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The Allure of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

It’s a challenging race at a stunning location that draws some of the best sailors in the world.

By David Schmidt

There is no shortage of beautiful sailing regattas. Few offer the same combination of world-class sailors and yachts, outstanding geography and conditions, professional racecourse management and refined yacht club hospitality as the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup .

Most high-end regattas typically draw boats in the 20-, 30- and 40-foot range, with limited numbers of larger yachts, or the events are organized for a particular design, like for the 23-foot J/70s, in which all competing boats are identical.

Not here. The Maxi cup, which is being hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and which begins on Monday in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, is open only to maxi yachts. According to the regatta’s Notice of Race, this means sailboats that measure at least 60 feet, bow to stern. Of the 50 yachts that are competing this year, almost half exceed 80 feet, with the largest entry — the J-Class yacht Svea — measuring 143 feet.

These are fast, expensive and complex sailboats — with an average crew size of 25 sailors — which will race against similar yachts around tactically engaging racecourses. Veterans say the regatta’s dependable weather patterns, convivial atmosphere, and the yacht club’s hospitality and organization make it one of sailing’s greatest events.

Pier Luigi Loro Piana, the owner of My Song, a Club Swan 80, described the Maxi cup as the most professional and well-organized regatta on the Mediterranean Sea.

“We do a week of really beautiful and good sailing,” Piana said, referring to the regatta. “You can be 100 percent satisfied if you have good weather, good wind, good people, good food. During the race, after the race, there’s always something nice to enjoy.”

Andrea Recordati, the owner of Bullitt, a Wally 93 , said it was the most prestigious race on the Mediterranean circuit.

He said that other maxi-class regattas might draw, on average, six or seven yachts that are his competitive peers. “Here you could have 15, if not even 20,” Recordati said.

While their designs differ, each yacht in the Maxi cup has a handicap rating (think of golf) that allows vessels of different lengths, widths and weights to race competitively. The yachts “are relatively similar,” Piana said, “so we can make a very nice regatta.”

And with a bigger fleet size comes a higher level of competition.

“It’s the big dance,” said Peter Holmberg, an Olympic silver medalist and the helmsman of Topaz, a J-Class yacht. “Everybody goes to it, and so it will give us the greatest competition of all the events we’ll do in the Med over the year. If you’re going to put one on your list, it’s usually [the] Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. And is that the draw? Of course it is.”

Then there are the racecourses.

The regatta offers two styles of racing. The windward-leeward courses are set in open water and use movable buoys that are set parallel with the wind to test each team’s ability to sail upwind, or into the wind, and downwind, or with the wind.

The longer coastal races instead employ the area’s natural geographical features, including the nearby Maddalena archipelago, to create courses that require teams to sail fast at a variety of wind angles.

“Coastal racing is more interesting,” Holmberg said. “It’s more diverse, complex, challenging.”

These challenges include the art of predicting what the still-unseen wind will be doing around the islands, anticipating how this will affect tactics and ensuring that the yacht is flying the right sails.

“Windward-leeward is a sprint, and coastal is a marathon of many sprints,” he said.

While he enjoys both styles of racing, and was clear that both have their place at the regatta, Holmberg said that if he had to choose one, it would be the coastal courses: “It gives us the extreme range, and it tests you on all aspects.”

Paul Westlake, a 10-time world champion sailor and the trim coordinator on Svea, said racing a “coastal course is a pretty stressful time for navigators.”

“It makes the racecourse much more open for the tacticians and strategists,” he said, adding that there are numerous places where yachts can hit the bottom. “Everyone is trying to cut the corners and push as hard as they can.”

Recordati said the regatta attracted some of the best sailors in the world. He said that the loads — or forces — generated by the maxi yachts demanded expertise. “They are pretty high-tech pieces of machinery, which — if they break or are not run properly — can not only be economically damaging, but it can be very dangerous for the crew.”

Anthony Kotoun, a five-time world champion sailor and the strategist aboard Galateia, a Wally Cento, described the regatta as the Masters for maxi yachts.

“It is called the Maxi yacht cup, but in the lingo, it’s called just the Maxi Worlds,” he said, adding that it’s the unofficial world championship of the big boats. “You save sails for it, you get new sails for it, you bring in the top crew — that’s the one you aim for.”

One important difference between the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and other world-championship regattas is that this event always takes place off Porto Cervo in early September, while the others typically rotate among clubs, continents and calendar dates.

The regatta’s consistent scheduling and location also make it an important social gathering. “It is a bit of a homecoming event,” Westlake said.

