The European Yacht of the Year Awards are always a big event in the sailing world and give exceptional visibility to the shipyards that take part. The JPK 1050 was invited this year along with a dozen other boats to Port Ginesta, south of Barcelona.
Transporting
We were given the opportunity to participate by our friend and customer Nico Popp, whose JPK 1050 is based in Antibes and who kindly offered it to us for the competition.
It was too good an opportunity to pass up, combining the pleasure of a beautiful sail between Antibes and Barcelona with the chance to defend our chances in the Racers category against, among others, the XR41 and the Pogo RC...
So, I made arrangements with my friend Hervé to sail the 300 miles in light, easy winds. Fortunately, the boat is fast in light airs and the engine was hardly used despite the average wind speed of 6-8 knots. Less than 48 hours later, we were there!
Ten journalists, ten trials
We met our fellow participants and the ten European journalists who would be taking turns on board.
Jochen Rieker
Yacht – Germany
Roland Regnemer
Yachtrevue – Austria
Morten Brandt
Bådmagasinet – Denmark
Pasi Nuutinen
Vene – Finland
Sebastien Mainguet
Voiles & Voiliers – France
Marinus van Sijdenborgh de Jong
Zeilen – Netherlands
Alberto Mariotti
Superyacht24 – Italy
Lori Schüpbach
Marina CH – Switzerland
Axel Nissen-Lie
Seilmagasinet – Norway
Joakim Hermansson
Praktiskt Båtägande – Sweden
Diego Yriarte
Náutica y Yates – Spain
Toby Hodges
Yachting World – United Kingdom
Photos: © EYOTY / Andreas Lindlahr
The principle is as follows: two hours of sailing with each journalist to test the boat. The final decisions are made before the opening ceremony of the boot Düsseldorf boat show at the end of January, where the European Yacht of the Year Awards will finally be presented to the public, followed by a wave of publications in the print media, online, and on social media.
These two hours of sailing per journalist involve returning to shore after each rotation. On a JPK 1050, this is quite a challenge because the sails are not hanked, so you have to perform the maneuvers quickly. With 18-24 knots of wind and bright sunshine, the conditions were perfect...
A close-hauled tack, a few gybes and up went the spinnaker for a beautiful full-speed downwind run, with the rudder upwind. The journalists took turns at the helm and they were clearly all grinning from ear to ear! I challenged them by telling them the best speeds already achieved... and it was our Norwegian friend Axel who broke the 20 knot barrier.
Competition at the show
Also present in the marina (or in Amsterdam at the same time) were:
- le First 30,
- le Dragonfly 26,
- le Pogo RC et le XR41,
- le Lagoon 38 et l’Excess 13,
- le Foutain Pajot et le Sun Odyssey 415,
- le Pure 42 et le Saffier SL 46,
- and I was impressed by the Woy 26, an ultra-high-performance 8-meter dayboat with a magnificent design and a perfectly sublime larch wood construction.
Return
The week is coming to an end and I have to quickly drop off my last guests because the mistral is forecast in 24 hours, and I have to sail the boat back solo. After a calm first part of the voyage, I finish with a strong mistral of 35 knots and a sporty arrival in the middle of the night in Antibes.
Thank you, Nico, for lending me your magnificent JPK 1050 “Invictus,” and see you at Boots in Düsseldorf at the end of January 2026 for the announcement of the results! !
— Jean-Pierre Kelbert
Reports
Below are the reports from the Barcelona boat show trials. We will add to them as they are published!
