Maxis trimming on for Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
by International Maxi Association 28 Sep 18:47 BST
Pascale Decaux's Tilakkhana II is the former Magic Carpet Cubed © Gilles Martin-Raget /
www.martin-raget.com
2025's inshore racing for the maxi fleet culminates this week at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Alongside the IMA Maxi European Championship and the recent Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, the event organised by Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez one of the pinnacles of the maxi racing season.
It is also the deciding event of the International Maxi Association's Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge for 2025, currently led by David M Leuschen/Chris Flowers' 100ft Galateia, but with Karel Komárek 100ft V, Alessandro Del Bono's 82ft Capricorno and Peter Dubens' 72ft North Star still in contention.
Alongside the majestic classics such as Atlantic, Cambria, Puritan, Sumurun, etc, the maxi fleet is again star attraction on the Cote d'Azur's premier regatta with 45 registered, divided into five classes from the Frers 112 Sealen B to the Solaris 60 Crazy Diamond and Swan 60 Seaquill.
This year the Maxi 1 class, for racers of 80-100ft, have been separated from the Maxi Grand Prix class (ex-Maxi 2/Maxi 72/Mini Maxi). In the former all eyes will be on the newest addition - Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' Verdier 100 Magic Carpet e. Although she competed in the offshore race of Loro Piana Giraglia in June this will be the first occasion she has raced inshore from her homeport.
A radical boat, Magic Carpet e can run on electrics solely while day racing (ie with no engine continually running to power her hydraulics) and has a canting keel that can rake aft, reducing draft (enabling her to moor in shallow harbours like Saint-Tropez). Although she won the first race at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup she is still very much being worked up. "We are looking forward to a beautiful event, with a big fleet, nice short courses inshore and some coastal - a lot of action," forecasts her tactician Francesco de Angelis. "She's very new still, so you have to focus on your performance and see how the results are. We're trying to learn the boat and the best environment to do that is against stiff competition."
Any of her six Maxi 1 opponents has a chance, including the trio of former Wallycentos: Galateia, currently the boat to beat, was recent winner of the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship in Porto Cervo and was second in the Loro Piana Giraglia inshores on these waters in June. V has shown great potential this year and while she has won individual races is overdue an event win. Joost Schuijff's Farr 100 Leopard 3, this year lost the Worlds on countback and seems the most competitive she has ever been, especially inshore. Pascale Decaux's Tilakkhana II knows the way here as the former Magic Carpet Cubed. Decaux, the sole female owner in the Maxi fleet here, is racing with many top tier female crew including Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Marie Riou, Emily Nagel, Sophie de Turckheim, Rebecca Gmuer Hornell and Léna Le Meillour.
The two smaller yachts in Maxi 1 have great potential. Capricorno, still one of the newest boats in this class, in June won the inshore races of Loro Piana Giraglia here (albeit on countback from Galateia), while Pier Luigi Loro Piana's 80ft My Song has shown great potential but awaits her day in the sun.
Equally competitive will be the racing in the Maxi Grand Prix class. These now span in length the newest in the fleet - Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's Django 7X at 71ft - to Sir Peter Ogden's 77ft Jethou. Peter Dubens' North Star is the lowest rated under IRC at 1.614 while Peter Harrison's Jolt is highest at 1.667. Despite still being very new, Django 7X recently proved herself winning the Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix Worlds, however Jolt has been most consistently successful - runner-up both in Porto Cervo and at the Europeans (and previously as Cannonball was a repeat winner in Saint-Tropez). Jim Swartz's Vesper remains hotly competitive having won in Porto Cervo in 2022 while North Star was European Champion in 2023 and Jethou won the Giraglia inshore racing here both last year and in 2022, when she scored straight bullets.
The most diverse fleet is Maxi 3. This ranges in size from the Frers 112 Sealen B (originally Harry Macklowe's 2000 vintage Unfurled), now owned by a Saint-Tropez resident with a crew including Mitch Booth and navigator Hugh Agnew, down to the Vismara 78 Pelotari.Project of Spain's Andres Varela Entrecanales. However highest-rated in the class is the new Southern Wind 96 Liberty Squared.