While the yachts, the sailors and the racecourses are a significant draw, so too, say veterans, is the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

“The whole show is a level beyond any other event you go to,” Holmberg said. “Y.C.C.S. — they set the mark. They are the standard, the highest that I’ve seen around the world” because of its extraordinary amenities and the professionals it brings in to help run the regatta.

Edoardo Recchi, the club’s secretary general and sports director, called the regatta the club’s signature event. While Recchi was clear that the regatta’s conditions, courses and competition level are its most important attributes, he noted that having a “high level of services and a lot of details is pretty attractive to all the owners,” about 90 percent of whom return each year.

In addition to the racing, the yacht club organizes post-sailing and evening social events. This includes Saturday’s ceremony, where the winners of each class receive Rolex watches.

“Every single owner that enters the [regatta], for sure, is dreaming of being handed a Rolex,” Westlake said. “You never see a bigger smile on an owner’s face [than] when he stands on the podium holding onto that Rolex.”

While there are easier ways of acquiring a Rolex than winning the regatta, none involve seeing one’s name topping the leaderboard outside the yacht club.

“For me, the Maxi is the race to win, full stop,” Recordati said, who has never won a watch, but missed winning his class at the 2011 event by just two points. Of the coastal inshore races, he said, it’s “the one that everybody wants to win.”

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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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Published on July 31st, 2024 | by Editor

Maxi yachts to compete for World title

Published on July 31st, 2024 by Editor -->

The 2024 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup will feature the very first World Championship for ‘Maxi 1’ when racing takes place on September 8-14 in Porto Cervo, Italy. As part of the main event, the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship will be open to maxi yachts with an IRC TCC of 1.700-2.200 and up to 100 feet in length.

The International Maxi Association (IMA) is responsible for overseeing and nurturing the sport of maxi racing, and is permitted officially to hold two world championships each year. In 2010, the first Rolex Mini Maxi World Championship was held during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, and since then world championships have been held for the Maxi 72 and J Class under the auspices of the IMA, the latter taking place out of Newport, RI in 2017.

“The International Maxi Association endeavours to adapt its world championships to wherever across the maxi fleet there is the greatest competition,” explains IMA Secretary General Andrew McIrvine. “Over recent seasons, we have seen the 100 footers increasingly ramping up their programs with boats that were once cruiser-racers now becoming more thoroughbred racing yachts with all the development, sail programs, and elite level crews that that entails. As a result we are expecting at least ten Maxi 1 yachts to be competing at our new World Championship.”

Already entered for the Maxi 1 World title is 100 footers Leopard 3; a trio of former Wallycentos – Magic Carpet Cubed, Galateia and V; SHK Scallywag – Seng Huang Lee’s David Witt-led campaign returning to race in the northern hemisphere for the first time since the pandemic. Then there is the 93-foot Bullitt, last year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race winner; the 85-foot racer Deep Blue; the 82-foot Django HF in her first race since receiving some major modifications; the ClubSwan 80 My Song; and the brand new 80-foot Capricorno for which the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship will be the first regatta in which she will race.

While yachts larger than 30.51m (100ft) compete in their own Super Maxi class, the IMA Maxi fleet today encompasses yachts of 18.29m (60ft) to 30.51m (100ft), as published annually in the IMA Maxi Class Rules. In recent seasons, the IMA has shed monickers from its classes such as Racer/Racer-Cruiser/Cruiser-Racer and Mini Maxi, in favor of dividing up the Maxi fleet solely by IRC rating.

For example at the 2023 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Maxi 1 was for yachts with a TCC of 1.700< (ie 100 footers); Maxi 2 1.600-1.700 (ie the former Maxi 72s); Maxi 3 1.400-1.600 (the former Mini Maxi Racer-Cruiser class), Maxi 4 1.260-1.400 (the ex-Mini Maxi Cruiser-Racer class, but including a Swan 80 and a Southern Wind 82) and Maxi 5 <1.260 (the former Mini Maxi Cruiser class, ie Swan 65).

“The aim of this is entirely to encourage yachts of a similar performance to race against one another to ensure the best possible competition, rather than rely on any highly subjective terminology,” explains McIrvine.

Maxi yacht world championships have long been associated with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Porto Cervo. From the early 1980s, the International Class A Yacht Association (ICAYA – the IMA’s previous name) regularly held here World Championships for the ‘Class A’ ; the name of the maxi class as defined by the IOR rule of that era. It is because of this that, to this day, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is still referred in sailing circles as ‘the Maxi Worlds’.

