The 9th edition of the Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy, the regatta dedicated to boats 100 years and more of age is scheduled for Thursday, 3 October at the Voiles de Saint-Tropez.
As past winners and participants keep coming back for more, year after year new centenarian yachts make their debut at the Trophy.
The 2019 entry list includes the 1917 Apache, an 8 Metres IR designed by Norwegian architect Johan Anker, known worldwide as the father of the Dragon.
Apache, second of a series of four, was built in Norway and was shortlisted to participate at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, but due to change of the 8-m rule in 1919, didn’t make it to the Games.
A new entry is also the 15 Metre fin keel racing Ester, a 1901 gaff sloop designed by Gunnar Mellgren with a pretty unique story to tell:
Due to a fire on board she sunk and was lost in the 1930s, to be discovered in 2016, 164 feet below the sea surface in the north of Sweden. Fully restored, thanks to the passion of her new owners, Ester re-started her successful sailing career.
One of the oldest boats still competing on the classic yachts circuit, Marigold, built in 1892 at Gosport and designed by Charles Nicholson, will be on the starting line too.
The Centenary Trophy features an especially created and constantly refined handicap system, allowing very different boats in size and rig to compete on equal terms, and its format has proved extremely attractive for the sailors and the public alike, with the first boat to cross the line off the Saint Tropez breakwater to be declared the winner.
Past winners of the Centenary Trophy
2011: Bonafide (1899)
2012: Marigold (1892)
2013: due to adverse weather conditions the title was not awarded
2014: Olympian (1913)
2015: Oriole (1905)
2016: Spartan (1913)
2017: Tilly XV (1912)
2018: Tilly XV (1912)
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