A gentle north wind was blowing, allowing the superyachts — but not the J Class— to contest one race

With the entire fleet now gathered at Marina Ibiza, the superyachts competed in their first race in Ibiza, with Moat in Performance, Dark Horse in Performance Cruising, and Aurelius in World Cruising leading the pack on their first outing. The J Class, who stretched their legs on Wednesday, spent several hours out on the water this Thursday but ultimately were unable to race. 

There was a huge buzz in the air about seeing all the superyachts in action. Fortunately, the forecasts of gentle southerly winds held up and the fleet headed out to the islet of Es Vedrà (twelve miles from Marina Ibiza) to revel in the best wind. 

The yachts had a flying start every two minutes from slowest to fastest according to their rating. The first to cross the starting line was the Dystra 111 Aurelius and the last to do so was the Swan 115 Jasi. The route was 11.98 miles.

Gaspar Morey, President of the Superyachts Race Committee, said of today’s racing that “we held an inshore between Es Vedrà and a variable navigation mark that was four miles to the north. This gave us a fairly technical route of a run and a close haul of four miles each”. 

The start, located next to Es Vedrà, took place in a tailwind of six to seven knots with many of the boats with code zero. After sailing around half the islet, the yachts then headed to a buoy located between Cala Vedella and Cala Molí. 

Moat, a Swan 115 owned by Juan Ball and skippered by Guillermo Parada, as well as the clear favourite in Performance and winner of the first two editions of Ibiza JoySail, soon took the lead and arrived at the buoy comfortably ahead of the rest of the fleet. All Smoke (SW-RP 90) followed in her wake in real time. Moat ultimately romped home to victory, followed by her ‘twin’ Jasi, and All Smoke in third place. In Corinthian, the Spanish yacht Kiboko (SW 105) finished first and fourth overall.

Meanwhile, Dark Horse (Swan 80), another of the classics competing in Ibiza JoySail, wowed spectators with her competitiveness in the Performance Cruising category. The British yacht was in the leading group until almost the end of the close haul, where she was outraced in real time by Kiboko, a yacht twenty-five feet longer. Coming home second was Prevail (Tripp 90) and third was Shambo (Y7 70).

Aurelius (Dystra 111) also performed well from the very start, heading the fleet for a good part of the first stage, while the Spanish yacht Alarife Cien (Custom 99) came second, and Scorpione of London finished in third.

The Js, which did race on Wednesday, had their racecourse marked out north of Formentera, but the wind barely reached five knots, so they weren’t able to compete in any races.

For Friday, the two fleets will come together to on a nearshore racecourse showcasing both the J Class and the superyachts.