The last World Championship held at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup was for the Maxi 72 class in 2018 when it was won by Dieter Schön’s Momo. The World Championship for this class was withdrawn due to dwindling numbers and the Maxi 72s increasingly racing out of class. Despite no longer racing within the confines of their box rule, the remaining former Maxi 72s continue to enjoy the best racing with four currently entered in September – Jethou, plus Jolt, Proteus, and North Star, which will be competing in their own class in Porto Cervo in September.

Event details: https://www.yccs.it/regate-2024/maxi_yacht_rolex_cup-3314.html

Source: IMA

Tags: International Maxi Association , Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

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The biggest yachts competing at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup gets underway next month and is set to be one of the biggest gatherings of racing royalty in the Mediterranean this summer. Taking place from 3 to 9 September, the regatta will welcome 50 competitors to Porto Cervo for a week of rail-to-rail racing through the Maddalena Archipelago. Take a look at some of this year's contenders...

Kauris IV is not only the largest contender competing in this year's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, but also one of the newest. This Wally 145 was built by Persico Marine and delivered in 2020 as a vessel that can be enjoyed as a family boat but also compete around the cans. Kauris IV has a lifting keel with a 67-metre-tall mast and flies an area of 1,968 square metres of sail. 

The largest (and newest) member of the J Class fleet, the 44-metre Vitters yacht Svea will be back racing in Sardinia after being crowned overall winner of the J Class last year. The original lines for this Super J were designed by Tore Holm in 1973 and Hoek Design Naval Architects was called on to revive the 75-year-old drawings and bring her up to date, complete with a 53.75-metre carbon fibre main mast. As a result, Svea displaces just 182 tonnes — two tonnes less than her fellow J Hanuman and six tonnes less than Ranger . 

After a fourth-place finish in last year's Maxi Rolex Cup, Topaz and crew have some work to do. The Holland Jachtbouw J Class is based on an unbuilt 1938 design and was revisited by Andre Hoek . Topaz ’s hull design features a reduced wetted surface and higher keel aspect ratio to her 27-metre waterline length, making her quick.

Velsheda is the only original J Class racing at this year's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and, after securing third place in 2022, is back to see if she can beat her result. This 38.5-metre yacht is the only original J Class not to have been built for the America's Cup , commissioned in 1933 by the chairman of Woolworths and named after his three daughters: Velma, Sheila and Daphne.

The 36-metre Viriella will be returning to Porto Cervo after a fifth-place finish in the Maxi class last year. She is the flagship of the Maxi Dolphin fleet, designed by German Frers , and features a lifting keel with a Southern Spars carbon fibre mast.

Delivered as Highland Fling 15, this 35-metre Swan 115 was born into a racing dynasty. She changed ownership in 2021 and was renamed Moat and it was under her new name that she and her crew were crowned winners of the inaugural Ibiza JoySail regatta. Moat finished just two points behind second place at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in 2022 and will be eager to climb the finishing order this time around.

Geist is the flagship of British shipyard Spirit Yachts. She is undeniably beautiful but also a powerhouse on the racecourse. In 12 knots of true breeze, she beats upwind at nine knots, and while she’s clearly a very large yacht, she’s also a proper sailing boat with all the feel you’d expect of something a third of her size. After coming second in last year's event, Geist will be eyeing the top spot in the Maxi class. 

Inoui is a lean, green, racing machine. A regular on the regatta circuit, she was built by Vitters to a design by Philippe Briand and is built entirely from carbon with a square-top mainsail, shallow sloping reverse-transom and a retractable fin-and-bulb keel. She will be competing off the back of a win at the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta.

Y3K is a competitive racer with a powerful sail plan (she flies 1,162 square metres of sail downwind). She won three consecutive Maxi Yacht Rolex Cups from 2009 to 2011 and will be racing once again in the Maddelena archipelago. She was the third Wally to be ordered by German yachtsman Claus-Peter Offen. He and his racing team have won 11 Wally regattas over the years, both on Y3K and on his previous Wally Galma .

Magic Carpet ³

With wins at the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta, Rolex Giraglia, Maxi Worlds and Les Viles de St Tropez, Magic Carpet 3 is a fierce competitor. She was launched as the second in a series of next-gen performance cruisers by Wally, named the Wallycento and has a displacement of just 50 tonnes (if you remove the keel and the mast, that figure drops to 18 tonnes), which makes her one of the lightest cruising boats ever built. During her construction, every item was weighed, right down to the titanium screws holding it all together. Her Southern Spars rigging flies 640 square metres of sail while a lifting keel reduces her draft by two metres.

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The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2022

The eagerly anticipated Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup will return to the sun-lapped shores of Sardinia this September in celebration of its 32nd edition.

