Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 - The first roundings
by Yacht Club Italiano 12 Jun 2025 16:22 BST
7-14 June 2025
Rounding the rock in the Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 © Loro Piana / Studio Borlenghi
After yesterday's start in a steady and pleasant breeze, the fleet competing in the 2025 Loro Piana Giraglia began completing the first part of the shortened 200-nautical-mile course early this morning at first light.
It was a magical and spectacular dawn, following a night of sailing under the full moon — a night, however, marked by very light winds. Many boats managed to move forward by catching scattered puffs of breeze, which rarely exceeded 4-5 knots.
It's a slow-paced Giraglia, but one that doesn't detract from the technical and sporting value of the crews at sea — all of whom are now heading into another night in the calm waters of a particularly tranquil Northern Tyrrhenian Sea. As always in these waters, sightings of marine mammals have been frequent.
The first boat to round the rock this morning was Scallywag, the 100-footer from Hong Kong, at 05:52 after 17 hours and 52 minutes of sailing. Close behind, just 18 minutes later, came a compact trio: Magic Carpet E (06:11), Capricorno (06:15), and My Song (06:25), which sailed practically within sight of each other for the entire first section of the route, following an almost direct course toward the Corsican waypoint.
Slightly further back, Arca rounded at 07:28, followed by Wallyrocket 71 Django 7X at 07:40 — all part of the leading group of Maxi yachts in IRC Group 0.
Among the "middleweights," the first to round was the Turkish TP52 Blue Moon, from the Arkas Sailing Team at 09:14.
The climb northward toward Genoa remains a tactically demanding game, with Wallyrocket Django appearing to have taken the most easterly and radical route among the frontrunners.
Estimated arrivals in Genoa are currently between 20:00 and 22:00 this evening.
Follow the fleet's progress in real time