You could hear the boats stampeding through the ocean from a few streets back from the beach, a zippy drone sounding the charge as a siren call to all speed-heads, rev-heads, boat-heads, sport-heads and anyone who's a sucker for a spectacle.
Spotlight went to check out Day 2 of the Mediterranean Grand Prix in Ibiza, which featured the Class 1 catamarans and V1 monohulls engaged in separate races, simultaneously on roughly the same course. The Class 1's were the fast guys to watch, and their battle took centre stage. Think of the Class 1 race as the Formula 1 on water, to give you an idea of the speed and scale.
The course was in the shape of a parallelogram, stretching from Figueretas to the distant end of Playa d'en Bossa just off Ibiza's east coast. Meanwhile, the epicentre of spectator action was right on Playa d'en Bossa beach at the back of the Hard Rock Hotel, where a temporary viewing grandstand and a stage for the award presentations had been erected, house beats were blasting (it is Ibiza after all) and a large crowd shuffled about in the sand.
Enter the Ibiza Grand Prix MC, who turned out to be one of the more bizarre elements of the event. Hugely magnified and drowning in reverb, his voice rang out across the beach as if we were in an American monster trucks arena. Plenty of points for enthusiasm, but the MC seemed not to have the amount of background knowledge or even accurate perception of proceedings that you'd want from a voice booming in your ear for an hour, so I can't say it improved the experience for me.
As we waited for the boats to come into view, the crowd steadily and stealthily crept forward until the front line was partly submerged into the sea, the boldest fans holding their cameras gingerly aloft above the waves. Finally the bullet-like turbo leviathans zoomed into view, their bows raised high, only skimming the water as they cruised through a warm-up lap that allowed us to meet the thirteen teams (each boat has a pilot and co-pilot). Dubai's Victory Team was the favourite to win, as the duo was looking to take home a seventh consecutive first place position.
As the race got underway I marvelled at the roving fountain of spray which exploded in the wake of each boat, actually looking quite beautiful from a distance and revealing the power of each vessel; the larger boats for example housed two V12 engines and weighed around 5000kg! The Grand Prix MC meanwhile, had run out of things to say and simply began to reiterate the phrases he enjoyed best, literally echoing his own reverb echoes by repeating words like POWER POWER power power…
I think any sport can be exciting if you give it a chance, and this was certainly true of my first exposure to the Mediterranean Grand Prix. It wasn't the most dynamic of races, as the Victory team only managed to extend their early lead, shooting out in front well beyond the reach of any other teams, but the pace and power (power power) of it got the adrenaline going nonetheless, all against a stunning ocean backdrop. Though an unchallenged leader is perhaps not as thrilling for the spectators, the Dubai duo well and truly deserved the win they secured in just under 36 minutes, proving to be in a racing league unto their own.
Whilst support for the event abounded, it was not a unanimous sentiment on the island. As we watched the race, two women patrolled the beach with a banner that read “Ibiza Dice No” and “Hands off Ibiza”, a small representation of the sizable opposition to the event, largely on environmental grounds. There are various concerns raised by the Grand Prix's arrival in Ibiza, which appear not to have been properly addressed or acknowledged by its organisers. Whilst concerns of engine leaks or accidents were fortunately never realised, the extreme noise pollution of the engines was feared to be disorienting and damaging to several different animal species in the area, including local sea birds, dolphins and other marine life. A potential compromise could come if in future Grand Prix organisers offered to invest in newer, less harmful technologies, used cleaner fuels and donated to marine research or endangered species protection organisations, but as yet no such arrangements have been made.
There's also the issue of Ibiza's cultural identity, and where the Grand Prix fits into that. Many believe events like this are contradictory to Ibiza's relaxed and beautiful Balearic island vibe, and bring the wrong kind of attention to an island whose quiet hidden coves are more precious than its raging superclubs and bustling hotels. The cultural and environmental concerns raised by the Grand Prix have been polarising in Ibiza's community, with some staunchly opposed whilst others are directly involved. Up-market beach bar and restaurant Nassau and Marco Carola's techno party Music On both sponsored boats, for example, whilst organisations like the Ibiza Preservation Fund campaigned against the event.
So on the one hand, the Mediterranean Grand Prix is a high profile and prestigious sporting event, an exciting spectacle, another huge draw-card for the tourism office and a boost for the island's economy. But there's always another hand, and in this case the environmental impact is an important consideration and the damage to Ibiza's fragile ecosystem may simply be too great for the event to be justifiable. Also at question is the Grand Prix's place in Ibiza's cultural identity but, whilst it's tempting to simply claim ‘it's not what Ibiza is about', one must acknowledge that for years now the idea of ‘what Ibiza is about' has been changing, and in many ways the arrival of the Grand Prix is a reflection of an already existing shift in Ibiza's culture, for better or worse. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
WORDS | Jordan Smith PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
