For a second occasion, Jean-Pierre Barjon’s Spirit of Lorina has won the IMA Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge (MMOC).
Having first claimed this title for the 2021-22 season, the French-flagged silver Botin 65 has again won it for 2024-25.
Remarkably Spirit of Lorina secured the title competing in the Challenge’s first three events, ultimately winning by just four points from Seng Huang Lee’s Dovell 100 SHK Scallywag. This they set up nicely following a 2nd place in class in the Rolex Middle Sea Race.
As usual the IMA MMOC does not conform to a calendar year in order that the trophy can be presented in a timely fashion at the annual IMA Members’ Dinner in September.
So for 2024-25 it began with the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race and concluded with this summer’s Palermo-Montecarlo. In between it included the Real Club Náutico de Palma’s La Larga; the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia’s Regata dei Tre Golfi (also forming the offshore component of the IMA’s annual Maxi European Championship), the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar; the offshore race within Loro Piana Giraglia and the Aegean 600.
At the IMA dinner Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Commodore Andrea Recordati was also presented with IMA Yacht of the Year trophy after his Wally 93 Bullitt won this prize for the 2024 season. The trophy for the 2025 IMA Caribbean Maxi Multihull Challenge was also presented to Andrew Nisbet, owner of the Gunboat 72 Layla.