Back once again is Christian Oldendorff's Spirit 111 modern classic Geist, which finished third last year. "It's looking like a bit of a mixed bag," forecasts trimmer Pete Cumming. "It's going to be fairly light, but it looks like we should get good sea breeze.
"Saint-Tropez is a really geographically-influenced place: You start in the bay and it can be very light, and you head off around the corner and pick up a completely different breeze - at every headland there's a wind shift and a different pressure, so it's one of those places where the race is never over until you've crossed the line but there's method to the madness, and after sailing here for a few years, you know the do's and don'ts."
Although she hasn't raced this year, Maxi 3 favourite must be Terry Hui's Wally 77 Lyra, the defending champion and serial winner here. Two other Wallys taking part are the Wally 94 Inti, recently second in class in Porto Cervo and Sven Wackerhagen's Rose, which this summer won Palma's Superyacht Cup for a third occasion. The Carbon Ocean 80 Aegir will be racing here under new owner Phillip Rann, who this summer won the Aegean 600's Maxi class aboard his Swan 80 Umiko.
Swans are well represented with the spacious brand new Swan 88 Spiip second highest rated to Inti while the Swan 90 Hummingbird is the lowest rated in this class.
Making a welcome return to competitive yachting is Luciano Gandini, founder of Mylius Yachts in Italy, with his Mylius 80 FD Twin Soul B, which won her class here in 2019.
Favourites in Maxi 3 are Luigi Sala's Vismara 62 Yoru, the defending champion here and, from Belgium, Paul Berger's Swan 82FD Kallima, class winner at the last two editions of the IMA Maxi Europeans. Her tactician Romain Mouchel observes: "It looks very Saint-Tropez-like - so quite light for the first half of the week, but hopefully some sea breeze fills in. There's a pretty big easterly coming in on Thursday, which potentially means a lumpy sea state."
Highest rating and out in front should be the Wally 80 Sud, acquired by Maurits Van Orange earlier this year as a replacement for his Mylius 60. However there will be tight racing throughout this class among some modern cruiser-racers. ICE Yachts have two - José Agnaldo Andrade Jr's new ICE 66 Tapioca, and the 2022 ICE 70 Bandido. Alois Neukirchen's Mylius 66 RS Schorch raced here in 2023 when she was brand new. The Swan 60 Seaquill has some form having won the Mini Maxi class at the Rolex Swan Cup last year.
Furthest travelled is Dan Gribble's Tripp 65 Prevail from the USA. Built in 2009 she is a former Newport-Bermuda class winner. In 2022 she was bought by Gribble, who most actively races his Tripp 56 Brigadoon on the US West Coast. Prevail has spent the last few seasons in Europe.
"We were here, plus the timing worked well and I've heard such great things about this regatta," says Gribble of why he's here with her crew of amateurs. "I'm amazed how many boats are in it." The connection with Bill Tripp, who is racing on board, is that they studied naval architecture together.
One of the largest turn-outs of fast cruisers is in Maxi 5 where six yachts designed by Philippe Briand, from Construction Navale Bordeaux (CNB) are competing - latest are the brand new 78s Belles and Zampa while Jacques le Barazer also has his older 2020 vintage CNB 76 Zampa entered, which will be racing sisterships Marc-Olivier Laurent's Cloudy Night and Jonathan Litt's Beautiful Day. Then there is the smaller two-year-old CNB 66 Mahina 3.
No maxi regatta is complete without a Swan 65 and here there are two - Juerg Schneider's 1973 vintage Saida, which won her class here in 2022 and, from 1982, Evrika, once owned by Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright and aboard which former Chantier Multiplast boss Dominique Dubois circumnavigated in last year's Ocean Globe Race. This links nicely to Crazy Diamond, Enzo Pelizzaro's two-year-old Solaris 60, also competing.
Saida is not the only returning past winner of this class: Francois Benais' Shipman 63 Bambo came out on top in 2021. In addition there is the beautiful Truly Classic 90 Atalante, while the most palatial is the Oyster 825 Viva la Vida.
Racing for the maxi fleet sets sail tomorrow (Monday 29 September) and continues until Saturday from the Baie de Pampleonne on a mix of windward-leewards and coastal courses. A layday is fixed for Wednesday.
More information at www.lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr