The Yachting Year 2018

2013 DESTINATIONS

THE YACHTING YEAR 2018 | 63

C E N T E N A R Y T R O P H Y

In October yachts of

100 years or more

race at Saint-Tropez;

in April the annual

Centenarian of the

Year trophy is

presented at the

Classic Boat Awards,

both events backed

by the Gstaad

Yacht Club

the May ower II.  is is the full-scale reproduction of the

tall ship that brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.

 e boat normally resides on a berth at State Pier on the

Plymouth Waterfront, Massachusetts. Until 2019, she will

be at Mystic Seaport, receiving a full restoration ahead of

Plymouth’s 400th commemoration of the Pilgrims’ arrival

on New England’s shores.

Her launch will mark the end of a heavy duty project,

but meanwhile the team needs some money to do it!  e

project is estimated at $12million and $9million has been

committed.  is includes everything from the cost of

materials such as wood, sails and rigging, to the

establishment of a maintenance reserve fund for the ship.

Visit SaveMay ower.org

CENTENARIAN’S RACE

Once, at some blurry hour of the morning in a bar

overlooking Saint-Tropez quay, I saw a bagpiper climb

onto a mantlepiece, give a deafening rendition of

something stirring and then leap o , crowd-sur ng his

way to the door, while still playing.  is is entirely

unremarkable behaviour at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the

Med’s end-of-season regatta for classics and, somewhat

strangely, a  eet of cutting edge Wally yachts.  e mix on

the water of wood and carbon, bronze and blacked-out

glass, makes for an unforgettable spectacle. Back ashore

for the evening, the party begins again. It’s a must-see

regatta.

In the midst of it, though, takes place one of the classic

scene’s most wonderful events.

 e Centenary Trophy is organised by the Gstaad Yacht

Club and is, as the name suggests, for boats in their second

century.  e entry list is magni cent, Victorian raters

going up against early Universal Rule race yachts, an

exhibition of early leisure boat design that is worth the

cost of your journey to Saint-Tropez alone.

 e  eet starts in a staggered format, the slowest  rst,

with the idea that they will come together at the  nish.

Winds in the famous gulf being as  ckle as they are, a

close bunch  nish rarely happens, but who cares when

you’ve got a restored P-Class crossing tacks with a boat

that took part in the  rst modern Olympics? It’s a truly

classic spectacle. lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr

CLASSIC BOAT AWARDS

Forgive me for talking momentarily about the Classic Boat

Awards, which we run annually on a public-vote basis,

with votes being cast in their thousands from around the

world.

 ere are many other marine awards ceremonies, but

not one that recognises professional and amateur

restorations of all kinds of old boats.

 e Classic Boat Awards has categories for newly built

modern classics, the so-called Spirit of Tradition class, and

also for new builds done in a traditional way, such as a

newly built pilot cutter. We also have a category for

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