Ibiza JoySail may be one of the newer regattas on the Mediterranean racing circuit, but the event has proven to be a firm favourite as organisers set to welcome its biggest lineup to date.
Scorpione of London
Length: 46.2m
Builder: Baltic Yachts
Scorpione of London is a custom sailing yacht built for a seasoned owner and is the former flagship of Baltic Yachts – a title she held for over a decade. She was delivered as Pink Gin in 2006 and won the New Zealand Millennium Cup and Superyacht Cup Palma in her debut season. Sailing credentials include a large rudder with direct cable steering, lifting keel and she flies 1,891 square metres of sail downwind.
Svea
Length: 43.6m
Builder: Vitters
Fresh off of a win at the Maxi Rolex Cup, the largest (and newest) member of the J Class fleet will be heading to Ibiza for her first Ibiza JoySail regatta. Svea's original lines were designed by Tore Holm in 1973 and Hoek Design Naval Architects was called on to revive the 75-year-old drawings and bring her up to date, complete with a 53.75-metre carbon fibre main mast. As a result, Svea displaces just 182 tonnes — two tonnes less than her fellow J Hanuman and six tonnes less than Ranger. She'll be competing against fellow J Topaz.
Topaz
Length: 42.6m
Builder: Holland Jachtbouw
Topaz is the smaller of the two Js competing this year. The Holland Jachtbouw sailing yacht is based on an unbuilt 1938 design and was revisited by Andre Hoek. Topaz’s hull design features a reduced wetted surface and higher keel aspect ratio to her 27-metre waterline length, making her quick. She was the longest J by waterline length at the time of her launch but was later dethroned by Svea.
Moat
Length: 35.2m
Builder: Nautor Swan
This year's event will mean three in a row for Swan 115 Moat and after two back-to-back wins, she'll be shooting for the hat trick. Moat was born into a racing dynasty as the fifteenth Highland Fling. A long bowsprit offers improved downwind performance, as does a retractable propeller. She is the product of a longstanding partnership between Nautor Swan and German Frers.
Jasi
Length: 35.1m
Builder: Nautor Swan
One of only two Swan 115 models, Nautor Swan specifically tailored the 2018 delivery JASI (formerly Odin) with racing in mind. The hull shape, flush deck, sailing systems, mast and keel were all designed by the yard to provide a competitive edge in world-class regattas such as the Bucket. The 35-metre sailing yacht features the design talents of German Frers with added Code Zero cableless technology making sails lighter and easier to handle.
Aurelius
Length: 33.9m
Builder: Jacht Ontwikkelings Maatschappij
This Dykstra-designed modern classic has an interesting backstory as she was not the product of a renowned shipyard, like many of this year's competitors, but rather the work of the owner himself and his business partner who set up their own shipyard to build his vision. Now under new ownership, Aurelius will be making her Ibiza JoySail debut.
Kiboko Tres
Length: 32.3m
Builder: Southern Wind
Kiboko Tres – meaning hippopotamus in Swahili – is the second in Southern Wind's SW105 series and was delivered in 2018 for a repeat client of the South African shipyard. She was optimised with the Mediterranean superyacht circuit in mind with a larger sailplan, three tonnes more lead in the fixed keel and twin rudders. Weight saving was crucial and the owner even opted for a manual pasarelle, saving 60kg.
L'Hippocampe
Length: 30.2m
Builder: Nautor Swan
L'Hippocampe is a modified Swan 100S and was the last in the series to leave the shipyard. She used to race as Varsovie but was renamed following a change in ownership at the end of 2022. Before then she has competed on both sides of the Atlantic, completing the crossings on her own bottom.
Alarife Cien
Length: 30.2m
Builder: Barcos Deportivos
Alarife Cien is the only Spanish-born sailing yacht and will be racing in home waters at this year's regatta. She was a one-off custom sloop built in Tarragona to a design by German Frers and is one of the more well-travelled competitors, having sailed across the Pacific to New Zealand and rounded Cape Horn in her lifetime.
Aragon
Length: 28.7m
Builder: Southern Wind
The 28.6-metre Southern Wind sloop made her debut on the Mediterranean racing scene as Windfall not long after her delivery in 2013. Commissioned by an owner looking to compete at the major regattas, she was the second of three SW94 models designed by Reichel-Pugh Yacht Design and boasts a carbon mast, rigging and boom. Built in advanced composite sandwich materials means she is light, fast and fearsome on the race circuit with her 463-square-metre sail plan she has clinched multiple regatta wins including the Maxi Rolex Cup.
Allsmoke
Length: 27.5m
Builder: Southern Wind
Allsmoke and her crew will be going for gold this year after achieving second place at the Ibiza JoySail regatta in 2022. The custom Southern Wind sailing yacht features a single rudder, detachable bowsprit, lifting keel (that retracts from 5.8- to 3.8-metres) and a generous 469 square metre sail plan. She weighs only 46.5 tonnes.
Prevail
Length: 27.4m
Builder: YYachts
Prevail is the former flagship of YYachts. Prevail uses carbon for the hull, superstructure, mast, boom and sails, while the rig includes a self-tacking jib and hydraulically operated boom-rolled mainsail. Tripp says the hull shape is optimised to sail at 12 degrees, while the yacht also features a lifting keel, a challenging feature to integrate and disguise in the interior design.
Dark Horse
Length: 25.1m
Builder: Nautor Swan
Dark Horse is another regular at this regatta and after consistently finishing in third place last year. She didn't sail away empty-handed though as she won the Corinthian prize for non-professional skippers. Racing credentials include a carbon hull, carbon deck, high-modulus carbon spars and high-tech standard rigging. And while she might be one of the smallest competitors she could well be a dark horse in his year's lineup.
Highland Fling XVIII
Length: 24.7m
Builder: Gunboat
This 24.7-metre Gunboat is the newest addition to the Highland Fling racing dynasty and the second with two hulls. The racing-red Gunboat flagship made her racing debut at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup with a respectable two wins out of four faces. Optimised for racing, she is built in an ultra-lightweight prepreg carbon fibre structure and honeycomb Nomex core with the mast positioned further aft for an improved sail plan. The semi-custom yacht is capable of exceeding true wind speed at just six knots and is expected to be one of the fastest cruising catamarans of its size.