Taking place on the azure-blue waters of the Mediterranean, Costa Smeralda provides an idyllic setting and a variety of challenging conditions for the large fleets of superb Maxi yachts, promising to be one of the most iconic sailing regattas in the international yachting calendar.

Discover more about this world-class sailing regatta in 2022 and what you can expect to see this summer with Yachting Partner International’s expert guide.

Founded in 1980, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is one of the Mediterranean yachting season's most exclusive highlights, organised with the support of longstanding partner Rolex and in collaboration with the International Maxi Association. Encompassing unparalleled glamour and dramatic sailing, it is a truly spectacular event.

The beautiful Maxi yachts will gather on the water from the 5th to the 10th of September, in a dramatic race across the coastal courses around the islands of the La Maddalena archipelago and along the infamous "Bomb Alley" strait between the islands and Sardinia.

Over the thirty years of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, the average size of the competing sailing yachts has increased considerably, thanks to great strides in material, science, and technology developments.

This year's sailing regatta in 2022 reaches its 32nd edition. As promised, the world's largest, most elegant and powerful fleet of boats, exemplifying cutting-edge technology and design, is set to hit the enchanting waters of the Costa Smeralda, with internationally accomplished sailors at the helm.

As the pioneer in sailing for almost 60 years, Rolex has forged strong relationships with the yachting industry by supporting the most influential yacht clubs, sailors, and regattas. Rolex is exceptionally proud of its association with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and this flagship sailing regatta in 2022. This longstanding partnership is founded on the shared standards of excellence and passion for premium performance.

Yacht Club Costa Smeralda

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, located in the seaside village of Porto Cervo, is home to one of the finest marinas in the Mediterranean and a superb location to participate in the yearly regattas. This exclusive Italian marina offers 16 berths for yachts of 20 metres, as well as unparalleled nautical experiences, including fine restaurants, designer boutiques and relaxation facilities.

Alternatively, Porto Cervo Marina is one of the best equipped and luxurious docks in the Mediterranean, set in a bay perfectly sheltered from all weather fronts. Porto Cervo Marina offers 700 berths, with 100 slips reserved for superyachts.

Entries for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2022 will be open until 30 July.

If you want to attend the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2022 this summer, contact our trusted team of luxury yacht brokers to discover our exquisite selection of sailing yachts for sale and charter.

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Want to See America’s Cup Racing Up Close? These 9 Yacht Charters Let You Watch From the Water

Options range from 200-foot-plus superyachts with side trips to ibiza to intimate sailing vessels catered by michelin-starred chefs. let the races begin., jemima sissons, jemima sissons's most recent stories.

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Next week, when the 37 th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup kicks off in Barcelona with its opening ceremony, the contest that began in 1851 with a race around the Isle of Wight between the fastest British and American sloops (the yacht America won handily) will come back to Europe for the first time in 14 years.

The move to the Catalan capital from the 2021 event in New Zealand will make it more accessible to sailing fans in Europe, and even North Americans who want to view the fast, technical AC75 foiling boats in person. Barcelona has been preparing itself for a surge of spectators for the “return” of the Cup, which was held twice in Valencia, Spain, in the aughts.

The America’s Cup may be billed as “the race with no second place,” but it takes three months of racing and four events for one of five Challenger teams to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, and that winner will race Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup final. The racing runs from August through October, and this year includes a first-time all-women’s America’s Cup as well as an event for the world’s best youth sailors.

Having Barcelona as a venue was a smart move, partly for the gorgeous beaches fronting the race course on the Med. But there is also the city’s magnificent architecture and sense of history as well as vibrant arts, culture and, of course, no shortage of Michelin-starred restaurants.

There are many five-star hotels in the area, but the smartest and most thrilling way to see racing is by water. The vessel options are wide-ranging—from weeklong superyacht charters to luxury suites on a cruise ships to day trips on sailboats with Michelin-starred cuisine. Many can be combined with on-land stays and even cruises to other parts of Spain as part of the itineraries.

One important note: Four zones adjoining the race course allow spectator boats. Before chartering a vessel, be sure to find out which zone the boat will operate in, because that impacts how close you are to the racing.

Here are 9 options to suit the most avid Cup aficionados or those visiting Barcelona who want to sip champagne and watch the AC75 foiling boats battle it out.

Superyacht ‘Resilience’

Edmiston is offering charters aboard the 212-foot Resilience during the America’s Cup. The ISA-built superyacht, designed by Enrico Gobbi, features a mosaic-tiled pool, circular fire pit and a BBQ for a ringside lunch. Post-race pampering comes via the steam room, sundeck jacuzzi and gym, and there’s even a self-playing Edelweiss piano and projector for evening entertainment. The vessel sleeps 12 across seven cabins. From September 16, weekly charters start at about $645,000 (€600,000).

