21st Palermo-Montecarlo Regatta Underway
by Palermo-Montecarlo 18 Aug 21:42 BST
18-23 August 2026
A long and spectacular start for the Palermo-Montecarlo 2026, the summer offshore race organized by the Circolo della Vela Sicilia in collaboration with the Yacht Club de Monaco and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.
It was a long start because the Race Committee, led by Race Director Giancarlo Crevatin, had to reposition the starting line and the diversion mark according to the changing winds. The start was a strong southerly breeze under a cloudy front, then shifted to the west with clear skies, settling at 10-15 knots. The fleet was beautifully seen on the starting line against the backdrop of the Gulf of Mondello, boats heeling over heavily in the strongest gusts. In the heat of the start, the maxi-powered Intuition and the small J99, paired with Tokio, came too close together: the latter suffered, breaking its mast in three pieces.
Fiamme Gialle Nice stood out on the line, with Paolo Cian at the helm, recalling his match racing skills with a flying start in the counter-starter area. South Kensington Lauria, owned by Massimo Licata D'Andrea, also performed well. Without overdoing it, Black Jack 100, the big favorite, with Tristan Le Brun at the helm, unleashed all her might and, on the lay line of the disengagement mark, overtook Fiamme Gialle Nice, heading out to sea.
Immediately after, Marta 07, with Furio Benussi, Guido Miani, and Edoardo Bonanno, passed: the 86-foot maxi, flying the double pennant of the Yacht Club de Monaco and the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, slipped into the leader's slipstream.
Once past the Capo Gallo promontory, the first hours of the 2026 Palermo-Montecarlo saw the crews make their first tactical decisions. Almost all chose to head decisively west, sailing upwind in medium-light winds of around 8 knots.
The next decisive move are expected on the first night of the race, when the race will begin its northward journey and approach Sardinia. Forecasts indicate a northwesterly wind beneath the island, which the boats will need to navigate around a vast area of light winds to reach. Climbing the coast will also be difficult, with gusts and calms. This will be the key theme of the entire race. Only after passing the Strait of Bonifacio could the sailors benefit from a steady southwesterly wind that will push them toward the finish line in the Principality of Monaco. The initial ETA estimates for the first arrivals point to the morning of Thursday, August 20th: but everything could change quickly with the weather development.
Up for grabs are the straight-time victory, the Line Honors, which also awards the Giuseppe Tasca D'Almerita Challenge Trophy, and the overall corrected time ranking, which will award the Angelo Randazzo Challenge Trophy to the largest fleet in the ORC and IRC categories (this year, it's the ORC fleet). Also worth watching is the pursuit of the record, which belongs to Black Jack 100 with 38 hours and 53 minutes, set in 2025.
The 2026 Palermo-Montecarlo awards ceremony is scheduled for the evening of Sunday, August 23rd, at the Yacht Club de Monaco.
Tracking link to follow the race: positions, speed, forecasts: pro.yb.tl/pm2026
www.palermo-montecarlo.it