Puig Vela Clàssica regatta: a spectacle of sails, 50 boats defy the waves on second day of competition

Barche Classiche e d'Epoca

Puig Vela Clàssica regatta: a spectacle of sails, 50 boats defy the waves on second day of competition

Argyll, Marigan, Disparate, Argos, Ojala II, Legolas and Viveka won their respective categories

Covadonga Muñoz

15/07/2023 06:50

Argyll, Marigan, Disparate, Argos, Ojala II, Legolas and Viveka won their respective categories.
One of the protagonists of this edition, Briseis, was the first yacht to include an electric motor in 1930.

The third and final day of the regatta will use the reverse race format for the first time.

Barcelona, 14 July 2023 - The second day of the Puig Vela Clàssica regatta has once again offered a great spectacle thanks to the good weather conditions, which have led to a great competition between the more than 50 participating yachts. From early in the morning it was already clear that the weather was going to be good for another day, and so it has been, to the delight of the sailors and the public, who have been able to contemplate from the Barcelona coastline the enormous display of sails that these classic sailboats offer.

An idyllic Garbí wind offered an excellent race course

Today the course was at its best, offering the participants of the Puig Vela Clàssica with idyllic conditions to compete. The wind was the protagonist of the second day, blowing a generous Garbí of course 190º, perfectly synchronizing the thermal breeze with the gradient wind. The initial intensity of 15-16 knots progressively increased to 18 knots, with some slightly higher peaks. As the swell was lower than normal for the wind speed, the boats were able to squeeze out their best performance.

The Race Committee decided on course 2 before the start, a quadrilateral course to which a small initial unmarked leg was added to allow the boats to start upwind. The final distance was 14 miles, with the second leg of 3.4 miles downwind and the fourth of 3.5 miles up the Barcelona coastline from the mouth of the Besós river to a mark next to the W hotel. A long upwind leg sailed 80% starboard tack sailing almost parallel to the coast.

Bermudian and Cangreja

The boats in both Bermudian and Cangreja categories have repeated the results of yesterday's race. In this way, Griff Rhys' Argyll, skippered by Alexis Bordessoule, consolidates the first position among the Bermudians, while Loïc Melliand's French Manitou and Manel López's Spanish Almaran New York reaffirm their second and third positions. But tomorrow, a change in the results in the last race could alter the provisional classification. Among the Cangreja Epochs, Tim Liesenhoff's German Marigan has once again won hands down over Petete Rubio's Gipsy and Miguel Rigo's Freda.

Changes in Big Boats

On this second day, the results in the Big Boat category have shaken up the provisional classification. The partial victory of the British Sir Keith Mills' Viveka allows him to lead the table with 3 points with the last race to go, where the final order will be decided. Today, Nordwind, skippered by Pablo Garriga, finished in second place with a valuable two-minute lead over Mariska skippered by Dan Polljask, while yesterday's winner, Hallowe'en, was fourth. The alternation of partial results places Hallowe'en in second position with 5 points, Mariska third with 6 points and Nortdwind fourth with 7 points.

Classics

In Classics 1 category, the first three classified have also repeated their results today, with Ramón Contreras' Disparate in the lead, followed by Leonardo de Vicentis' Nerissa and Pepe de Miguel's Kahurangi. But the dispute for fourth place is hotting up, as Mónica Xufré's Bakea, Luis Fernández Cotero's Meltemi and Jean Jacques Vitoux's French Beg Hir are in the same order, but tied on 10 points.

Things are more stable in Classics 2, where today's results confirm the first four positions in the hands of the Spanish Argos, the British Clariones, and the Spanish Sea Fever and Asu.

There were no surprises in Classics IOR either, where Susan Caroll's Italian Ojala II repeated yesterday's first place, as did the French Emeraude in second and the Sandra in third.

In Modern Classic, the German Legolas of Jens Ricke, who competes for the RCN Palma, has once again left the twin boats Malira of Hidde Van Dishoeck and Phidias of Jordi Puig, classified in the same order as yesterday, with no options.

Reverse Regatta and parade of participants

Tomorrow, Saturday, the boats will set off from the docks of the RCN Barcelona towards the Portal de la Pau bridge in small groups, while a commentator will explain some of their characteristics to the large number of people who pass over the bridge that connects the area with the Maremagnum.

Once on the regatta course, the third and final race of the Puig Vela Clàssica will take place, which will feature an attractive new feature. In regattas where boats of different sizes and characteristics compete, a "rating" is applied to try to even out the differences. This rating is based on the time that each of the boats has taken to complete the course, establishing a "compensated time" for all of them in order to classify them.

Very rarely, due to the complexity involved, some races are sailed using the reverse start method. This system consists of starting first the slowest boat according to its rating, and then the rest of the competitors start with the difference in time that would equalise them all at the finish line. As it is impossible to know in advance the time it will take, the formula of the ratings is applied taking into account the distance of the course, which can be determined in advance by the Race Committee. This means that, theoretically, the boats could all arrive at the finish at the same time, although the talent and know-how of each crew will make the difference.

Furthermore, the arrival of this reverse race is scheduled to take place inside the northern entrance to the port of Barcelona, thanks to the collaboration and authorisation of the Port Authority and Maritime Traffic. However, in the event of an emergency requiring the use of the mouth of the harbour during the minutes that the regatta will be passing through it, the race committee has planned an alternative arrival outside the port.

Briseis, the first yacht to be equipped with an electric back-up engine, takes part in the Regatta

This sailing yacht was built by the English shipyard Camper & Nicholsons for the automobile manufacturer Louis Renault in 1930. The entrepreneur - then one of France's greatest fortunes - specified that he wanted to equip it with an electric propulsion of his own invention and fitted it with an electric motor, making it the first sailing yacht in the world to use this modern propulsion system and a true exception at the time. For the next 17 years he sailed between the Channel Islands (Renault acquired a large property on the island of Chausey) and the mainland. Briseis sailed for the Mediterranean in 1959.

In 1947, Renault's son sold the boat. From then on, Briseis would meet six successive owners over the years, including a certain Robert Pichonnier, who dismantled the hybrid engine, the Olympic sailing champion Gaston Thubé, and even a maritime expert called Mr. Palangue, who brought it back to Marseille in the early 1960s. In 1963, it was the turn of the young Marseille architect Bernard Laville to fall in love with it.

Burmese teak, acacia, iroko, English oak… Briseis is made of precious woods with a patina of almost a century of history. Nine decades during which this ship danced its graceful silhouette and its white wings from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Today, this sailing ship is owned by a couple from Marseille, Benoît and Marie, and was protected as a historical monument in April.

The 17th edition of the Puig Vela Clàssica Regatta will be held in September 2024

On the occasion of the America's Cup being held in Barcelona in 2024, the Puig Vela Clàssica Regatta will change its traditional date. The competition will be moved to September and will take place from the 4th to the 7th of that month, becoming part of the calendar of the most important sailing competition in the world.

Puig, continuing its long history of sports sponsorship and its commitment to the city of Barcelona, recently announced its partnership with the 37th America's Cup, both as a global sponsor of the event and as the namesake of the first Women's America's Cup. This innovative initiative will provide female sailors with a platform to showcase their skills and talent in high-performance America's Cup AC40s. By supporting the Puig Women's America's Cup regatta, Puig demonstrates its commitment to promoting gender equality within the sport of sailing.

Results of the second day:

Vintage Bermudian