Watchmaker Officine Panerai has been plying the high seas with the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge for 13 years now; for the landlubbers out there, this is the world’s leading circuit for classic and vintage yachts. The 2017 season got underway with the 30th Antigua Classic Yachts Regatta in April, which is the first of the 11 legs that make up the Challenge. Bermudan yawl Mariella won the overall prize at this regatta.

The Alfred Mylne-designed craft (launched at the William Fife and Son yard in Scotland) picked up the Panerai Prize for overall victory but also saw off strong challenges from The Blue Peter and Latifa to triumph in her own class (Vintage B). Fifty classic yachts gathered in Antigua for the opening leg, classed into Vintage, Classic, Traditional, Classic GRP, Spirit of Tradition and Tall Ships categories. Obviously, Panerai has the right sort of watches for the Challenge, named as it is for the brand! This year, the PCYC (no prizes for guessing what that stands for) watches are PAM653 and PAM654, both flyback chronographs powered by the in-house automatic calibre P9100.