AMERICA'S CUP SUPERYACHT REGATTA KICKS OFF

With the challenger playoffs now in the books, the stage is turned over to the superyacht fleet at the America's Cup in Bermuda.

If the turquoise waters off Bermuda’s north coast offered a gentle, benign start to the America’s Cup Superyacht Regatta 2017 there were few complaints from the 19 crews who enjoyed a relatively straightforward Race Day One, in association with Rego Sotheby’s International Realty, a coastal round the buoys passage contest of between 13 and 16 miles.

In breezes which rose and fell between 5 and 11kts there was little by way of tactical upwind or downwind sailing and so the keys to success were sail selection, trimming, smooth crew work and reading how the cloud patterns were influencing the patchy, shifty winds as they blew down off the island.

In the competitive five strong J Class fleet, racing in association with Bermuda Business Development Agency, Hanuman came back from a premature start to recover quickly and take the race victory ahead of Ranger. The biggest Superyacht in the fleet, the iconic 88m Maltese Falcon scored the biggest win in the regatta’s biggest division Class C. 44.8m Visione, the Reichel Pugh design laid down a marker by winning Class A, Hyperion the 48m Frers design with Harold Cudmore calling tactics, triumphed in Class B.