Daily Yachting News · Issue 16

Yachting news, Thursday, 12 November 2026

Charles leaves 223 incidents across the Algarve, with Portimão the worst hit and every bar from Baleeira to the Guadiana shut overnight, one person is missing after a fast boat capsized off Tavira, Damen moves its sixth Amels 80 into outfitting, and D-Marin agrees to take over Marina Genova.

10%Members Save 10%An extra 10% off ALL SERVICES as well as special offers on restaurant discounts and leisure activities via email. Sign Up in Seconds!

Edited by George Matthews · How this bulletin is made

Lead story

Charles moves on: 223 incidents in the Algarve, Portimão worst hit

Depression Charles has crossed into Spain, and the national state of alert ended at midnight. The Algarve's regional civil protection command counted 223 incidents by 21:00 yesterday, 31 of them in the last three hours of the day, with 859 personnel deployed. Nobody was reported hurt. Portimão logged 34 incidents, more than any other municipality, and the CM1081 between Mexilhoeira Grande and Monchique was cut by flooding. Lagoa had 24, with the Túnel da Marinha closed by floodwater from 19:00 and power in Mexilhoeira da Carregação only restored at 18:10. Lagos had 13, and Rua dos Peixeiros was closed after a landslip. In Armação de Pêra four people had to leave a flooded house. The strongest gust recorded was 123 km/h at Fóia.

For boats, the key point is that the bars at Baleeira, Lagos, Alvor, Portimão, Albufeira, Vilamoura, Quarteira, Faro-Olhão, Tavira and the Guadiana were all listed as closed last night, with a yellow warning for 4 to 5 m south-westerly swell running until 03:00 today. Barlavento reported no damage to boats or marinas. Check the Navy's Estado das Barras page before moving.

The Interior Minister said he expected the country to be back to normal today, although repairs will go on. The wet weather is not over: a Meteored forecast carried by Postal says rain will persist from today to Saturday in ten districts from Viana do Castelo to Leiria, as the depression Bruna drifts towards northern Spain. Faro district is not among them.

Source: Barlavento / Postal, 11 Nov 2026

Industry

Sixth Amels 80 moves into outfitting

Damen Yachting has brought the latest Amels 80, Project Route 66, to Vlissingen for outfitting after her technical launch at its Galați yard in Romania. She is the sixth hull of the 79.8m series and was sold through Burgess in October 2025 for delivery in March 2028. The 2,200GT design has an exterior by Espen Øino, and this hull has a custom interior by Sinot. She takes 14 guests in seven cabins and 20 crew plus the captain, and has Damen's hybrid propulsion, a 200 m² sundeck and a 6.5m glass-bottomed pool that lights the beach club below. Three of the series are already in service, and a seventh was sold this summer for 2029.

Source: BOAT International, 11 Nov 2026

Humphreys draws a 50m long-range explorer

Humphreys Yacht Design has unveiled H50EXP, a 50m explorer concept aimed at owners who want to cruise far from support. It claims a range of more than 5,000 miles at 12 knots and a top speed of 18 knots. Mark Whiteley Design did the interior, in oak and leather with an upper-deck lounge and bar, and Occam Marine is the technical and build consultant. The aft deck and lazarette can be set up for tenders and toys or for lounging, with strengthened decks and cranes to suit. The design builds on the 50m Canoa, delivered this year, and the studio says it is in talks with shipyards.

Source: BOAT International, 11 Nov 2026

Heesen's 57m Project Setteesettanta shown inside

Cristiano Gatto Design has released the first interior images of Heesen's 57m aluminium Project Setteesettanta, which launched in July and is due for delivery at the end of December. She is the second Heesen for her owners. Frank Laupman of Omega Architects drew the exterior, and she is the first Heesen with the bridge on the fourth deck. The upper-deck owner's apartment opens onto a foredeck of nearly 200 m² that doubles as a touch-and-go helipad, and there is a 4m infinity pool aft. A Van Oossanen fast displacement hull should give 18 knots and 3,900 miles at 12 knots, on a draught of 2.3m.

Source: BOAT International, 9 Nov 2026

Windy's 24m SR77 begins outfitting

The Swedish builder Windy has moved its 24m SR77, the largest boat in its 60-year history, into outfitting at Västervik. Designed by Malcolm McKeon, she is pitched as a chase boat or a fast weekender in her own right. The lower deck has a saloon, en-suite guest cabins, a crew cabin and a galley, and the owner can choose how much of the deck is open or enclosed. Buyers can choose a MAN V12 with waterjets or Volvo Penta IPS, with a cruising speed of up to 46 knots.

Source: BOAT International, 9 Nov 2026

Lürssen opens a service base in Tarragona

Lürssen has opened a service centre at Port Tarraco in Tarragona, giving owners of its yachts a permanent technical base in the Mediterranean. It has a workshop, meeting rooms and a stock of spare parts.

Source: BOAT International, 10 Nov 2026

Racing

Star Worlds: Bromby and Pritchard take over

The lead changed again on Biscayne Bay. Peter Bromby (BER) and Myles Pritchard (BAH) have been consistent with 5, 8 and 6, and lead on 19 points after three races, one ahead of Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA). Eivind Melleby and Christian Nehammer are third on 28, with Robert Scheidt and Austin Sperry on 29. Yesterday's leaders, Will Stout and Danny Cayard, slipped to fifth. Max Kohlhoff and Ole Burzinski (GER) won race three in a light, shifty south-easterly of 8 to 9 knots. A discard comes in after race five, and racing continues today.