Explora Journeys

The soon-to-be-launched Explora II looks very much like its sistership, the Explora I : onyx finishes, self-playing Steinways, on-deck Technogym bikes, a spa with a Himalayan salt room, Dunhill cigar den and a wine cellar boasting decades-old Chateau Latour. With 461 luxury suites, how was the Explora II chosen to become an America’s Cup viewing platform? The idea came from the top down. 

“I love sailing and believe the Med is the most beautiful sea on earth,” Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of the cruise division of MSC Group, told Robb Report during a visit aboard Explora I in Barcelona. “We thought if only our customers could also experience [the America’s Cup], we can call it the ocean state of mind.” 

Explora II launches in mid-September, with itineraries planned to coincide with the different Cup events. On October 6, the vessel will be in port for the Louis Vuitton Cup Final and Puig Women’s Races. Guests can take a walk to the official race village and experience its excitement before watching the races from their suites. A 10-night journey starts from $5,210 per guest.

The Almanac Sailing Experience

Barcelona’s Almanac hotel has a romantic-gastronomic experience that offers guests front-row seats on a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 sailboat with a capacity for 10 guests. Besides the racing, the package includes two nights at the hotel. The boat comes with the hotel’s branded slippers and Jimmy Boyd bespoke amenities. Enjoy a selection of customized Cava Bellinis from the pop-up bar. Chefs from the hotels’ restaurant will also serve up shrimp salad and fennel ceviche paired with organic Spanish wines. The boat can be chartered every Saturday from August 31 to October 26. The Louis Vuitton Cup round-robin starts on August 29 and lasts through Sept. 8. There’s also the Puig Women’s Race (first all-female America’s Cup in its 171-year history) and, of course, the America’s Cup finals in October. Prices start at $2,940 per couple. 

Superyacht ‘C’

For a majestic week-long cruise that incorporates America’s Cup summer races and possible side itineraries in Costa Dorada, Sitges and Formentera, Camper & Nicholsons’ expansive 177-ft C is the flashy option, defined by Minotti furniture, lacquered panels and a hamman. It also sleeps 12 in six cabins that feature a master and two VIP suites. Its chase boat also offers a great opportunity for side trips. Weekly charters from Sept. 18-October 31 run from about $513,000 or €400,000.

Sailing Yacht ‘Imagine’

UK adventure specialists Pelorus offer a private seat on an elegant sailing boat seeped in America’s Cup history. Built in New Zealand by Alloy Yachts, Imagine is a 110-footer that served as an official viewing platform for the America’s Cup in Auckland, but it has also completed three global circumnavigations. Beyond its sailing chops, it’s a beautiful vessel, with a blonde, teak-lined deck, large salon and dining area, and three cabins for sleeping seven guests. It will be available from October 12 for the America’s Cup final. Pelorus is also offering to bookend the week with trips to Majorca and Ibiza. About $101,000 (£79,121)

Superyacht ‘Diane’

Also available from Edmiston, the 141-ft Diane can accommodate 10 guests in five staterooms for the week. The interior is all about soft hues, featuring cream leather and white marble, boasting a bar and plenty of outdoor seating for watching the races. For the non-race legs, guests can take to the water via the large beach club, complete with seabobs and wakeboards. It has a Balearics license, making a hop to Ibiza or Majorca a possibility. Weekly charter rates from September 23 run about $150,000 per week (€140,000)

Black Tomato Cup Package

Incorporating a city-stay, Black Tomato’s America’s Cup getaway includes a day’s private day charter to view the race, plus five nights at the Mandarin Oriental as well as visiting the regatta course and different bases of the America’s Cup teams for an insider’s look at the operations and technology. As a dayboat, its Bali Yacht Saxador 400 GTO can accommodate 11 guests. It sets sail from Port Olympic, giving guests a sweeping view of the city on one side and the regatta course on the other. The boat has access to the blue area (for preferred charter boats) on the front line. From $12,750 per person, based on two people.

Superyacht ‘Quasar’

Camper & Nicholsons recently introduced the 153-foot Quasar to the charter market and what a great way to end the Med season than by viewing the America’s Cup. It has six cabins (including two master suites) that can accommodate 12 guests, along excellent outdoor seating, an upper salon that joins the aft deck area for viewing the races or dining al-fresco. The beach club has a large selection of water toys. Visits to scenic Med ports around Barcelona are also possible on the week’s charter, which start at about $232,000 (€210,000).  

Superyacht ‘Kiawah’

For front row seats on day charters in the blue zone (the third-closest area to the races), official charter partner ac37 Sailcharters offers different types of vessels and packages. The 110-foot Kiawah features a cocktail lunch on board, a specialized lecture from an expert sailor, and an AV system to follow the race in real time. From August 22 through October 11, daily rates are about $34,000 (€30,800) and during the America’s Cup finals October 12-27, rates move to about $41,000 (€37,400).

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Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup: An Example Of Excellence

Porto Cervo, 10 September 2022 - Everyone participating at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is arguably a winner. Yet after a week of racing, the titles can only go to one participant in each class: the best prepared, the most consistent, the most determined. Victors this year were: Highland Fling XI in Maxi, Vesper in Mini Maxi 1, Svea in J Class, Shamanna in Supermaxi, Capricorno in Mini Maxi 2 and H20 in Mini Maxi 3/4.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is an event like no other. Organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS), in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), it dates back to 1980. The partnership with title sponsor Rolex began in 1984. A walk along the docks, in front of the striking YCCS Clubhouse, offers an insight into the quality of boats and sailors in attendance. Powerful designs, emanating performance ideals from the 1930s and the present. Passionate owners, putting their reputation and yachts on the line in pursuit of their favoured sport. Elite crew, exuding the talent and experience to guide these stirring vessels around the challenging racetracks. Once on the water the spectacle is complete: the scenery beguiling, the starts intense, the courses demanding and the pressure approaching boiling point. The 2022 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup perfectly illustrated why this regatta stands head and shoulders above most others, the substance behind one of the longest standing partnerships in yachting.

The 32nd edition of the annual gathering of imposing monohulls attracted a fleet of 50 ranging in size from 18 metres (60 feet) to 43.5 m (143ft) and in age from the 89-year-old Velsheda to FlyingNikka , launched in May. These two yachts are the very antithesis of each other in virtually every respect, except their originating concept: to be the fastest, cutting-edge racer of their period. Unveiled in 1933, at the time, the J Class Velsheda represented the most advanced technical design in spars, rigging, sails, deck gear, halyards and control lines. Her mast was formed from aluminium plates riveted together. The sails relied on the latest synthetic polyester fibre threads and sheets benefited from winches. Over recent decades, Velsheda has evolved through modernizing refits to incorporate elements of today’s yachting. More comfortable below, significantly she performs to the best of her potential. A regular on the race circuit since the late 1990s, Velsheda won class in Porto Cervo on three occasions in 2009, 2019 and 2021.

This year, however, it was the superbly sailed Svea that outgunned the opposition to win the J Class comfortably. Velsheda came third, one point behind Ranger after six races. Bouwe Bekking, the round the world yachtsman, already a serial winning tactician at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup on the Supermaxi Nilaya in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and the J Class Lionheart in 2014, was in the afterguard of Svea . Bekking explained the attraction of racing a more traditional design: “I think it is the most majestic yacht you can ever race on. It has so much heritage. It is huge challenge to get a J around the track. It takes a team of 35 which needs training to work together. There is a massive sail area to handle during mark roundings, and huge spinnaker poles. Every person onboard has a job, one tiny mistake by anyone will reflect in the overall performance.”

For Bekking, racing boats redolent of a bygone era is just another aspect of a sport where passion and enthusiasm for the past matches the present: “It is fantastic that we have owners who want to race the Js. The sailing world owes a huge thank you to those that reignited the idea of seriously racing them.” In contrast, FlyingNikka is at the opposite extreme. Influenced by the AC75, first introduced at the 2021 America’s Cup, the forward-looking foiling Maxi was designed by Mark Mills, whose boats have won regularly at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and on the international circuit. Moving the concept to reality, required the unstinting commitment of owner Roberto Lacorte, a four-time winner at this regatta. Drawing on the latest aerodynamic thinking and construction engineering, she was built as light and reliable as possible to sail in a wide range of conditions. The foil configuration has benefited from simulator research, while the wing sail articulation is custom-made to withstand the rigours of offshore racing. So innovative is FlyingNikka that she raced alone, a virtual demonstration class, revealing the possibilities and a reminder that design evolution is perpetual.

