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Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup: A feast for the eyes

• November 3, 2022

Porto Cervo is one of the most spectacular venues in the world, and this year’s Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup was a feast for the eyes. Andi Robertson reports

Walk the hallowed docks of Sardinia’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda during the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup and it was impossible to get anywhere fast. The collection of maxi yachts this year was truly mesmerising, each meriting more than a passing glance. Correspondingly, the army of top professional sailors assembled was literally a who’s who of generations of America’s Cup , Ocean Race and Olympic sailing stars.

To leave the real world and immerse yourself in the Porto Cervo bubble is something special. Even the grizzled, white-haired pros who recall the formative years of the ‘Maxi Worlds’ and who come year in, year out, show no complacency. They love it and always will because it is the pinnacle event of maxi racing.

Post-pandemic, more than ever, there is a renewed appreciation for this spectacular event. Here there are no distractions beyond the wind blown rugged granite scenery, the turquoise waters and the rocky network of islands forming the La Maddalena archipelago.

The 32nd Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup was not the biggest ever, mustering 46 racing maxis in six classes, but it was almost certainly the most competitive event for many years, with quality in depth through each of the divisions.

The fleet was also more diverse than ever. For the first time since 2014 there were four J Class yachts competing under their own JCA handicap – an elegant step back in time contrasting sharply with the debuting foiler Flying Nikka , which raced in its own class, and the just launched powerful ClubSwan 80 My Song which lined up in the 13-boat maxi fleet.

Rambler off Isola delle Bisce lighthouse north of Porto Cervo. Photo: Luca Butto

A different league

“For sure after the pandemic there seems to be more people wanting to sail big boats than ever before and being able to afford to do so. And this regatta was in a different league to previous events in terms of quality,” noted the International Maxi Association’s secretary general Andrew McIrvine.

“One interesting development is now having absorbed the Wally class – which had a bunch of 80-footers and a bunch of 100-footers racing together – and getting them into performance, rather than size related classes, we have a good 13-boat maxi class. That is definitely better.

The foiling Flying Nikka raced in a class of its own

“And we have a more race orientated fleet, there used to be cruising maxis, and we have more professionals, whether or not you consider that a good thing. We are still very strict on the owner-driver rule, except in the Super Maxi fleet where in fact the two top owners are young and steer their boats anyway.”

In a typical September week at Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup there will be days of light winds and very often days lost to the Mistral. A fixed Thursday layday may seem like an anomaly but many owners – and their crews – start to feel their age mid week. This edition was no different, early starts made the best of the building Mistral on Friday, but Saturday proved unsailable.

Without question the standard of boat and sail handling gets higher every year. To see the J Class rivals tacking up ‘Bomb Alley’, as the rock-strewn passage north of Porto Cervo through the La Maddalena and Caprera archipelago is known, in 18 knots of breeze and flat water – seemingly within touching distance of the shore – is incredible.

Lord Irvine Laidlaw’s Highland Fling XI. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

Running downwind America’s Cup rival helms Peter Holmberg and Ed Baird showed a precision in their boat placement akin to sailing a Laser, all while choreographing nearly 30 crew. Are there elements of brinksmanship or bravado? Maybe, but the truth is many of the afterguard crew will have raced on these waters dozens of times, and laying one corner when others can’t will reap a dividend of several boatlengths.

The Super Maxi division victory was the biggest win yet for a ‘young’ (at just turned 50) Swedish owner on his Swan 115 Shamanna .

He also owns the well known Spirit 100 Gaia and Gerdney , a classic Swedish Skerries 95ft cruiser. He races Shamanna with eight of his long time friends – among them a cardiac anaesthetist, a pal who was ‘The Bachelor’ on the Swedish reality show of the same name – and a posse of good pros managed by British former Volvo/Whitbread, America’s Cup ace Guy Barron.

The 82ft custom Wally Highland Fling XI. Photo: Luca Butto

Raising the standards

Barron has sought to keep raising the standards of the ‘amateurs’ so they are fully integrated and respected by the pros, rather than allowing a ‘them and us’ scenario develop. Barron sailed with the owner and his friends originally in Sweden and was able to impart his knowledge and involve them in a way which has become important on the big Swan. “We sat down and said let’s make sure your guys get trained up and are part of it. So between Shamanna and Gaia we share the same pros, the same group and we’re all used to sailing with each other.”

Barron reckons – after some counting – that he has now raced from Sardinia 34 times, the first time being at the 12 Metre Worlds in 1987. “It is one of the best venues in the world and I never ever tire of racing around through Bomb Alley. It is breathtaking. I remember I was on Boomerang and we had THE crash.

