Four seasons day at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup
by International Maxi Association 10 Sep 2025 15:55 PDT
7-13 September 2025
Wet ride on board Magic Carpet E - Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2025 © IMA / Studio Borlenghi
Off Porto Cervo this afternoon, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup fleet experienced calms; a stiff 20 knot Mistral with gusts of 30; rain; no rain; an overcast sky and occasional brilliant sunshine - all within a three to four hour window.
For the second day of racing it was the turn of the 80-100 footers, competing to be Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Champion, to sail two windward-leewards The remainder sailed coastals, the former Maxi 72s in the Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Championship, racing a 41 mile course; Maxi 3, 4 and Super Maxi a similar 37.5 mile one. First both had to round a windward mark, before heading south. The Maxi Grand Prix yachts had to circumnavigate the islands of Soffi and Mortorio while the remainder merely had to pass their small rocky outcrop of Mortoriotto. All then returned north then west into Bomb Alley, rounding a mark south of Spargi, before backtracking. They then left the famous Monaci islands off Caprera to starboard before heading to the finish. With the numerous turns and ever-changing weather, competitors returned to Porto Cervo Marina feeling fully tested.
In the first race, 14.2 miles long and held in 16-20 knots, Wendy Schmidt's 85ft Deep Blue did not start and Alessandro Del Bono's Capricorno didn't finish. David M Leuschen and Chris Flowers' 100ft Galateia just managed to nose in front of Karel Komárek's V at the top mark and extended down the run. According to strategist Murray Jones: "We might have just got a couple of nice puffs. The boat was going well downwind." She was first both across the line and under corrected time, ahead of Pier Luigi Loro Piana's 80ft My Song and YCCS Commodore Andrea Recordati's Wally 93 Bullitt.
At the helm of Galateia today was Chris Flowers' daughter Lizz, who enjoyed a full work-out. "Finding that edge where you're going to broach, or between broaching and going quickly is a dangerous game sometimes. We didn't come close, but you could feel it - instead you accelerated by 1-2 knots."
For the second race, the wind had built to 20 knots, with 25-26 knot gusts, and the course was extended to 14.6 miles. In this Galateia, V and Joost Schuijff's Leopard 3 headed left up the first beat and were rewarded by leading into the mark with V having pulled out a solid lead.
As strategistic, Croatian Olympic 470 gold medallist Šime Fantela explained: "We had a great start. We believed a lefty was going to pay but there was a squall passing on the right side and another coming from the middle left, so it was not easy.... We rounded first and managed to keep the lead. The breeze was stable. It's fun sailing a boat like this in these conditions when it all goes right!"
Overall V leads the World Championship by a point from Galateia.
In the Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Championship Jolt was first home on the water after a final blistering reach back from Monaci, hitting speeds of 20+ knots. But she was unable to get far enough ahead to save her time against her lower rated competitors, correcting out in fifth place. Instead it was the turn of Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's wallyrocket 71 Django 7X to take the bullet - the first victory for the latest Maxi Grand Prix yacht to launch.
Django 7X's Argentinean strategist Guillermo Parada explained: "It was quite demanding because we started in light to medium breeze and we went south and the breeze at Mortorio was even lighter - we were downwind running in 5-6 knots, so it was very challenging to get around that rock. Then while passing Porto Cervo, the Mistral came on pretty hard. Inside the channel we saw 25 knots and heavy rain, but that only lasted for 10-15 minutes and then dropped to 20 knots.
"We were not going very well - we were trailing the fleet at that stage, but the boat is very quick running and reaching and we made a couple of good decisions with the sail selections which gave us some passing lanes and we were able to come back. We used the Code 0, jib top, kites, the jib - so we kept the crew busy. It's good to win our first race in the Maxi Worlds, particularly in these conditions."
Impressively after almost three and a half hours of racing, the eight boats in this class finished within 7 minutes under IRC. Jim Swartz's Vesper was just 24 seconds behind in second. "It was a really fun race...I mean, scary," he said. "The boys got a big workout. We had some minor drama, but no major dramas. On the last reach we were doing a consistent 20-22 knots -it was really amazing. We were upwind for the squall, when we saw 30-35 knots."
Proudest of their achievement today were the Parisottos, Aldo and Elena, the defending champions on their Mylius 65 FD Oscar 3, who managed to win Maxi 3, stepping ashore exhausted after their dramatic grand tour of the Costa Smeralda. At one point they saw a squall and were expecting 40 knots in it but fortunately it was only 25 knots, although with torrential rain. Their passage up and down Bomb Alley was stressful as they encountered many of the larger, faster maxis returning back down the channel, Aldo and Elena taking turns to drive, planing, at times hitting 18 knots. "The boat is wonderful, it is going really well and the crew is very good," commented Aldo.
Second by 3 minutes 50 today was Guido Paolo Gamucci's canting keel Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X, ahead of Massimiliano Florio's Southern Wind 82 Grande Orazio. "It was a long race - it was 37 miles but we really sailed 45 miles," said Gamucci. "We did well on the downwinds - as always. With the A4, we were running at 21, 22 knots. We came here wanting to see if we can be competitive in higher winds."
Oscar 3 now tops Maxi 3, but tied on points with Jean-Pierre Barjon's Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina and Grande Orazio.
Once again Riccardo De Michele's H2O came out on top in Maxi 4 despite a near broach. However there was much satisfaction on board Enrico Sala's Vismara 62 Yoru, in beating the usually invincible Vallicelli 78 on the water.
"Today, we made very few mistakes - we were very regular upwind and downwind," explained Sala. "We are stronger downwind, so we passed H2O and she is difficult to pass. She led for 70% of the race until we passed them on the reach. It was a very nice day. It was a very long day." He praised Yoru's tactician Gabriele Bruni, who added: "We made very few mistakes, if any even if it was really crowded in the channel, but we managed to do a good job."
Tomorrow racing is due to start at 1200 with the Maxi Grand Prix fleet back on windward-leewards. More brisk conditions are expected.
Follow the live tracking here.
More information on the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup here.
Full results available here.
For more on the International Maxi Association visit www.internationalmaxiassociation.com or see the 2025 IMA Yearbook.