Copa Del Rey (Kings cup) Palma
I had intended to undertake the boat delivery trip with Steve from Genoa Italy (where we left yacht Aassifa after the Loro Piana Giraglia regatta a few weeks earlier) to Palma, but had a bad fall on my own boat when collecting my sailing gear for the trip. I decided to hose down my boat before leaving, slipped and fell, knocking myself out and falling badly on my hip, causing really bad back pain. I reluctantly had to pull out of the delivery, but was able to fly to Palma a couple of weeks later to Race Aassifa in the kings cup regatta.
I met John, Ian and Grahame at Gatwick. After a few hours Easy Jet cancelled our flight. Luckily for us Johns wife Daryl runs a travel councillor business and quickly organised new flights with TUI leaving 3 hours later. I felt really sorry for the other travellers that were quite upset and not sure what to do or how to now organise their flights to Palma, as the best Easy Jet were able to offer was a refund. (It,s unfair but sometimes it just comes down to who you know). I’ve sent Daryl a bottle of rose as a thankyou.
When we arrived in Palma we went straight to the crew house we had rented. It was lovely, large and well looked after. It had a pool, loads of space and a pool table, which we didnt actually use. However it was a good 40 minute walk to the race marina, and all up hill on the way back. Never the less it was a great place for the 8 of us crew to stay.
The regatta week was great fun and its exhilarating and full of adrenaline on the start line (Its my favourite part of a race) with all the yachts speeding towards the start line at the same time, sometimes its chaos with 20 or 30 so boats in your class only inches away from each other, everyone shouting for water (In racing the rules are a bit different to the normal rules (highway code for water if you like), stand on vessels will often shout and scream its their right of way, its so confusing and how we do not crash (sometimes they do) amazes me). Like any sport to get a good start is so important if you want to be competitive.
The Kings cup is full of professional teams, this year I recollect there were only 6 or 7 amateur teams, one of which is us. We always know we can’t be competitive against professional race teams that seem to have unlimited budgets, but still we enjoy ourselves and the experience. Sailing is one of the only sports as an amateur where you can compete with professionals, which in this race included the King of Spain himself. You always know where he is on his boat because he is taller by a big margin than the rest of his crew. And you always know when he will be in the marina as security is significantly increased. Never the less it always surprises me how casual it appears when he is amongst you sometimes only a few feet away. I’m sure if a problem arose though, his security would rapidly appear from nowhere.
After the daily racing, you usually end up in the crew village enjoying the sponsors hospitality, then off for a swim in the super warm marina pool, a quick shower and change of clothes before finding a restaurant to dine in. Its all part of the fun and the Aassiffa crew have become good friends over the last couple of years.
This year, we were a bit short of crew so Steve enlisted his neighbour “Shep”. He as a similar work background to me a we got on like a house on fire. He was great fun and I shall certainly look forward to meeting up with him again. Of an evening he wore very posh silk shirts and I commented several times how good they looked. After a few drinks one night we ended up swapping my, by comparison, cheapish linen Superdry shirt for his expensive posh silk shirt in a restaurant (See photo below). I would not normally buy this type of shirt as its quite laree, but, surprisingly I liked it and think Ill look to get some more. Shep also had a 65ft Princess motor cruiser named “COCO” moored in our marina which we had drinks on one evening, before heading off to a restaurant, it was lovely, but its running cost and marina fees are eye watering. (Fuel cost alone from the UK to Palma are circa £40,000.00, marina fees £76000.00 a year).