2026 ushers in a new era for the International Maxi Association

by International Maxi Association 15 Apr 10:30 BST

The International Maxi Association starts its 47th season of maxi yacht racing in 2026 with a fresh influx of maxi owners to its Board and a new President to steer the Association.

The IMA is recognised by World Sailing as the body responsible for overseeing and nurturing maxi yacht racing (ie for yachts of 18.29+m) internationally. This position permits the IMA exclusively to hold World Championships for maxi yachts. Thus in 2026, as was the case for the first time last year, there will be two Rolex IMA World Championships: one for the Maxi 1 class (for racing yachts of 80-100ft) and the other for the Maxi Grand Prix class (71-77ft racers, formerly known as Maxi 2 and Maxi 72) - as integral parts of September's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.

At its Annual General Meeting in Porto Cervo last September, Maurits van Oranje-Nassau was elected as the new President of the IMA, taking over from Benoît de Froidmont who served in the position for seven years. Van Oranje-Nassau is a familiar figure on the race course aboard his Wally 80 Sud.

Oranje-Nassau becomes the 11th President of the IMA, following some of the greatest names in maxi racing such as Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the first president when the IMA was first established in 1979 as the International Class A Yacht Association (Class A being the official IOR maxi yacht designation of the day).

"It is an honour to take up the position of President of this prestigious organisation," commented Oranje-Nassau. "In addition to being the official body overseeing maxi yachting internationally our main jobs are aggregating our maxi owner members' needs and ideas, and working with our yacht club partners to create or evolve rules that ensure the highest level and fairness in our racing.

"We have spent the last months revising the IMA's By-Laws, to ensure that the Association has a proper, up-to-date structure providing the correct checks and balances for the future. In the meantime we look forward to another exciting season ahead."

New members of the board who joined in September were North Star's Peter Dubens and Django 7X's Giovanni Lombardi Stronati, representing the Maxi Grand Prix (ex-Maxi 72) class plus Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, owner of the radical new 100ft Verdier-designed Magic Carpet e.

Day to day running of the Association is handled by Secretary General Andrew McIrvine, former Commodore and Admiral of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, and his executive team. "It is very good to see how healthy the maxi fleet is despite an overall fall in yacht racing around the world," commented McIrvine. "The fleets we achieve at our major regattas act as an inspiration for the future. Hopefully our new rules to encourage youth and female crews will have some effect. As always our profound thanks go to Rolex, our long term supporter."

IMA maxi racing in 2026

After several successful races this spring in the Caribbean, maxi racing in the Mediterranean begins imminently with La Larga, the offshore race of the Real Club Nautico di Palma's Sandberg PalmaVela, starting on 25 April.

The two biggest events in the calendar in terms of participation, with both regularly attracting an impressive collection of 45-50 maxi yachts are September's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, run in conjunction with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, followed soon after by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez's Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Historically known as the 'Maxi Worlds', the former has more of a 'grand prix' flavour. It will again feature Rolex IMA World Championships for the Maxi 1 and 72s with a strong turn-out too from racer-cruisers and supermaxis (with an LOA of 30.51+), their crews all keen to challenge themselves on the world famous race courses around La Maddalena archipelago. The latter has evolved from the Cote d'Azur's late season festival of sail, where on the water the maxi fleet vies for centre stage with breath-taking giant classics, all enjoying the town'slaid-back bohemian chic once ashore.

Also attracting significant maxi fleets during the season are the IMA Maxi European Championship and Loro Piana Giraglia. Both of these events feature inshore and offshore components. The fifth edition of the IMA Maxi European Championship will once again be organised in conjunction with the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia in Naples. It begins with the classic overnight race, the Regata dei Tre Golfi, starting on 22 May, followed over 25-28 May by four days of inshore racing on the Gulf of Naples often including the popular lap of Capri. The IMA Maxi European Champion is determined from the combined results of these races with Hap Fauth's 2024 and 2025 winner, Bella Mente, returning in the hope of scoring a hattrick.

Loro Piana Giraglia is based around the Yacht Club Italiano's famous offshore race between Saint-Tropez and its base in Genoa. Since the arrival in 2024 of Loro Piana as the event's title sponsor, the relevance of the 'warm-up' inshore races prior to the main event has grown, now taking place over four days out of Saint-Tropez.

IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore and Offshore Challenges

Once again the IMA will be holding two 'challenges' in the Mediterranean this season.

The IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge (MMIC) starts with the inshore racing at Sandberg PalmaVela in early May and will once again culminate in October's Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Galateia won the MMIC in 2025, a result strongly founded on her becoming Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship, albeit on countback from Leopard 3.

• Sandberg PalmaVela - 30 April-3 May
• IMA Maxi European Championship (inshores) - 25-28 May
• Loro Piana Giraglia (inshores) - 13-16 June
• Copa del Rey MAPFRE - 1-8 August
• Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup - 7-12 September
• Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez - 28 September-3 October

The IMA Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge (MMOC) doesn't run over an exact calendar year and started with last October's Rolex Middle Sea Race. In this Louis Balcaen's Maxi 72 Balthasar was the resounding winner, claiming not only the maxi class but also the wider race overall under IRC corrected time. The 2025-26 championship resumes with La Larga and concludes with August's Palermo-Montecarlo enabling the winner to be presented with their silver trophy at the IMA Annual Members' dinner during September's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. In 2024-25 the MMOC was won for a second time by Jean-Pierre Barjon's Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina.

• Rolex Middle Sea Race - 19 October 2025
• La Larga (PalmaVela) - 25 April 2026
• Regata dei Tre Golfi (IMA Maxi European Championship) - 22 May 2026
• 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar - 30 May 2026
• Loro Piana Giraglia (offshore) - 17 June 2026
• Aegean 600 - 5 July 2026
• Palermo-Montecarlo - 18 August 2026

The MMIC or MMOC are open only to IMA members who, to qualify, must compete in a minimum of three events each. To encourage participation, the scoring for both series is cumulative so the more events competitors race in, the more likely their chances of winning.

The IMA also runs two similar challenges specifically for the burgeoning maxi multihull fleets in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. More follows about these.

For more on the International Maxi Association visit www.internationalmaxiassociation.com