Sailing

The final day of The Nations Trophy 2019 brought more drama as a building breeze compressed the action into a solitary race for all classes. While the individual race winners will have enjoyed their moment in the sun, it was the overall class winners and recipients of The Nations Trophy itself that celebrated the loudest.

The second edition of The Nations Trophy kicked off today; all four classes ticking off one race from the scheduled nine. Racing started three hours late and, while it was long, it was a worthwhile wait. When the fickle breeze in the Bay of Palma stabilized sufficiently, the Real Club Nautico de Palma race team, led by Ariane Mainemare, was swift in laying the course and getting the 41-boat fleet away.

The much-awaited moment is finally upon us! Tomorrow, Saturday 5 October at 10:30 hours, the 87 competitors in the Mini-Transat La Boulangère will take the start in La Rochelle of the first leg, bound for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (1,350 miles).

After the first day was blown off due to excess wind, the Mistral gave way today to light conditions enabling racing for the maxi yachts to start finally at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, organised by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez.

Today marks 100 days to the historic 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - the 75th 628-nautical-mile race to Constitution Dock in Hobart, Tasmania.

The 30th edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, which saw more than 50 boats gathered in Porto Cervo, ended with another fantastic day of racing. The event is organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of the title sponsor Rolex and the International Maxi Association.

The first day of racing brought ideal wind conditions for the fleet of 50 boats competing in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, an event organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of title sponsor Rolex and the International Maxi Association which celebrates its 30th edition this year.

Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon team won the Rolex TP52 World Championship title on the Bay of Palma today, but the German-flagged team, led by the Hamburg-based owner-driver did not make it easy for themselves as they had to contend with two additional penalty points that they were given for twice making contact with rival boats as well as two penalties for different infringements during a tense, nervy showdown with Azzurra.

A testing, northwesterly offshore wind of 12-17kts produced fantastic racing conditions today at the Rolex TP52 World Championship on the Bay of Palma out of Puerto Portals as Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon took control of the title race. They posted two first places and a fifth to lead the championship by seven points going into the final day, Thursday.

Pieter Taselar’s Bliksem team provided a masterclass in success through making the least mistakes rather than winning races on the opening day of the M32 World Championship on Lake Garda. The US-based Dutch team never won a race but never scored worse than a fourth leaving them with a might nine point lead, ahead of Don Wilson’s second-placed Convexity, in turn just a point ahead of Larry Phillips’ Midtown.