Two J Class yachts, the Swedish flagged Svea and Rainbow which will debut in the colours of her new owner, will take centre stage at the 30th anniversary of the Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille in late June. 

The two crews are good friends off the water and in early June they will be teammates racing for the Royal Ocean Racing Club at the Sardinia Cup, respectively onboard the Swedish Ran 41 footer and Jolt 52. In the days leading up to the Superyacht Cup they will likely line up together and will be informal sparring partners, but when the start gun sounds the new team will be doing all they can to match or better Svea, which has been the dominant J Class in recent years. 

Svea’s impressive record includes winning three back-to-back Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup titles in Porto Cervo, Sardinia between 2022 and 2024, and winning 2024’s J Class Barcelona Regatta during  the 37th America’s Cup. 

The Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille which runs from 24-27 June will actually be the first competitive event for the new Rainbow and owner-driver, Admiral’s Cup winner Peter Harrison. Harrison is also CEO of Richard Mille EMEA, who have signed a three year partnership to support Europe’s longest running Superyacht Regatta.   

Widely considered one of the most potent J Class yachts afloat, smaller, lighter and more nimble than some of the bigger more powerful boats, Rainbow highlighted her potential in Barcelona where she raced for the first time since 2014. Palma’s light to moderate June sea breezes should be ideal for Rainbow and her new crew. 

Mat Sweetman, Rainbow’s Captain, is enjoying a busy demanding season but is looking forward  to racing Rainbow again. “We will have a three day training session end of April. As a new crew and owner we will be working through what we have and running through systems and crew work. We will then have three or four days training before The Superyacht Cup. I’m sure we will line up with Svea in the days leading up to the event, but before that we need to work on crew work and speed.” 

He adds, “We always want to do well and win if possible, however this is a new team to the boat. It is certainly talented and we have sailed together on other yachts, but with these boats it does take time to work them up. Learning and getting better, sailing clean and having a reliable boat is important for me.” 

As yet they have not fixed their sailing team but Sweetman confirmed ‘…..a lot of the team will come from the Admirals Cup winning Jolt Sailing Team.’ 

Svea will welcome new tactician, American Tony Rey for this season’s regattas. The Newport based Rey has J Class experience, most recently with Topaz, and is also very experienced on the Bay of Palma. 

Rey of North Sails in Newport RI enthuses “It will be my first time on Svea but I have sailed with Steve Hayles (navigator) a lot over the years, and I know Tim Powell well and appreciate the level of programmes he runs. I am also friendly with Paul Kelly the Svea captain, so I am really looking forward to racing with the team. Hopefully this will turn out to see more Js racing in 2027 and beyond as racing these boats is just awesome. They are so incredible, a really unique way to race yachts that are Superyacht sized but racing with a Grand Prix mindset and certainly Grand Prix sailors. With the history of the J Class there's no combination that comes close. It is amazing. I think back to that magical 2017 J Class Worlds we had here in Newport, the first event I did on Topaz and the chance of that happening again over the next few years is just so exciting for big boat racing.” 

And he is looking forward to being back on the Bay of Palma, “I mean, when Palma's good, it's hard to beat. It's about the best natural race course there is. Yes, it's a shame there aren't more islands to go around, but the sailing is just spectacular in Palma. The shoreside's great. The whole event's going to be just really exciting from a Svea perspective. We're thrilled by this sort of racing. Kate Branagh's commitment to this event for 26 years is awesome. It is really cool to see it really flourish again.”

Registration and check is on Wednesday 24th June. Racing is scheduled Thursday 25th, Friday 26th and Saturday 27th June.