Close fleet action. Photo: Luca Butto

“We hit a rock going 9.5 knots, having just got full speed on we stopped dead. We pulled the engine off the mount, cracked every frame in the boat, blew the terminals off the top of the batteries, flattened the wheel, the pedestals, seized the mainsheet and the runner winch. I ended up in an ambulance with George Coumantaros the owner. He’d fallen over and inverted his cheek. I slid forward, hit the solid stainless reaching stanchion and very luckily did not break my leg. I sail past there and still hear the noises in my head. It is a truly wonderful place to sail!”

Mini maxi rivalry

The six boat Mini Maxi 1 division is the domain of what were previously the Maxi 72 class. Now only Jim Swartz’s Vesper and George Sakellaris hull sister Proteus are close to Maxi 72 trim, all of the other four boats have had extensive modifications. Ironically the top two overall were Vesper , with Gavin Brady as tactician, and Proteus .

The changes across the rest of the fleet have been various: Peter Dubens’ North Star is the first boat to now use stored power for running rigging and sails with seven fewer crew – which at the Maxi Worlds gives a four-point rating credit. Spirit of Jethou (23.5m), Cannonball (22.86m) and Bella Mente (22.55m) have all been lengthened and have deeper keels. Bella Mente has a taller rig, as has Cannonball which can also now carry 1,000kg of water ballast per side.

Despite their differences, this was a very competitive class of boats which were conceived as the last word in maxi racing and richly laden with talent.

Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup fleet racing in Sardinia’s La Maddalena Archipelago. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

“We were fortunate to be consistent. We did not screw up,” smiled Gavin Brady after racing. “In fact the boat is arguably the same as when it won the World Championships five years ago (as Momo ). It is cool, I think, for Vesper to win the World Championship with the same keel, the same mast, the same sails.

“Our sport needs to see some sustainability and it is a good message that if you have something that works and you just go and sail well you don’t need to change the mast and the keel. That is something special for Jim as he does not want to go down the ‘arms race’ route. He wants to go and race, and may the best team win.

“This fleet of seven boats have evolved. It’s clear the owners want to develop their boats in the way they want and not be told what to do by a box rule. You have Jethou at one end and North Star at the other and we all went round the top mark within 30 seconds of each other. It’s not the Maxi 72 box rule of old but it is working and we have happy owners.”

Crew on the rail of the iconic J Class Velsheda. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

Water ballast, and how it is treated under rating systems, is one factor many grand prix teams are watching carefully, in readiness to adapt their boats. “The water ballast is the elephant in the room right now,” Brady explains.

“Everyone is trying to be secretive but we all know what is going on. Everyone has drawings to put water in everything from a TP52 to a maxi but we just don’t know what the rule is going to do. I think it is a good way, a clean way to make boats go faster. Salt water is in abundance and if we want to pump water into the boat to make it faster and more fun it is a lot more sustainable than carbon fibre and sails that will go to landfill.”

Lord Irvine Laidlaw bade farewell to his faithful Reichel Pugh 82ft custom Wally Highland Fling XI with a swansong win in the 13-boat maxi class. Cameron Appleton calls tactics alongside navigator Andrew Cape: “Porto Cervo is a unique place usually offering a real range of conditions, inshore racing and navigational type courses, and you have to be good at every part of it,” Appleton recalled.

“You get to know the tricks of the place and where the wind bends are but it is how you get there to use them that is the skill.”

With co-owner Niklas Zennström driving his first regatta on Svea , flying the flag for his native Sweden, the J Class title was never really in doubt, though the racing was always close.

Svea seems to have a speed edge and has a great crew marshalled by Bouwe Bekking. The J Class are looking towards a World Championship in Barcelona during the 37th America’s Cup with potentially seven or eight boats. Next to return to the fold will be Rainbow , bought by Kiwi owner Neville Crichton, who is refitting the boat in Palma to be ready for the later part of next season.

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Named after Jethou island near France, Jethou 77 is one of the best looking race yachts on the water at the moment. Having the potential to outpace and outperform. This yacht is competing in several regattas, including Rolex Giraglia, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez and Tre Golfi Sailing Week.

The 77ft beauty by Judel/Vrolijk belongs to Sir Peter Ogden, an English businessman, whose passion for sailing steered him to name this yacht after his Channel Island. His all-black Jethou 77 is now back in the game with an elongated stern increasing her LOA from 72 to 77ft.

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To support the skyscraping winning attitude of the team, CODE-ZERO is making sure that the crew is equipped with high quality products to achieve their full potential.

This full carbon yacht with an extra long bow sprite is manual power. Managed by 21 crew members she can reach 30 knots of speed downwind. The tactician on this crew, Brad Butterworth, is a 4 times winner of the America’s Cup.

Jethou joins the Europeans on a high, having ended her 2021 season as the outright maxi yacht winner at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. So, if you see an all-black yacht that stops you in your tracks – now you know what she is.

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Jethou and Wallyño reign supreme in Loro Piana Giraglia inshores

A second 20 mile coastal race, this time from Saint-Tropez down to a turning mark off L’Escalet and back, rounded off the inshore series for the maxis competing in Loro Piana Giraglia.

Jethou took the overall Maxi A win, following on from her last victory here in 2022. Most recently Jethou was second at the IMA Maxi Europeans in Sorrento.

Over the winter Jethou has been fitted with 1.35 tonnes of water ballast, restoring her righting moment to its 2022 level while being lighter with less lead in her keel. Also new this year is Ian Walker standing in for Brad Butterworth on tactics.

Among the 100s, Galateia won out ahead of Andrea Recordati’s Wally 93 Bullitt, which suffered today after ripping her kite severely in the first transition.

Elsewhere in Maxi A, the Swan 115 Jasi has been attempting to mix it up with the nimbler Wallycentos. This followed a shortening of her rudder and lead removal from her keel over the winter.

A final win for Benoît de Froidmont’s Wallyño, secured the IMA President’s Wally 60 the Maxi B prize, by a five point margin from Cippa Lippa X with Spirit of Lorina a further two astern.

Jean-Pierre Barjon’s Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina, Guido Paolo Gamucci’s Cippa Lippa X and Alex Schaerer’s Swan 90 Strathisla fought it out ahead of her.

Scoring a surprise second Tuesday was Mexican Miguel Sanchez Navarro’s Swan 77 Invictus, fresh out of refit in Southampton from where she was delivered to Saint-Tropez with a day to spare.

Wednesday is the Loro Piana Giraglia offshore race to the Giraglia rock off north Corsica and on to Genoa.

The forecast has a westerly mistral blowing the competitors downwind to the rock, with big gusts of 35-40 knots in the middle of the crossing, then dropped for the usual light wind nail-biter finish into Genoa.

Many Wallycentos and former Maxi 72s after studying the forecast have bailed from the offshore race.

As Sir Peter Ogden explained: “I made the decision on it – the latest forecast showed 25-32 knots which is dangerous since we can’t reef the main. I do love the race so it is a big disappointment for everyone, but better safe than sorry.”

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News Spectacular conditions for day three of maxi coastal racing at Loro Piana Giraglia

Spectacular conditions for day three of maxi coastal racing at loro piana giraglia.

After two days of windward-leewards on the Bay of Pampelonne, day three of inshore racing at Loro Piana Giraglia saw a change with 19 of the 24 strong maxi fleet racing a single coastal course, starting and finishing in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez. Racing here is organised by the Yacht Club Italiano in collaboration with the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez. They form the third of five events in the International Maxi Association’s 2024 Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge.  

Today the wind had flipped from easterly to westerly, blowing 15 knots at start time. After the smaller yachts in the IRC and ORC classes had departed, the two maxi fleets sailed a short upwind leg within the Golfe of Saint-Tropez before heading off to the south and west. The larger maxis in Maxi A sailed 30 miles to Cavalaire-sur-Mer and back, while Maxi B sailed 20 miles to a mark off L’Escalet before returning.

With Roberto Lacorte’s FlyingNikka again soaring across transoms on port, in fact it was the boats that tacked on to port earliest that led around the top mark with Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones’ Wallycento Magic Carpet Cubed ahead the Swan 115 Jasi and Sir Peter Ogden’s overall Maxi A leader Jethou.  

With breeze that built to above 20 knots and a flat sea that only got truly lumpy on the final leg across the Baie de Cavalaire, FlyingNikka finally got to show off her potential. As the 100 footers past Cap Lardier on their way into the Baie de Cavalaire, FlyingNikka was heading back in the opposite direction having already rounded the turning mark. Ultimately the foiling 60 footer finished more than 30 minutes ahead of the first Wallycento, albeit still making no impression under IRC, carrying the Anglo-French rating system’s highest TCC of 3.444  (compared to Galateia on 1.795).

Racing between the 100s was again nip and tuck with Karel Komárek’s V and Chris Flowers’ Galateia catching up Magic Carpet Cubed only for V to trawl her spinnaker severely approaching the Golfe de Saint-Tropez. This left Galateia first among the 100s, ahead of Andrea Recordati’s Wally 93 Bullitt.

“It was a good day,” commented Bullitt’s tactician Joca Signorini. “We got a good start, but it was better for the ones who didn’t, who tacked and got into the good shift on the right. Our fleet is very competitive although for us it has been a bit windy and as we have a reduced crew it gets quite busy... Most importantly Andrea [Recordati] is happy and is enjoying sailing the boat.”

