With the second day of racing abandoned due to an absence of breeze, the 46m Ganesha, the winner of race one, took the overall title of the 2015 Dubois Cup in Porto Cervo this weekend. In second place was 54m Nirvana, followed by 29.1m Alcanara. While a lack of wind meant that the racing did not provide as much excitement as some might have hoped, the social atmosphere took precedence and those in attendance were full of praise for this unique regatta staged by one design house.


The owner of 30m Nostromo, Andrew Cook, believes that while the regatta is very valuable for the Dubois brand, the benefits for the owners who attend are numerous. “Ed [Dubois] serves a number of very useful purposes by staging this regatta,” he explains. “Firstly he provides a forum for yachts that he had designed to get together and do a little bit of sailing, who would otherwise be competing in superyacht events with all sorts of other boats from different designers, which can be a little confusing.


“It also allows one to see the latest boats off his drawing board, which is always interesting. But above all it is a lovely combination of a sailing and social event in a beautiful setting – Dubois is very well known in the world of yacht design, due to the fact that he designs a very good yacht, and these biennial regattas help to keep his name at the top of the list.”

A new aspect to the regatta this year was the addition of non-Dubois designed boats attending to spectate. This proved valuable for Dubois, as the owner of Emmaline was impressed with the event. “I think anything that brings the industry together from the very small, more boutique-like events such as this one, to the more established and concentrated events like Monaco Yacht Show, owners go because they feel that they will enjoy it,” he comments. “It has been great for us to turn up and marvel at the creativity of the industry, and it is impressive to have such big Dubois fleet here so the owners must get a lot from it.”


With the Dubois now in its fifth year, Ed Dubois is positive about how the event has evolved. “I think it was a statement and a courageous decision back in 2007 to get a group of boats together from one design house and have a party with like-minded people,” he explains. “This event is about the family of the boat owners but also the family of the industry, and we are all here motivated by wanting to design, build and supply incredible yachts.”