EILEAN, OFFICINE PANERAI’S KETCH STAR OF THE ANTIGUA CLASSIC YACHT REGATTA 2012
• The Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge 2012 sets sail
• Rich calendar of events dedicated to Eilean’s return to Antigua after her restoration
• Duran Duran in Antigua to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the video for Rio, shot onboard Eilean in 1982
• New website www.eilean.it
There’s a whole world of stories in every classic yacht. The stories of the masters who designed and built them, the stories of their owners, their skippers, their often famous guests who sailed or were taken by these boats through the world’s most spectacular seas, be it for adventure, challenge, or pure pleasure. Now it is the turn of the unrivalled scenery of Antigua to tell these tales, with the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta (19-24 April 2012), which opens the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge season for 2012.
Over 50 classic yachts are expected to arrive at the idyllic Caribbean island for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of this not-to-be-missed meeting in the world of classic yachts. A host of titled names among the ladies of the sea are set to dock at English Harbour, including the 1930 yawl Dorade, one of the masterpieces by Olin Stephens, Mariella of 1938, designed and built in the Fife shipyards, the one-hundred-year-old auric cutter Moya (1910) and – in the same class – Tuiga (1909), the famous Fife that flies the flag of the Monaco Yacht Club around the world, the super-fast Bermudan ketch Stormvogel (1961), winner of the PCYC 2008 circuit and set of the film “Dead Calm” starring Nicole Kidman and the impressive auric schooner Zaca a te Moana, a spirit of tradition from 1992 reaching 43 metres in length.
The star of the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta 2012 is sure, however, to be Eilean, the Bermudan ketch built in 1936 in the Fife shipyards, just back on the island where she spent the final decades of her long and fascinating existence, before the lengthy restoration work sponsored by Officine Panerai. Eilean, well known and loved by the community of Antigua, will be at the centre of a series of celebrations and events, including a multimedia exhibition dedicated to the story of her rebirth, staged inside the historical sites of Nelson’s Dockyard, the old port and Georgian shipyard that stands today as the island’s principal natural park. Set to take part in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta to celebrate Eilean’s return are the members of the pop band Duran Duran, who shot the video for Rio, the song from their eponymous 1982 hit album, onboard Eilean exactly 30 years ago.
Eilean’s return to Antigua is also marked by the launch of a new website www.eilean.it where you can find out all the historical and technical details of the yacht, track its movements on a map in real time and read the adventures of skipper Andrew Cully on his personal blog.
The four races of the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta will be taking place from 20th to 23rd April, while the awards ceremony is scheduled for the evening of 24th April.