Source: Sail-World, 11 Nov 2026

ClubSwan 28 Gold Cup under way in Fort Lauderdale

The ClubSwan 28 Gold Cup runs from 11 to 14 November off Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale, with Lauderdale Yacht Club running two courses either side of the Stranahan River. It is the first time the European and American fleets have raced together. Giulio Gatti's Anya Race leads from Al Ramadan's Play Bigger and Dan Cheresh's Extreme II. Keisuke Suzuki's Swing, last year's winner, is also racing.

Source: Sail-World, 11 Nov 2026

RORC Transatlantic: big monohulls line up for January

The 13th RORC Transatlantic Race starts from Marina Lanzarote on 10 January 2027 for the 3,000-mile run to Antigua, and the line-up for monohull line honours is taking shape. The 34m foil-assisted Baltic 111 Raven, which set the monohull record this year, returns. She faces the Verdier IMOCA Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive, sailed two-handed by Scott Shawyer and Alan Roberts, and two Volvo 70s: Gweilo 70 of Chris Townsend and Matthew Donald, with a taller rig and longer bowsprit, and Johnny Vincent's Pace.

Source: Sail-World, 11 Nov 2026

Admiral's Cup adds a Corinthian Cup for amateurs

The RORC has added a second trophy to the 2027 Admiral's Cup, which runs from 13 to 28 July and includes the Fastnet Race from Cowes to Cherbourg. The Corinthian Cup goes to the best-placed amateur two-boat team on IRC points across the series. Eligible teams may carry no more than four professional (Category 3) sailors on their Class 1 boat and three on their Class 2 boat. Five full teams and three single boats have entered so far.

Source: YACHT, 10 Nov 2026

A 1980 Sigma 36 for the Global Solo Challenge

Philipp Hympendahl of Düsseldorf has entered the 2027–28 Global Solo Challenge in African Queen, a David Thomas Sigma 36 built in 1980, which he is now refitting. He missed the first edition because of problems with the boat he had bought then. He hopes to have her in Vigo in 2027, ready for the three great capes. Other entrants include Nicolas Manthos, Tim Kent, Ronnie Simpson on the Class40 Koloa Maoli and Ari Känsäkoski, who is coming back after the 2023–24 race.

Source: Sail-World, 11 Nov 2026

Portugal & the Algarve

One missing after fast boat overturns off Tavira

A search was under way this morning for a person missing after a boat capsized near Cabanas de Tavira late last night. Civil Protection said the alarm was raised at 22:34 and that the boat had struck an obstacle. By 00:30, 20 personnel with nine vehicles and two boats from the Maritime Police, fire service, INEM, GNR and PSP were at the scene. Correio da Manhã reports that it was a fast boat that hit the stone breakwater at the Tavira bar while trying to get into the Ria Formosa, that three men were injured and taken to hospital in Faro, and that the boat was linked to drug trafficking. The Tavira bar was on the list of closed bars issued last night because of the storm swell.

Source: Postal / Correio da Manhã, 12 Nov 2026

Skiff Junior Europeans at Vilamoura lose day one to Charles

The 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 Junior European Championships at Vilamoura Sailing, which run until 14 November, lost all three races planned for Wednesday. Sailing was banned under the government's state of alert. The event has 49 boats and 98 sailors from 17 countries, with 33 teams in the 49er and 14 from 12 nations in the 49erFX, including a Portuguese crew. Racing is due to resume today with three races a day, although IPMA expects unsettled weather until at least Friday, and the race committee will set start times to suit the conditions.

Source: Sail-World, 11 Nov 2026

Regulation & destinations

D-Marin to take over Marina Genova

D-Marin has agreed to take over Marina Genova, subject to regulatory approval, and says it will be the 30th marina in its network across nine countries. The marina has more than 450 berths for boats from 8 to 130m, over 100 of them for yachts above 24m. It also has a fuel berth more than 150m long, a yard with a 100-tonne crane and a dry dock, and the airport is five minutes away. It is a natural base for Portofino, the Riviera and Sardinia.

Source: YACHT, 10 Nov 2026

A hotter Mediterranean brings sharper storms

A YACHT feature published on 8 November looks at what a warming Mediterranean means for cruising sailors. A buoy off Dragonera in Mallorca recorded 33.02°C in August, a record confirmed by Puertos del Estado, and the MedECC climate report puts surface warming at roughly 0.3 to 0.4°C a decade since the early 1980s. The warmer water fuels sudden, violent thunderstorms of the kind that drove boats ashore at Unije in Croatia in July. Medicanes may become rarer but stronger. The advice is to pick an anchorage for the forecast wind and sea direction, not just because it is a harbour, and to have a plan for a shift.

Source: YACHT, 8 Nov 2026

Stories are summarised by Portimão Marina Services from the reports linked under each one. Please check the original sources for full details.

Get in Touch

Planning a visit to Portimão Marina?

We're an independent guide to the marina and the western Algarve. Send us your boat's length, beam and draft and your rough arrival dates, and we'll point you in the right direction. We can help with berths, boatyard work, refits, or a first look around.

Email Us

Location

Portimão, Algarve, Portugal

info@portimaomarina.com

Phone

+351 927 330 683

This is an independent informational website and is not affiliated with or operated by Marina de Portimão / Marinas de Barlavento, S.A. Official bookings and enquiries should be made through the marina’s official website.