The concept of national identity remains one of the strongest drivers in modern sport – with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games the most powerful and best known example. It’s what makes events like the Football World Cup so special. And it’s the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race teams with the strongest national element that continue to attract the most passionate supporters. As its name implies, national
identity will play a strong part in the appeal of the Nations Trophy, a new regatta being launched this October by Nautor’s Swan, with the inaugural event set to take place in Palma de Mallorca. Enrico Chieffi, vice-president of Nautor Group, explains where the idea came from. ‘It has been a long time since the
last nation-based regatta of this kind. We took our inspiration from old classics like the Admiral’s Cup and the Sardinia Cup, but modified
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the concept for today’s competitive environment. Also this is a one- design regatta, so it is very clear on the water who has done well, even before you see the results.’ As a former Star World Champion
and Olympic representative for Italy in the 470 class, Chieffi grew up with the concept of one-design competition. ‘One-design racing has always delivered the purest form of racing in small boats, most obviously at the Olympic Games. But in larger yachts the trend has been towards customisation, which leads to handicap racing. For many, that is fulfilling enough, but there are still owners who want to enjoy the simplicity and purity of one-design racing in larger yachts.’ Just like the Admiral’s Cup and
Sardinia Cups of latter years, three different sizes of yacht are competing in the Nations Trophy. The Swan 45 and ClubSwan 42 are already well-established, offering
Above: the German Frers Swan 45 OD was an instant success when first launched back in 2002 and was soon delivering excellent class racing. Since being granted
international status seven world cham- pionships have been held – four of them won by Hendrik Brandis’s Earlybird team, now campaigning a brand new ClubSwan 50
great competition within the Swan One-Design programme and also proving successful elsewhere in handicap events, not least in IRC. But the Nations Trophy needed a larger boat too, and the runaway success of the ClubSwan 50 in just its first year has provided the last piece of the jigsaw. Not only will international teams
be competing boat to boat within three individual classes, but there is to be a combined team prize, as Chieffi explains: ‘The Nations Trophy 2017 is the culmination of the Swan One-Design European season and will also serve to determine the Swan 45 World Championship, plus the ClubSwan 50 and Swan 42 Europeans. ‘The Nations Trophy itself will be awarded to the nation with the lowest combined points total across the three divisions, with each nation’s score based on the results of their top two boats from
Event Brief
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