Category: News
Mark Mills was named Irish Sailing and Afloat.ie’s Irish Sailor of the Month for April, reflecting a focus on off the water activity during the current pandemic. Mills was recognised as “a breath of global fresh sea air” for the success of his designs from the large to the small.
Singled out for mention were his recent MDO Monte Carlo award for the design of the Wallycento ‘Tango’ and the success of the Melges IC37 as the latest New York Yacht Club One Design. “It’s a shame the water is off limits for most of us, but I feel incredibly lucky to receive this honour, and to be working though this difficult period.”
World Sailing shared on its facebook account the high speed downwind clip from the Cape 31 MB Racing we originally posted in December:
and it has grabbed attention worldwide, currently for example on the front page of major French website Voiles et Voiliers!
The third annual Cape 31 Invitational 2020 showcased the fabulous sailing venue of Cape Town, the Royal Cape Yacht Club, and the Cape 31 Class, providing the opportunity for the Cape Town fleet to compete against foreign teams as a way to spread the word worldwide. With 10 boats on the start line Niall Dowlings’ Irish visitors Arabella started Day 1 well, with four races sailed in westerly breeze between 10 and 14 knots with a flat sea. By the end of the day however at the top Gerry Hegie and his Seascape Yanmar team led from Nitro, both on 13 points.
Saturday saw four more races sailed initially in lighter conditions, with Tony Norris on TNT Racing starting with two bullets, chased by Nitro, Seascape, and Arabella all posting strong results as the breeze filled. However the Cape Doctor arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning, leading to the final day of racing being cancelled and crowning TNT Racing champions for the second year running.
Starting from the RCYC in Cape Town and finishing after racing more than 80 miles up the coast at Club Mykonos in Langebaan, this is considered the biggest offshore race in Africa by numbers. 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the Mykonos Offshore Regatta hosted by Royal Cape Yacht Club and Club Mykonos, with an amazing 60 entries having a blast making their way up the beautiful west coast. The regatta score adds the 80 mile race to a pursuit race held in the bay the next day.
The Cape 31 class dominated the Offshore results with the first Nitro, finishing second on the water only 7 minutes behind the the 60′ Warrior. That meant Nitro stole the show by winning overall on handicap, winning in their division and winning the Cape 31 Class. The remaining seven Cape 31’s took the next seven spaces Overall, in Division, and of course Class with Seascape Yanmar and Vivaldi rounding out the podium. Including the next days pursuit race results for the overall regatta still left Cape 31’s in the top 5 places for the reagtta, an outstanding result.
Designer Mark Mills “When I was drawing the Cape 31 locals kept enthusing that this boat would really excel in Mykonos Race conditions! Of course after they launched we then got a couple of quiet races, but the 2020 Mykonos Race shows how much the Cape 31 revels in an downwind sleigh ride.”
Wally and Mills Design have won the première edition of the MDO Montecarlo prize dedicated to design for the wallycento TANGO.
At the awards ceremony held at the Yacht Club de Monaco, Wally was honoured with first place in the competition, which celebrates international excellence in innovation, technology, design and sustainability. The prizes were accepted by Mark Mills of Mills Design, and Stefano de Vivo, managing director of Wally, representing a design group including Pininfarina, Persico Marine, and Pure Engineering.
Once again, an international award recognises outstanding work in yacht design and innovation on a global scale. The nominees were judged by a panel of prominent authorities on design – including renowned architects Mario Botta, Richard England and Jean-Michel Wilmotte- based on their stylistic, dimensional, functional and economic traits and features.