From tomorrow until 9 September, Imperia will host the twentieth edition of "Le Vele d'Epoca di Imperia", the third stage in the Mediterranean of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge, the international regatta circuit reserved for classic and vintage sailing yachts sponsored for the fourteenth consecutive year by the Florentine maison of the same name in the field of fine sports watches. The event, first held in 1986 and then repeated every two even-numbered years since 1992, is organised by the Yacht Club Imperia in collaboration with the Circolo Nautico al Mare of Alassio and the Club del Mare of Diano Marina, with the support of Assonautica Imperia. This western Ligurian city is preparing to host one of the most important fleets of vintage sailing boats in the entire Mediterranean. More than 50 boats between 7 and 40 metres long, launched throughout the 20th century and divided into the Big Boats, Epoch Auric, Epoch Marconi, Classic, and Spirit of Tradition categories, are expected to arrive. Four regattas are scheduled, one per day, which will take place on triangle or coastal courses starting on Thursday 6 September. On Sunday morning, before the last competition, the boats will take part in a spectacular parade to win the Elegance Prize. In the afternoon the prize-giving ceremony will be held in the square in front of the new Naval Museum of Imperia. Numerous important boats will take part in the rally, starting with the 35-metre Moonbeam IV from 1914 that belonged to Prince Rainier of Monaco or the 1937 Manitou on which President J.F. Kennedy sailed. Eva is instead the 1906 17-metre owned by Pete Townshend, leader and guitarist of the legendary rock group The Who. There will also be the historic Il Moro di Venezia I, which was owned by Raul Gardini, or the 1930 Emilia, commissioned at the time by Senator Giovanni Agnelli from the Costaguta shipyards in Genoa. The Italian Navy will line up on the starting line Stella Polare from 1965 and Corsaro II from 1960, two of the boats on which the cadets of the Livorno Naval Academy continue to train. Also competing in Imperia will be Vistona from 1937, the auric cutter that not only took part in the first Imperia meeting in 1986, but can also boast the title of the boat with the highest number of presences at this meeting. Among the new entries was also Barbara, an 18-metre Bermudian yawl launched in 1923 at the famous British shipyard Camper & Nicholsons, just back from a restoration that lasted over three years carried out by the Francesco Del Carlo shipyard in Viareggio. The Panerai vintage regatta circuit in the Mediterranean will conclude the 2018 season with the Régates Royales scheduled to take place in Cannes from 24 to 29 September.
