The Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge’s Neapolitan debut ended in victory for Sirius and Bufeo Blanco. This was the first time in the circuit’s nine-year history that the Florence-based brand sponsored Le Vele d’Epoca a Napoli, which is organised by the prestigious Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia in collaboration with the Italian Navy Staff Sailing Office.

A total of 34 yachts competed in all four races in good conditions with winds of around 10- 12 knots. The racing was over mixed triangle and long coastal courses with passages all the way to the Scoglio del Vervece, a tiny rocky islet just off Massa Lubrense, or in the waters off the Rotonda Diaz on Naples’ Via Caracciolo, casting off from and returning to the Bay of Pozzuoli.

The two winning boats in the standings valid for the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge Trophy 2013 were Sirius (1937) in the Vintage category (yachts launched pre-1950) and Bufeo Blanco in the Classic (yachts launched between 1950 and 1976). Both took home an Officine Panerai watch as their prize. Built in the USA to a design by the legendary Sparkman & Stephens, Sirius is a New York 32, a class penned in the 1930s as the official boat of the New York Yacht Club. Bufeo Blanco, on the other hand, is a Bermudan cutter designed and built in Liguria (Italy) in 1963 by Sangermani.

Classic yachts sailing across the harbour of Naples in the Vele d’Epoca

The other winning yachts in the various sub-categories in Le Vele d’Epoca a Napoli were: Manitou, the 1937 yawl on which President J.F. Kennedy did his sailing in the 1950s and 60s, in the Vintage Yacht with Seconds Per Mile (Spm) over 15; the 1965 Chin Blu III in the Classic Yachts with Spm under 15 and, lastly, Stella Polare, the Italian Navy’s historic yawl, also built in 1965, which took first place in the Classic Yachts with Spm over 15. Victory in Friday’s long race also won Stella Polare the Admiral Angelo Lattarulo Trophy, named in honour of a very active supporter and frequenter of classic sailing regattas.

Eilean, Officine Panerai’s 1936 two-masted brand ambassador, which was flying the burgee of the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia for the occasion, not only finished second in her class but also took the Naval Parade prize, while the 1911 gaff cutter Mariquita won the prize for the longest yacht entered (31 metres). The 1936 International 12-Metre Class Vanity V was awarded the Marina Yachting Prix d’Elegance.

The third edition of the Coppa d’Oro Eduardo Pepe (named in honour of the former president of the Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia) also took place during the Vele d’Epoca a Napoli. Reserved for Dragons, a class of elegant nine-metre keelboats designed in Norway in 1929, and held on a separate course, the competition spanned a total of eight races with the 1963 Dragon Buriana easily holding sway over the rest of the fleet to take a very well deserved victory in her 50th year. Burania was followed in the rankings by Tergeste (1950) and Ausonia (1948), the first Dragon to be built in Italy and recently sent for restoration by Pippo Dalla Vecchia, current president of the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia. After a busy three rounds in June (Les Voiles d’Antibes, Argentario Sailing Week and Le Vele d’Epoca a Napoli), the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge continues in August with a call to Minorca (X Copa del Rey, Spain, 27th-31st August) in the build-up to the season grand finale at Cannes on the Côte d’Azur to decide the official Mediterranean Circuit winners for 2013.

Source: Panerai