Giovanni Di Vincenzo's Ker 46 Lisa R wins the Rolex Giraglia 2022

Rolex Giraglia 2022 © Yacht Club Italiano

Ten in the morning of 18 June was the cutoff limit for the Rolex Giraglia 2022, with 105 boats able to complete the race within that time, after Wednesday's 12 noon departure from Saint-Tropez. Very light conditions throughout saw the larger vessels completing the route in times ranging from 34:07:17 (Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' Magic Carpet Cubed) to 66:47:04, recorded by Stefano Argenton's Elan S3 Ness, which arrived in Genoa this morning at 8:07.

"It was a very demanding race," commented winner Giovanni Di Vincenzo, "but one that gave us great satisfaction and confirmed that Lisa, even outside her ideal conditions, is a very fast boat. I'm something of a 'last-minute' sailor, having come to sailing relatively recently: I started going to regatta courses about 15 years ago with a First 44, and just fell in love with the sport immediately. I've been a committed racer ever since, and with Francesco Bertone, who's become my trusted tactician, we formed this Lisa team, with whom we then began our adventure with the Ker 46 Lisa R. The race was quite complex, but this is a really satisfying win, not least because it's put an end to our recent tradition of always coming second in offshore races. The Rolex Giraglia is a fascinating race, which we managed to conquer with good tactics that prevented us from ever slowing down too much, partly thanks to the lightness of our boat."

The Ker 46 completed the Rolex Giraglia in 41:08:22, an excellent time that allowed her - in corrected time - to achieve more than a two-hour lead over her direct opponent, Adriano Calvini's Felci 61 Itacentodue, which came second in the IRC class, followed by Arobas 2, Gerard Logel's TP52.

The featherweights were also rewarded in the (less numerous) ORC class, with victory going to the Chilean J/122 Anita, owned by Nicolas Iba. In second place was the Uruguayan Dufour 40 Lady, owned by Ruiz Mones, ahead of Andrea Zaoli's One-Tonner, Resolute Salmon, still a very fast boat despite being built in 1976.

The award for effort, without a shadow of doubt, goes to Sergio Somaglia's Bavaria 39 Miran, which made it to 800 metres from the finish line this morning after more than 68 hours at sea, only to be halted there by the windless conditions. At the 10am time limit, Miran's tenacious crew had to start the engine without being able to finish the race, just a few metres from the line.

Present today at the awards ceremony were all the representatives of the clubs involved (Yacht Club Sanremo, Société Nautique de Saint Tropez and Yacht Club Italiano), exemplifying the team spirit that, from an organisational and sporting point of view, brought together and united the sailors from 21 different nations competing in this 96th edition. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, participants bid each other farewell until next year, which will certainly be a special one, with the Rolex Giraglia celebrating its 70th anniversary!

During the awards ceremony the three Rolex Yacht Master watches were presented to the winners of the Super-Combined group, Line Honours and the overall winner of the Rolex Giraglia 2022:

Super Combined (winner in the largest group that participated in all races)
Resolute Salmon - Andrea Zaoli

Line Honours
Magic Carpet Cubed - Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones

Rolex Giraglia 2022 (boat classified first overall first in the largest class - IRC)
Lisa R - Giovanni Di Vincenzo

Full results available here.