The 2024 edition of Ibiza JoySail has closed the entries at the maximum number: Twenty teams have registered for the unique and enjoyable Superyacht regatta which is set to run out of Marina Ibiza from September 19th to 22nd. This invitational regatta seeks to create an exclusive atmosphere, ensuring that all the teams can race in safety whilst enjoying everything that Marina Ibiza can offer both onshore and on the water.
Set up in 2021, the inaugural edition attracted four Superyacht teams, 11 crews raced in 2022 and 13 in 2023. This record entry for 2024 now includes a diverse range of yachts from the highly regarded new Maximus, the 194 foot Frers ketch which was launched last year, the Dubois 147 footer Gitana to a trio of the new 67 foot Baltic Café Racers which have been drawn by the regatta’s reputation, its timing fitting with their launch schedules and their desire to line up against each other in beautiful surroundings.
Six Southern Wind
There are six Superyachts from the Southern Wind marque, including two SW96s – Ammonite and the newest, Liberty, which was only launched this spring, as well as the SW108 Hybrid Gelliceaux which was launched Autumn 2023 and won her class in Saint Barths this spring. The SW 105 Kiboko raced at Ibiza JoySail in 2023 whilst the SW-RP 90 All Smoke is back for the third time. It’ll be the first time Morgana, the SW-RP 100 joins the popular event on the ‘White Island’.
Nautor’s Swan well represented including the defending champion and record holder Moat
Representing the Nautor’s Swan will be regulars Moat, the 115-footer which remains undefeated at Ibiza JoySail and the 80 footer Dark Horse which won last year in her category. Both have been to all three Ibiza JoySail editions so far. Newcomers are the recently refitted Swan 100 L’Hippocampe for whom Ibiza JoySail is the owner and his team’s first regatta in the Med together after competing at the Heineken Saint Marten regatta and the Saint Barths Bucket this spring.
Triple expresso… three potent Baltic Café Racers go head to head
And of the three debuting Baltic 68 Café Racers, Ganesha, Pink Gin and OpenSeason, the captain of the recently launched Ganesha, Alfredo Mella comments, “The most important thing for us will to be competitive, in Ibiza we will be competing with the three Baltic 68 CR all together, with different configurations (rudders and keels) and so it will be a good regatta to draw conclusions from.”
Back for more
Juan Ball’s Moat returns to Ibiza fresh from winning this summer’s Giorgio Armani regatta in Porto Cervo.
Moat’s captain, Diego Stefani enthuses, “Ibiza JoySail is a regatta which rewards good sailing on the water and good fun on land. It is regatta that the owners enjoy being together with the crew. It is not common to have an event where the owners can enjoy the racing and the social events equally and I think Ibiza JoySail is unique like that.”
He makes no bones of the fact the Moat team are looking to continue their winning streak, “We expect to win again, especially as we have won the last editions. We expect the level to be higher than ever. It is always good racing at Ibiza JoySail and the level keeps going up. We have sailed this boat quite a lot with the same crew, it is a big boat, and you maybe don’t do that very many races but we have managed to keep the same crew all the time and that makes a difference.”
Among the teams for whom Ibiza JoySail seems unmissable are the YD 120 Bliss, the Frers designed 99 footer Barcos Deportivos built Alarife Cien and the Dykstra designed ‘Grand Classic’ 111 footer Aurelius which has clearly enjoyed the Ibiza JoySail recipe as they, too, return this year.
First timers are looking for fun and competition at a ‘family and friends’ orientated event
First timers looking to profit from Ibiza JoySail’s unique mix of competition and shoreside social events includes the new Maximus, a potent ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ design which is the talk of the docks this season.
Captain/helm Lars Loftus explains, “We like the look of the Ibiza JoySail event as the entry list looks well subscribed and there’s a great opportunity for some competitive sailing. We also like the look of the record run from Mallorca to Ibiza as a precursor to the event! We competed in St. Barths, but we had some pretty challenging gear issues that kept us from being competitive; but we are a relatively new boat, having only done our first session of sail training in January, which was only a month after taking delivery of the boat. Palma was a much better event for us, taking first in Class and Second overall. We go into every event with the same expectation, which is to sail the boat safely, cleanly and quickly, hopefully that will be enough for a win.”
Also new to the regatta is L’Hippocampe, the Swan 100. Arno Böhnert runs the project, “She is a dual season boat in the Med in the Summer and Caribbean in winter. She has done two regattas so far, Heineken Saint Marten regatta and Saint Barths Bucket. We are not aiming for the top spots, we aim to compete and to have fun. It is a nice mixture of professional team which forms the core and then many of the owner’s friends, we have a very good team vibe. During the last two regattas we had a really nice engagement between the professionals and the guests on board, we have found ourselves a strong team. That was the objective – not to have a full pro team to pursue the top silverware – but to have a good time. Obviously, we are competitors who go out to do our best, safety and pleasure are the key goals whilst at the same time trying to do the best we can. All the time we are trying to make sure the owner, who steers, is having a good time as are the guests and the crew and we have a fantastic young female captain in Ella Holmes who is just 22 and doing a fantastic job.”
“We are coming because we have never raced this boat before, and our approach is more to have fun and enjoy the experience. And the regatta comes at the end of the season, it’s a race designed for big boats like ours and the level is not really super high. We are just hoping for nice weather and fair winds.” highlights the captain of the SW 96 Ammonite 2 Nicola Manca.
Among the other well known newcomers set to join the fleet in Ibiza for the first time are Nostromo, the successful Dubois 100 footer and WinWin, the 2022-3 updated Baltic 108 which won her class in Saint Barths last year.
Ibiza JoySail’s Kety Sierra sums up “It’s great to see how, year after year, the Ibiza JoySail regatta is highly valued by the usual teams and by new ones . We put a lot of effort and enthusiasm in setting up Ibiza JoySail because we had a strong belief in the concept of thrilling record to beat between Mallorca and Ibiza, of amazing enjoyable race courses around Ibiza and Formentera complemented by a fun social program Ibizan style ashore tailored to discerning owners and teams, and so seeing the joy in both the participants and our team is very gratifying”.
Entries at 17/07/2024