorings within 90 minutes, and berth them back in the afternoon in the shortest possible time, mostly using their own anchors.
Sunday I had few panic calls early in the morning as a 15 to 20 knots breeze was blowing from the North West, not normal at this time of the year and definitely unpredicted when dropping the anchors allowing for the usual SW Embat. By 10 it subsided and the spirits rose. Everybody started to cast off in a reasonable orderly way, I did suggest an order based on the speed and type of manoeuvres I was seeing happening with the yachts leaving. By 11:30 all yachts were out without any unpleasant situation registered. In the afternoon, I jumped in an inflatable, placed myself in the centre of the basin, and from there we guided the arriving yachts to their allocated spots judging their individual need of manoeuvring space, speed and help needed ashore. All were berthed in just over 2 hours.
We had set the method, and it worked. Monday and Tuesday we had a bit more wind, but all yachts were used to the system and there were no other inconveniences other than a few tangled anchors, freed with the help of the divers and the two service inflatables.
What I enjoyed the most was the general mood that could be breathed through the event: captains, owners, guests and sponsors were sharing the joy of three days of sailing and being together with no other aim than having a great time. The competitive part of it was a formal excuse to extract a result that is more anecdotic than a definition of performance. The Superyacht Cup 2007 brought to Palma not only 52 of the best sailing yachts in the world but the true spirit of sailing many of us were missing for quite a while. I am very happy to have had the opportunity of being part of it.
The Superyacht Cup 2007 was very much more than a simple sailing superyacht regatta. Parallel to the sailing activity in the Bay of Palma, the shoreside interest and activity was more like one of the major superyacht shows like the Monaco Boat Show, but without motoryachts.
(See our "News"section - "Superyacht Cup Images" for more pictures.)
Many of the top builders like Perini Navi, Wally, Vitters, Alloy Yachts and Royal Huisman were there to showcase their production.Please click on our "News" section, to see a photo gallery of "Faces at the Superyacht Cup."