At the top of the Maxi A leaderboard, Sir Peter Ogden’s Jethou consolidated her position with a second consecutive bullet, albeit by just 12 seconds under IRC. “We had an okay start and managed to execute where we wanted to go, but then we had a little battle to get our nose in front. Ian [Walker, tactician] did a nice job to keep us out of traffic,” explained Jethou’s navigator Campbell Field.  “Today was picture postcard Saint-Tropez. We saw 22 knots and it got a little bit uncomfortable on the way up, but we were expecting more pressure…”

With one more coastal race to go tomorrow, Jethou is only two points ahead of Jolt. According to tactician Michele Ivaldi they had had to fight back from an excellent pin end start. “There was big line bias but unfortunately it was a day for the people that didn’t start well! Jethou was in our gas. They tacked away and then at the top mark they were 15 boat-lengths ahead! (We were locked out by the big boats and couldn’t tack…) After that there were very few passing lanes, but we made a big come-back at the end. Peter [Harrison] is happy – he had good fun driving downwind in 24-25 knots.”

In Maxi B, the positions have got even closer. Wallyño, the Wally 60 of International Maxi Association President Benoît de Froidmont, continues to lead, but two bullets in the last two races for Guido Paolo Gamucci's Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X has left the Italian canting keeler just one point off first. Today it was again close with Cippa Lippa X and Jean-Pierre Barjon’s Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina neck and neck out in front. Spirit of Lorina was first home but, less than a minute astern, Cippa Lippa X’s time had her correcting out ahead.

“We made some mistakes, so we are not very happy,” admitted the jovial Barjon, who’s Spirit of Lorina won the IMA’s 2021-22 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge. “We are happy to be here. The conditions today were amazing, but twice we lost the spinnaker… With a little more luck and know-how we can do better.”

Currently Spirit of Lorina is also hampered by being midway through a water ballast conversion– her keel has been lightened and shortened by 40cm, but her water ballast is not fully installed and she currently suffers when the breeze is up.

While the lead trio is a step ahead of the rest in Maxi B, Jerome Bataillard and his crew on the Shipman 63 Sao Bernardo are currently holding fifth place just a point astern of Alex Schaerer's Swan 90 Strathisla and two ahead of Enrico Aureli's modern Swan 65 Marlin. “We got blocked [by another boat] so we had to gybe instead of tack… but it is okay. The race was fantastic – sunny, windy…” said Bataillard.

Meanwhile all eyes are on Wednesday’s offshore race to Genoa. As Jethou’s Campbell Field observed: “It could be one early gybe/no gybe to Giraglia and we reach there by 2100. I think we aren’t quite booking a table for breakfast in Genoa on Friday morning, but perhaps lunch!”

Jolt’s Michele Ivaldi agrees: “It looks windy at the moment - 30-35 knots almost all of the way. It will be a super quick race. Our routing has us arriving at 2am. The question is more ‘if’ you will arrive…”

(Race report by James Boyd/International Maxi Association)

Event' website: www.loropianagiraglia.com

International Maxi Association Legal Headquarters: c/o BfB Société Fiduciaire Bourquin frères et Béran SA - 26, Rue de la Corraterie - 1204 Genève - Switzerland

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Sir Peter Ogden – owner of Jethou yacht Photo by RolexKurt Arrigo

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This image is featured as part of the article The overall winner of the Rolex Volcano Race 2012: the 60ft Mini Maxi yacht Jethou .

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "Sir Peter Ogden - owner of Jethou yacht Photo by RolexKurt Arrigo".

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Spirit of Jethou takes the spoils at Cowes

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Two cannons roaring from the Royal Yacht Squadron at two minutes past nine signalled a two and a half hour delay, the chance of a massive cholesterol boost, and for those that eventually were released, an afternoon of picture book racing and a thoroughly satisfying day.

Unfortunately, many saw their races abandoned as, even with the shortening of the schedule to a start every five minutes, there was not enough time to go through the number of sequences needed for 43 classes.

Eleven never made it, but the merry-go-round at the top of the big boat Class Zero saw the third winner in three days, the Bossom Challenge Cup going to Sir Peter Ogden's Spirit of Jethou.

But there was no change at the top of the Etchells class, where Graham Bailey and Stephen Bailey, who are not related, remain unbeaten.

Event rider Zara Phillips, bobsled gold medallist Amy Williams, and former rugby international Martin Bayfield are among the guests due in Cowes tomorrow for the Artemis round the island challenge for Open 60 yachts.

Leading the charge will be French solo sailor Roland Jourdain, a tough competitor for the skipper of Bayfield’s boat, Dee Caffari.

Confirmation of Ian Walker's appointment as skipper and design adviser to the Abu Dhabi entry for the 2011-12 Volvo round the world race was made by the Abu Dhabi Tourist Authority.

"Ian is the lynchpin in the dream team we are determined to secure," said Ahmed Hussein of the ADTA. The team hopes to have at least one United Arab Emirates national in the 10-strong crew or as media member. There will also be UAE nationals in the shore crew and the boat will be built in Abu Dhabi.

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