At the close of proceedings, the triumphant crews received their trophies, together with the plaudits of their peers. Inspiring performances, in the most exacting arena, rewarded in the most appropriate fashion. The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2022 was an example of excellence from start to finish. ROLEX AND YACHTING Rolex has always associated with activities driven by passion, excellence, precision and team spirit. The Swiss watchmaker naturally gravitated towards the elite world of yachting six decades ago and the brand’s enduring partnership now encompasses the most prestigious clubs, races and regattas, as well as towering figures in the sport, including ground-breaking round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Sir Ben Ainslie. Today, Rolex is Title Sponsor of 15 major international events – from leading offshore races such as the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race, to grand prix competition at the Rolex TP52 World Championship and spectacular gatherings at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup. It also supports the exciting SailGP global championship in which national teams race identical supercharged F50 catamarans on some of the world’s most famous harbours. Rolex’s partnerships  with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Royal Ocean Racing Club, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Yacht Club Italiano, New York Yacht Club and Royal Yacht Squadron, among others, are the foundation of its enduring relationship with this dynamic sport.

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St. Pete To Shine Again

• By Dave Reed
• February 14, 2024

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club and the western shore of Florida’s Tampa Bay will be the epicenter of sailboat racing this weekend when more than 240 teams across 13 one-design classes and five handicap-racing fleets get races started for the first event of the national Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in St. Petersburg . Now well into its third decade, the regatta will also mark 10 years with its title sponsor.

The Sunshine City’s motto is that St. Pete is “Always in Season,” and that is certainly the enticement for many teams traveling in from colder climes with the promise of warm breezes, stiff competition and a nightlife that’s never been more vibrant.

One such northerner is David Mierzwa, of Lake Placid, New York, who on Tuesday was behind the wheel and racing to get south of a big storm burying the mid-Atlantic and Northeast in snow and ice. Behind him was bitter cold, but ahead of him was warmth and the anticipation of his first Melges 24 Midwinter Championship at the regatta.

As a newbie to the demanding Melges 24, Mierzwa says his primary goal is to “stay out of everybody’s way,” but ultimately, he and his teammates are on a mission to learn the nuances of this high-performance keelboat from his peers.

“We’re going so we can hunt for tips, tricks and whatever makes us better,” Mierzwa says. “It’s about having the opportunity to do an event of this caliber with likeminded people, because while sailing is the goal, being surrounded by others that do the same sport is sometimes better than the sport itself.”

As the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in St. Petersburg will be his team’s first major event, he recognizes they don’t have a high enough racing pedigree to vie for the Midwinter Championship title—yet. “The only way we can get to that point is to go out there and race,” he says.

And race they will, from early Friday morning through late Sunday, alongside several other one-design classes that are the regulars of this February classic, including the S2 7.9s and the Hobie 33s , both of which will also be vying for their midwinter championship titles. 

The S2s have the returning champions of Tom and Mary Bryant’s “Team Matros” from Holland, Michigan, which won seven of eight races in 2023 to earn their berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship last October. At each of the series’ five events one team is selected to compete in the British Virgin Islands for the overall season title.

The Hobie 33s also have their champions returning to defend— Craig and Deborah Wilusz’s “Hoof Hearted”—but this year there’s a new and unknown challenger from Waxhaw, North Carolina, and it’s a boat with a nefarious name: “Bad Bunny.” Its new owner, Sean Rhone, says he’s looking forward to meeting and racing with other Hobie 33 owners for the first time and “taking a peek under their hoods.”

Rhone has been primarily racing his Hobie 33 in singlehanded events and low-key races on North Carolina’s Lake Norman, and like Mierzwa, he’s not sure how well he’ll fare, especially with a five-person team that’s been assembled by way of social media message boards, and whom he’s never met.

“It’s cold in Charlotte,” Rhone says, “and I’m getting tired of the cold weather, so when I saw that the fleet was having its midwinters in St. Petersburg, I thought it would be nice to go and race against some other Hobie 33s for once.”

Mierzwa and Rhone may pass each other on an interstate somewhere on the way to St. Pete, along with a sizable Canadian contingent of Contender dinghy sailors making their annual pilgrimage from across the northern border. The 16-foot Contender, which its loyalists claim to be “The Sexiest Singlehander in the World ” was introduced in 1969 and continues to be popular internationally, as well as in Tampa thanks to local sailmaker Ethan Bixby. Bixby, a champion of many classes, continues to rally the troops to the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta and the fleet has doubled for this year’s gathering. Bixby, who won all races last year, will of course be among the 11 trapezing sailors.

Sharing the same racecourse will be eight teams racing the doublehanded Windmill class, which is new to the regatta lineup, but another cult classic sparked in the 1950s. Class measurer Pat Huntley, of Erie, Pennsylvania, is now a decade into Windmill racing, and says he’s eager to enjoy some fast sailing in St. Pete and good times with his fellow Windmillers. “It’s such a fun and cool group,” Huntley says. “And the Windmill is such a bad-ass skinny and fast boat. It can handle the chop easily and is really fast.” 

