Just about the last thing you'd think about in dreamy Avoca in the heart of County Wicklow is the serious cut and thrust of big boat racing on the salty sea. Yet this other "Avoca Craft Centre" is focused on craft of a very different type to the hand-made items you might get in a country fair. The Mark Mills yacht design studio down in the Vale of Avoca is steadily churning out competitive designs of all sizes that seem well able to win under all or any handicap systems, and anywhere, or indeed wherever, as well.
In theory it would be reasonable to assume that a 31-footer would not feature in a big boat regatta. But the Mills-designed super-swift Cape 31 is a little boat with a big performance. They helped Mills Design to win two classes at the Voiles De St Tropez, the traditional end of season inshore event in the Mediterranean.
Doing the business. Shotgunn on her way to success
In IRC C, the largest with 35 entries, Michael Wilson's Cape 31 Shotgunn dominated the mixed IRC fleet, the third year running a Cape 31 has won one of the biggest handicap titles in the Med. Uniquely this year, Cape 31's also filled the next three places second: Meerblick; third : Solano; and fourth: Give me Five. It was a whitewash for Cape 31, and proof – were it needed - of the versatile design's quality showing under the IRC Rule.
The Mills 62 Yoru has found form to win
MILLS 62 FINDS FORM
Meanwhile at St Tropez in the IMA-run Maxi Classes, Luigi Sala's Mills 62 Yoru fought an incredible battle with Wallyno to win in Maxi Yachts C. A regular competitior with Yoru, Sala's success this week is not sudden.
"It has taken place over the past 18 months" he says, "and finally we are taking advantage of minor improvements on the boat and the ability of the team to work together in a very tight way. We had some taste of this in Porto Cervo."
"We got there!" Luigi Salva and the crew of Yoru
SAN FRANCISCO "BIG BOAT" SERIES
Far away in California, Drew Friedes on his Cape 31 Pacific Yankee took another major ORC title at the 60th Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco, winning the ORC B division with six bullets over seven races. Chris Sheehan's Warrior Won Cape 31 was second in another Handicap Rule sweep for the Cape 31, after ORC wins at the New York Yacht Club Annual and the Safe Harbour Regatta in Newport.
Neat start for the growing Cape 31 class Photo: Ian Roman
This was Freides' first time sailing RBBS in his own boat, although he has raced the series plenty of times in the past, and he was treated to classic San Francisco Bay conditions.
"The Cape 31 is just an awesome boat" he reports. "We were doing over 20 knots going into the finish on Saturday. It was crazy. It's an amazing boat for the Bay. The competition was very tough, regardless of the margin we won by.
Big boat, big success. The Wally 100 V, ex-Tango Photo: Studio Borlenghi
V IS TOPS AT BARCELONA
The Wally 100 V (ex-Tango) skippered d by Ken Read won Class 0 at the Barcelona Superyacht Regatta 2024. Racing alongside the America's Cup racecourse during the Louis Vuitton series, V finished an enjoyable racing season where she was crowned European Maxi Champion, with a win under the ORC Superyacht rule in scenic Barcelona. These successes reflect the significant upgrades the Mills group and V's own team put into the boat, including water ballast, sprit and appendage developments, and rating optimisation.
