In the ClubSwan 42s, Andrea
Rossi’s Mela (Italy) came out on top. ‘Today was really difficult with the light wind jumping about a lot,’ he said. The key to Mela’s victory was a clean start, which got them to the windward mark with a good lead. ‘We took the opportunity to go left,’ said tactician Enrico Zennaro. ‘Then with one tack we laid the mark and found we were in front by more than a minute. We had clear air for the rest of the race, a big margin over second place and no choices to make except how to stay between the fleet and the next mark.’ It was Leonardo Ferragamo’s vision that drove the development of the radical C-foiling ClubSwan 36, so it was fitting that the first-ever race for these exciting new boats was won by the younger generation of the Ferragamo family, sailing Thirty-Six (Italy). ‘We only started training on Tuesday so we haven’t had that much time together,’ said Riccardo Ferragamo. ‘But the boat is great. It’s like going back to sailing a 420 dinghy.’
Day Two saw the fleets chasing zephyrs on a windless Bay of Palma. After several course changes racing was abandoned for the Swan 45s and ClubSwan 42s, while the 50s and 36s persevered. The Spanish navy’s ClubSwan 50 Aifos 500 pulled off a remarkable win in the
Top: the dramatic new C-foiled ClubSwan 36 class makes its racing début. Above: in 2019 Italy beat 13 other national
teams to win the regattaʼs top prize, The Nations Trophy
light airs after crossing the line early and having to go back. ‘This only happens a few times in a sailor’s life,’ tactician Antonio Piris explained. ‘Our only option after we were over the line was to risk everything on one corner of the course. It was the right corner with a very big shift to the right and that put us in second place at the first windward mark.’ On the downwind leg they got past the leader, King Harald V of Norway’s Fram XVIII. ‘The approach manoeuvre to the gate seemed to come too early for them and they went into a light patch,’ Piris said. ‘There were two more changes of course but we were able to hold our own.’ Croatia’s Go Racing scored their first victory in the ClubSwan 36 class. ‘Great teamwork in demanding conditions paid off,’ said helmsman Christian Pavić. ‘We learned a couple of important things for light winds today,’ added tactician Ivan Kljaković Gašpić, ‘like when to use the C- foil, tension on the lowers, uppers and runners. It’s a very active boat. As little as two kts more wind can mean a big re-trim.’
Day Three delivered the powerful sea breeze everyone had been hoping for. Skorpios (Russia) dominated the ClubSwan 50 class. The Finnish Swan 45 Blue Nights helmed by Tea Ekengren-Sauren topped the class leaderboard at the end of a hard- fought day, just ahead of defending champion Porron IX (Spain) and Motions (Netherlands). ‘We weren’t doing anything mysterious, we just worked very hard,’ she explained. ‘The starts were extremely important. It is really hard to get a good race if you mistime the start.’
The last day was a dramatic finale that challenged the sailors’ boat- handling skills. With big waves and a strong, building wind the action was compressed into just one race for each class. Mark roundings were fiercely contested as the crews gave
it their all. In the ClubSwan 50s, fifth place was enough to score Skorpios a comfortable win – and the world championship title. ‘We had good performance all week,’ said Echávarri. ‘The numbers from the boat were fine, the trimmers were super, but what paid the most was that we had really good starts.’ The closest competition was in the Swan 45 class, where the first, second and third-placed boats were all tied on points at the end of the regatta. After winning the last race by a narrow margin, Klaus Diederichs’ Fever (Germany) took the world championship title from Motions (Netherlands) and Blue Nights by having more first-place finishes than his two rivals. ‘We had bad luck with a disqualification yesterday,’ Diederichs said. ‘I told the crew to forget about it, today we are going to show them.’ Andrea Rossi’s Mela (Italy) dominated the ClubSwan 42 class throughout the regatta and went home as well-deserved European Champions. They sailed
conservatively in the last race and finished fifth, still with five points to spare. ‘The other crews are really good but our tactician, Enrico Zennaro, did a great job especially when we were suffering,’ Rossi said. ‘He got us out of some bad situations.’
The last day showed the awesome potential of the ClubSwan 36 in stronger winds. With four wins in six races, Riccardo Ferragamo’s Thirty- Six (Italy) emerged as the clear event winner. As more teams join this exciting new class, the pressure will be on to defend their success and results against a much larger fleet in two years’ time.
As for The Nations Trophy itself, Italy came out on top – just two points ahead of Germany and Russia. And while the winners celebrated their hard-won victories, yacht racing industry leaders toasted the success of the regatta. ‘It’s a very interesting and extraordinary event,’ said Juan Kouyoumdjian, designer of the current ClubSwan Yachts. ‘It is the culmination of a lot of effort in both design and organisation… and the way to measure its success is the smiles on the faces of the sailors.’ Ed Reynolds, president of Quantum Sails, said: ‘With the new ClubSwan 36, you no longer need to be an America’s Cup level sailor to experience this level of extreme performance.’ And North Sails’ Ken Read summed it up neatly: ‘The owners are having a blast, the crews are highly competitive, it is just a wonderful mix of everything that is good about sailboat racing.’
www.nautorswan.com
q SEAHORSE 67
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