Five teams racing in the 20-foot Flying Dutchman class (first built in 1951) will hail from California to Tennessee and hosted by local FD ace, Lin Robson, the 2023 class winner. The doublehanded bonanza, however, will be the Melges 15 class, which will feature an impressive 31 teams, nearly double from 2023. The new one-design class has exploded in popularity across the country since its introduction three years ago, and midwinter regattas elsewhere in Florida have maxed out at nearly 100 boats.

Among the Melges 15 ranks in St. Petersburg will be New York’s Iris Vogel, who has traditionally raced the regatta with her larger one-design keelboats over the years (a Soverel 33 and a J/88, both named “Deviation”). Vogel is now enjoying the challenge of big-fleet racing and exhilarating downwind sailing.

Racing with her partner, Tim Longo, Vogel helms and Longo handles the front of the boat, and over the past year they’ve been working their way up the scoreboard, but have a long way to go to the top. “This is a totally new thing to sail in such a big fleet,” Vogel says. “J/88 events typically get a dozen boats at best, and the racing is much slower paced. The tactics are completely different and boats are fast downwind so it’s a ton of fun, but we are still learning a different style of racing. Having the smaller fleet [at the Helly Hansen Regatta] will give us a chance to work on our boatspeed.”

While the out-of-town armada is significant, local sailors look forward to the regatta every year, especially Tampa Bay’s PHRF sailors who’ve made the event a key fixture in their Suncoast Boat of the Year Series. For these fleets, which now comprise the regatta’s largest group with 38 entries across four divisions (Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, Racer-Cruiser and Cruising) organizers have added two days of long-course racing over the weekend. Depending on the wind strength and direction of the day, the race committee will plot a daylong course to test each team’s navigational and sailing skills, as well as their perseverance and desire to be first to the dock and first to the yacht club bar.

Local sailor Tim Landt, who has been an active sailor on the Tampa Bay waterfront for decades, is a registered competitor in the Cruising division in his new-to-him Nightwind 35, “Charisma.” He’s excited to see the regatta’s blossoming distance-race fleet and says the local growth and interest in racing older-generation yachts is good for the sport and for the Tampa Bay racing scene.

But it’s not all classic plastics in the distance fleet. In the Racer-Cruiser division will be the sparkling new Neo 43, owned by Ken Mungan of nearby Isles Yacht Club in Punta Gorda, Florida. Mungan purchased his sleek Italian-built 43-footer in 2022 with big plans to take on a few of the sport’s marque distance races, and local events like the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta offer he and his team an opportunity to learn the boat in a racing environment.

“When I turned 40 I needed a hobby and took up sailing,” Munger says. “I’m always trying new things and got into racing 2019. I did the Melges 24 for a while, but the Neo, because it’s a shallow-draft boat, allows me to do more local long-distance racing and we’re learning a lot.”

For this weekend’s regatta, Munger has more crew lined up than there are roles on the boat, but that’s fine with him. “We’re going to be overloaded, and I am anticipating a level of skill and organization that we don’t quite have yet,” he admits. “We’ll have two coaches and a new set of racing jibs that will be used for the first time, so it will be fun, and I’m looking forward to it.”

While the long-course racers are making their way around the bay, closer to shore, will be the multihulls: the high-tech A Class Catamarans , which have two divisions (Classic and Foiling) totaling 33 competitors, and the Weta Trimarans , with a smaller contingent from years past, return with nine boats, and among them is two-time defending champion and local Pete Merrifield looking for a three-peat.

         The iconic Lightning Class is one of the regatta’s largest one-design fleets, with 25 boats, five of which will be raced by members of the Starck family with a few world champions among them. Hall of Famer, Augie Diaz, of Miami, and Ched Proctor, of Southport, Connecticut, both world champions as well, always add to the high level of racing and camaradarie Lightning sailors enjoy all winter. The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in St. Petersburg is a key warm-up event for the Lightning class’s hotly-contested two-regatta Southern Circuit with March events in St. Pete and Miami.

Sharing one racing circle immediately off the city front will be the 29-boat J/70 fleet and a reemergent J/24 fleet, both of which will no doubt provide quality racing for both professional and amateur sailors. The same will be true for the ever-competitive ORC fleet, with 11 entries, which will be racing further south. Bill and Jackie Baxter’s J/111 “Fireball,” from Stamford, Connecticut, which has won all of its events this winter will return to defend its 2023 ORC title, which it earned with ease, winning seven of eight races.

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I sommozzatori cercano i dispersi che erano a bordo dello yacht affondato a Porticello - La diretta video

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