The 2026 Spanish Championships took place over two days in Majorca with 6 races scheduled although due to weather conditions only 4 were possible with no discard. Thirteen boats were entered, last year’s winner James Haugh was unable to attend due to work commitments in the USA but followed racing closely. We welcomed back past winners Patrick and Vincent Harris after their exploits in the Rolex Middle Sea Race at the back end of 2025 where they won their class and achieved an incredible 2nd place overall sailing double handed in their 1965 classic yacht ‘Mowgli’.

We had 13 entries and a forecast for sunshine and 6 - 8 knot winds over both days. On Day 1 we were greeted with little to no wind resulting in a 1 hour postponement until a light breeze started to come in from the North East. The race committee set up a windward/leeward course for the first of 3 scheduled races. We all had a clean start in a NE 4 - 6 knot wind heading out into the bay. The fleet split left and right, within minutes the wind began to shift resulting in the beat turning into a reach to the top mark. Sensibly, the race committee decided to abandon the race and we all returned to the committee boat.

Over the next 30 minutes, the wind settled to a steady SE 12 - 14 knots, the course was re-set with the start line reversed and top mark set outside the Marina. With the changed conditions a number of boats arrived early at the line resulting in a few hasty jibes down at the pin end! However, Victor Perez in 3598  ‘Ffuga’, Josh Banks in 3831 ‘Ospray’ and John Walker in 4122 ‘No Way Jose’ got off sharply heading towards land with a number of other boats, whilst the rest of the fleet went into the bay hoping to pick up more breeze. At the top mark, Michael Beecken in 3817 ‘Dragonfly’ rounded first, closely followed by Victor/Josh and John. All the boats that followed the land benefitted from a slight shift up the beat. Down the run all three boats passed Michael with Victor slowly but surely pulling away. That’s how it finished with Victor 1st, Josh 2nd and John 3rd. Patrick in 3825 chose the bay and had to fight his way up to 7th.

Race 2 In steady winds, Patrick and Vincent in 3825 had a storming start hitting the line at speed taking a lead up the first leg with a pack of three or four boats chasing them but not getting close enough to upset their rhythm and they finished a clear 1st. Victor worked his way past a number of boats into 2nd place and Ralph Hennig in 3804 and his son Ivo completed the first three improving on his 4th place in Race 1. Josh and Rafa who were running  4th and 5th engaged in a luffing match down the last run resulting in Rafa taking 4th and John Walker 5th and Josh 6th.

Time was getting on so the Race Committee quickly got us away for the last race of the day as the wind began to tail off. The pattern was set, Victor/Patrick/Ralph/Josh/John and Rafa in 3724 Bigboy Nautica were swapping places at the front all the way down the course with  Victor again crossing the line first followed closely by Patrick and then Josh with Ralph keeping up his consistent results with another 4th place finish.

An enjoyable days racing with Victor & Mark dominating,  finishing the day on 4 points , Patrick & Vincent on 10 closely followed by both Ralph & Ivo and Josh & Aalt on 11 points.The overnight forecast for Sunday showed a sunny very light 3 - 5 knot wind forecast tailing off to nothing later in the day so it was decided we would start a little earlier.

Sunday morning was a beautiful sunny day but unfortunately no wind at all. The boats were rigged and ready to go, the Committee Boat made regular trips into the bay to try and find wind. We all decided to have a small takeaway lunch in the boatyard, courtesy of John Walker, not anticipating being able to race. As 2 o’clock approached , the Committee boat came back in, our expectation was we would all be packing up. To our surprise they found a 5 knot NE wind on the other side of the bay! We hastily jumped in our boats and made our way, partly by being towed to the start line.

And sure enough, a windward/leeward course was set in light winds but enough to carry a spinnaker and off we went! Again the fleet split up the beat trying to find that extra bit of breeze , but the fleet was bunched at the top mark, Victor first closely followed by Patrick /Josh/Rafa / John and Ralph. Down the run Victor & Patrick  gybed off onto port whilst John and Ralph stayed on the right side on starboard. Rafa & Pilar who had rounded 4th went straight down the middle and arrived at the mark 50 metres ahead of everyone else! They held this lead all the way over the next lap to finish 1st followed by Victor/Mark 2nd and Patrick/Vincent 3rd and again Ralph/Ivo in 4th.

Sadly the wind died and we all had to be towed in with no more racing possible, but still an enjoyable day.

Overall Results with no discard:

  

1st Place: Victor Perez & Mark Branagh in ‘FFUGA’ CHI3598 on 6 points

2nd Place:Patrick Harris & Vincent Harris in ‘SPANISH FLY’ ESP3825 on 13 points

3rd Place: Ralph Hennig & Ivo Hennig in ‘SPEEDY GONZALES’ ESP 3804 on 15 points

 

Josh and Rafa were tied on 16 points with John on 19 points so apart from Victor the next placings were very close.

An enjoyable couple of days racing, many thanks to Marie and her colleagues in the Committee boat for a very well run Regatta, a good job done in difficult circumstances.

We are all looking forward to the Europeans in October at the Club De Mar, Palma in October.

By Scott Walker