The start had to be postponed for two hours due to the presence of a electric storm over Menorca, but in the end all the classes were able to complete a race // Mariska (Big Boats), Spartan (Gaff Vintage), Comet (Bermudian Vintage), St. Christopher (Classics) and Happy Forever (Spirit of Tradition) are at the head of the general standings

The XIX Copa del Rey Repsol de Barcos de Epoca set sail today with an eye on the sky. The unstable weather that has been affecting the Balearic archipelago for some days now, crept into the premiere of the vintage yacht regatta organised by the Club Marítimo de Mahón with the collaboration of Repsol, the Mahón Town Hall and the Consell Insular de Menorca (Island Council of Menorca). A squall with a large electrical device to the west of the race course forced the committee to delay the first start until half past two in the afternoon as a precaution. The boats waited patiently inside the Mahón harbour until the bad weather cleared and a light easterly breeze came up.

The Gaff Vintage and Bermudian Vintage classes, where boats launched before 1950 are grouped together, completed a 14-mile course, while the rest of the fleet (Big Boats, Classics and Spirit of Tradition) completed a 19-mile crossing to Binibequer, to the southeast of Menorca. The passage of the entire fleet through the Isla del Aire offered the most spectacular images of the day, coinciding with the moments of greatest wind pressure. The wind blew from the east with an intensity of between 7 and 11 knots, as explained by the Principal Race Officer (PRO), Ariane Mainemare.

BIG BOATS

The Mariska, a 1908 William Fife III, wants to repeat in Mahón its triumph of a few days ago in the Illes Balears Clàssics of Palma. Today he opened the Big Boats table with a first place. He was the fastest in real time, stopping the clock at 3 hours and 6 minutes. This group brings together three of the jewels of the Copa del Rey Repsol. At the moment, the American Viveka (1929), last year's champion in Menorca, is second in the classification, while the Irish Hallowe'en (1926), owned by Inigo Strez, stands in third place.

GAFF VINTAGE

The impressive trapezoidal rig of Spartan (1913) was the first to show itself behind the Isla del Rey on its arrival in the port of Mahón. The American boat, skippered by Aladín Montel and defending the title won in 2022, took the overall lead in the Gaff Vintage class. She took the lead in the early stages of the race and from then on, her crew only had to worry about not making any mistakes to make a difference. It won in real time, thanks to its greater length and sail area, and obtained an abysmal 14-minute advantage in corrected time over its closest pursuer, the also American Chinook (1916), owned by Paolo Zanoni. Both boats were designed by Nathael Herreshoff, known as the Wizard of Bristol. The Viola (1908), one of the three jewels of naval architect William Fife III, occupies third place on the provisional podium.

Montel said on his arrival in port that he was very satisfied with the work of his crew, made up of sailors of ten nationalities. "We are very happy with today's result. The wind conditions have been perfect for us. And our objectives for the next few days are to improve our speed and continue to fight for first place", declared the skipper of Spartan.

BERMUDIAN VINTAGE

The Bermudian-rigged vintage boats sailed the same 14-mile course as the Gaff-rigged boats, but the difference between them was much smaller. Comet, a 1946 Sparkman & Stephens, skippered by Marc Marciano, took the lead after a magnificent race in which he was the first to cross the finish line in real time and was a minute and a half ahead of the second placed boat, the Uruguayan FJord III (1947), skippered by Ezequiel Despontín. The fight between Comet and this Germán Frers design looks very exciting. Both are boats that belong to the same era and both are helmed by very competent helmsmen. Jordi Cabau's Spanish Sonata (1937) showed that it is in a position to sail at the front of the fleet and enter the fight for the podium. It lost a little over three minutes to the winner of the race, but was five minutes ahead of the fourth-placed Varuna (1939), owned by Jens Kellinghusen, winner of the Gaff Vintage class in last year's Copa del Rey Repsol.

CLASSICS

Bárbara Trilling's Argos (1964), the reigning Vela Clásica Menorca champion, has found a new rival. Her name is St. Cristopher. It is a Sparkman & Stephens from 1966 and today it made a splash by winning the Classics category, which covers wooden or metal units launched between 1950 and 1975. The winner of the first round of the Repsol King's Cup, skippered by Valentín Martin and armed by Daria Cabai, took 3 hours and 24 minutes to cover 19 nautical miles. She took more than 20 minutes off Argos at the finish line, which was reduced to one minute after the application of the compensation formula. The Clarionet, another '66 S&S, built by Andrew Harvey, winner of the last edition of the Illes Balears Clàssics Regatta of the Club de Mar Mallorca, ceded four minutes to the winner. The first yacht to cross the finish line was, as usual, Galvana (S&S, 1974), skippered by round-the-world sailing record holder Álex Pella (3:18:26), but the correction relegated it to fifth place.

SPIRIT OF TRADITION

Christian Oldendorff's German boat Happy Forever leads the Spirit of Tradition classification after being the fastest in the first race, both in real and compensated time, completing the course in 3 hours and 8 minutes. Second place went to Jordi del Tarre's Lohengrin, launched in 1974. In third place was Celeste di Mare (1971), skippered by Joan Pizá. This last boat, launched in 1971 and recently restored by Amador Magraner, was making its debut in the Copa del Rey Repsol. Calima (1970), last year's champion, had to settle for fifth place.

Tomorrow, the second day of racing will begin to clarify the aspirations of each team with a new race. The start is scheduled shortly after midday for all the groups, although on this occasion, in the first edition of the Copa del Rey with four days of competition, there will still be a lot of sailing to do.