Velsheda win class at The Superyacht Cup Palma, Svea take second

After three days of racing on the Bay of Palma at the 2023 Superyacht Cup, J Class duo Velsheda and Svea took the top two places in the four boat Class A racing under ORC Superyacht handicap.

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The Superyacht rule meant staggered starts, with each boat starting at an allotted time according to their rating and the slowest in the class first. And similarly, to maintain a high level of safety the rule also requires boats get no closer than 40 metres.

Competing around coastal courses on the bay was nonetheless a good workout for the J Class teams who, in the absence of a third J Class yacht which would have allowed class racing, both saw this annual regatta as a useful warm up ahead of September’s Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.

The recently refitted and relaunched Velsheda took first blood, winning the Pantaenius Race on Thursday, ahead of Svea and the 33m Malcolm McKeon designed Superyachts Pattoo and Ribelle.

A breezy Friday New Zealand Race saw Ribelle win from Svea with Velsheda third. But on Saturday’s Saint Regis day race it was Velsheda, which celebrated her 90th anniversary on April 26th this year, which won the class overall by a single point from Svea.

“We had three good races and over the different days the leads switched back and forwards. We are very happy with how the boat went. A lot of the time you are racing against the clock which was fine as we were trying a few new manoeuvres and that was good for our sail handling. Overall it is good to get the win against our name, for sure that is always nice and it is good to be together warming up for ‘the worlds’” said Velsheda’s tactician Tom Dodson.

“Palma is such a great place to sail and it was a good bit of training for us both,” added Steve Hayles, Svea’s navigator.