Antibes, 30 May 2018 – Between May 30 and June 3, the French town of Antibes plays host to a fleet of some of 80 vintage sailing craft for Les Voiles d’Antibes, the first round of the 2018 Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge Mediterranean Circuit. This is the 14th consecutive year that the leading international series for these Grandes Dames of the Sea has been sponsored by the Florentine luxury sports watch maker.
The Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge season opens in Antibes with a very special guest, Guillaume Néry, the French free diving champion appointed a Panerai brand ambassador just this year. On his wrist, Guillaume has chosen to wear the Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic 3 Days Automatic Titanio PAM1389, a model from Panerai’s Divers Professional watch collection, water-resistant to a depth of 300 metres. This two-year partnership also reinforces Panerai’s deep and abiding connection to the sea.
The world’s most beautiful and admired wooden sailing yachts will be doing battle over four regattas between June and September – two in Italy and two in France – to decide the winners of the coveted season trophies in the Big Boats (over 30 metres), Vintage (launched pre-1950) and Classic (launched 1950-1975) categories. Antibes will also be hosting the Spirit of Tradition category, which comprises more recently-built craft whose lines and characteristics are inspired by designs of the past, and the Tofinou category. The latter 9.5-metre cruiser-racer one design penned by architects Joubert-Nivelt is particularly popular in France, in fact.
On Wednesday, May 30, the fleet will gather in the old port at Antibes with racing beginning on Thursday, May 31. Four races are scheduled in all – one per day, spread over a combination of coastal and triangular courses depending on weather conditions. The prize-giving ceremony takes place after the final race on Sunday, June 3. The public will have access to the docksides each day to admire the yachts moored in the port.
