Dateline: Palma/Monaco The SuperYacht Cup, Palma 2007, was the biggest ever, with 52 competing boats, and maybe the most beset by surly wind djinns, who either didn't blow at all or conspired to offer breaths of wind from (literally) all directions simultaneously. The Falcon participated, and at twice the size of the other competitors, we didn't expect to win---anticipating a rating that would be a serious obstacle to overcome. Still, the pursuit race idea of handicapping is sound. The committee for race one guesses the results in advance of the starts, for a somewhat arbitrary starting order; then on day two the actual first day finishing order is inverted---so, theoretically, on race three (which counts most, by far, in the points) any boat can win. This assumes a, more or less, constant wind on each day. But on that assumption, this regatta went seriously off the track. Day one saw very light winds; so light that about a third of the competitors couldn't finish within the time limit. The Falcon came in ninth, not too bad for such soft air. Day two was truly bizarre. We had a good start and in the initial wind, of some 14 knots, were holding our own against Ranger and other fast yachts to the first mark. Then the wind died. I mean really died, so that steerage-way was tough. The fleet had to gamble. Would the sea breeze fill in from port---or would the unusual South-East wind from the first leg return? We picked port, and that was wrong. During this strange day the wind, quite truly, blew (but oh so tentatively) from each point of the compass, sometimes all at once---I have never before seen spinnakers holding, simultaneously, from each quadrant. At each shift we guessed wrong---our two local experts (one an Olympic level competitor) were mortified. They blamed everything on global warming. Anyway, we never finished and had eventually to use our engines to get in. So, on day three, the committee not knowing what our real potential was, gave us a start 56 minutes behind our competitors. The wind was "normal;" a sea breeze of 20 knots, and we sailed very well, but couldn't make up that handicap. Still, it was a great day with a number of exciting private races as we caught up on the fleet. Towards the end we were surging at nearly seventeen knots, and had the race gone on for a couple of more hours we would have won---haven't you heard that line before? But, it was a great regatta with excellent social events for both guests and crews. We'll be back. The Falcon left the next day for Venice, and the Perini folks, the Dijkstra boys, Damon Roberts (who built out spars) and I departed immediately for The ShowBoats award ceremonies in Monaco. We collected the top four awards (the most ever given to a single yacht): Interior; Best in Class; Best Technology; and Best Overall Sailing Yacht. There were none that we missed! A great event following a wonderful regatta. There will be a superb "coffee table" book out in the fall on the Maltese Falcon, published by the people at The Yacht Report, consisting mostly of wonderful photos from really top photographers. Best, Tom