All the VELA Cup Superstars. Here are the boats that will parade out

There are several ways to be among the Superstars of the VELA Cup, the regatta/sailing race that will start at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 6, in front of Santa Margherita and that from this year will also repeat on Sunday, May 7, at 10 a.m., and that already has 135 entries when there are still 15 days to go. Among the boats already registered, we have pulled out a few goodies that for different reasons fall among the Superstars of this great party at sea. This year’s VELA Cup in Tigullio promises to be even more crowded and colorful, an event that, in just a few years, has already turned into a major Tyrrhenian classic. We went to peek among the boats that have already confirmed their presence: lots of standard boats (luckily, this is a sail for everyone!) but we also discovered many “unique pieces” among them…

WHITEFIN
Designed by Bruce King, the best sailing example in Italy of Spirit of Tradition, or the perfect combination of elegant lines of the “boating that was” with modern hull performance. Below deck is one of the most beautiful boats there is, exuding the scent of yachting history.

OJALA’ II
Signed by Sparkman & Stephens, Ojalà is the iconic boat of the IORs and One Tonners of the 1970s, custom-built for the legendary Charles Holland, the Anglo-Italian yachtsman who started (first him, then his family) taking this iconic example of design perfection from the world’s most famous New York firm around the Mediterranean, cruising and racing.

MY SONG
My Song, or the most beautiful sailboat in the world, not because of its length of 40 meters, but because the best of the best in every field: beauty, performance, comfort, and design. As soon as she is launched, she comes to the VELAFestival to be admired. Then you won’t see it again because it will “disappear” around the Mediterranean. A “recipe” from the cooks

THE MOOR OF VENICE I
The boat from which it all began. The design (signed German Frers) of the Moro di Venezia I, built by the Carlini shipyard from seven-ply laminated wood on acacia laminated frames, is dated 1976 and at vintage sail races runs among the Classics. Launched in 1976 and the progenitor of the Italian Maxi Yacht IOR class, she was desired by Raul Gardini, the former king of Italian chemistry. Subsequent boats bearing this name have made Italian sailing history, racing in the America’s Cup.

LONA II
It’s not every day that you get to admire a perfectly restored 112-year-old auric cutter up close. Lona II was designed by British architect Paine Clark in 1905 and built by the William King and Sons shipyard at the Burnham on Crouch site in British Essex.

TEMPTATION
Temptation, a 59′ Frers (formerly RRose Selavy), boasts a more than glorious past, a Fastnet Race and a Maxi World Championship.

SULA
This year the Arpège turns 50, and at the VELA Cup you can admire a beautiful specimen. Sula, freshly restored, dated precisely 1967, when it all began. A success, that of the Michel Dufour-designed boat, which resulted in 1,600 hulls produced from 1967 to 1978, in various versions.

DHL ADELASIA OF TORRES
Renato Azara’s M37 is a boat with an important past: it is the former “Low Noise,” World Offshore Champion. But the new owner has not been idle either: in 2016, among other achievements, he won the Rolex Middle Sea Race in his category.

DAJENU
Awarded last year at VELAFestival, Mark Mills is not well known in Italy except for Supernikka. But mind you, he doesn’t just make superboats: Dajenu, a Mat 1010 is an excellent example of the Irish designer’s signature performance-racer-cruiser, very rare in the Mediterranean.

NOW
Now it is a sailboat built for a sailor who has been sailing for more than forty years, it is the result of a love and passion for technology and performance combined with a desire to sail in perfect safety. No expense was spared in German Frers’ design, carbon and titanium construction, and Gae Aulenti-designed interiors; the boat underwent a deep refit in 2011, with a complete repainting and teak deck refit.

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