Maxi yachting déjà-vu at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
by International Maxi Association 1 Oct 09:48 AEST
29 September - 5 October 2025
For day two of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the 80-100 footers in Maxi 1 and the former Maxi 72s in the Maxi Grand Prix again raced windward-leewards on the Baie de Pampelonne while the smaller/slower boats in Maxi 3-5 were once more sent off on a coastal course, albeit this time to the bay to the west and then on windward-leewards before finishing back at the start.
Remarkably the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez's race team on the maxi course again achieved the impossible in conditions even lighter than yesterday, managing to get in two windward-leewards.
Star of the show was certainly Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's wallyrocket 71 Django 7X which scored bullets in both of the Maxi Grand Prix class races, really showing that the newest boat in this fleet is a step forward. Django 7X is the shortest of this group and only Peter Dubens' North Star is rated lower. And yet in today's first race she was first home on the water, eventually winning by 4 minutes 20 seconds under IRC corrected time, then, in the second race, finishing second on the water to Sir Peter Ogden's 77ft Jethou, but beating her on corrected time by just 14 seconds.
"It was a good day for us, for sure," commented a Django 7X tactician/project manager Vasco Vascotto. "It was a light breeze, around 8-9 knots, but we were able to find good lanes and then leave the boat to do her job. Every day we are getting a little better for sure."
Given she is lighter but with more water ballast, Django 7X is supposed to 'hold on' upwind and then make her gains downwind. However in today's first race she was first to the top mark. But this is not always the case as Vascotto observed: "Yesterday when we were behind upwind, we suffered a lot, and finished fourth."
In Maxi 1, Karel Komárek's Wallycento V holds a near-perfect scoreline having let today's first race go to Capricorno; Alessandro Del Bono's Judel-Vrolijk 82 bouncing back strongly after she was struck on the start line by Galateia in yesterday's race. Third home, Capricorno corrected out to 2 minutes 6 seconds ahead of V. However the tables turned in the second race with V correcting out to 3 minutes 24 seconds ahead of Capricorno.
"It was not easy, there was less breeze than yesterday. It was very puffy everywhere and up and down," commented V's navigator Jean-Francois Cuzon. "The first race was quite hard because there were a lot of lulls with all the traffic and spectator boats. But it was a good result; the team managed the boat well, but to win a race, you have to do everything well. When the wind is shifting like it was today, you have to gamble..."
Today in Maxi 3 Terry Hui's Wally 80 Lyra, a multiple previous winner on these waters, assumed her rightful position claiming the coastal race. "We got off the start line well at the pin," described Danish tactician, Rockwall Racing SailGP team skipper Nicolai Sehested. "We went offshore early while the fleet tacked into the right and it paid off for us and gave us a good lead at the top. Then we just got our elbows out for the big boats. The wind was a bit better today than forecast: We had 6-8 knots for most of the race, but I thought we were going to have 4-5 which would have made a big difference."
Leading overall in Maxi 3 however is Luciano Gandini's Mylius 80 Twin Soul B with two second placed finishes.
"It was a wonderful race today, although our start was not very good. To be honest, we made a mistake right before the start, but we then managed to catch up the rest of our fleet," commented Gandini. "Twin Soul B is optimised to race in more wind, therefore today and yesterday were not our ideal conditions. Les Voiles is my very first race in three years - I have not been racing for the last three years due to some health problems, but I am very happy to be back."
One component of Gandini's strong comeback is his tactician, America's Cup and round the world legend Paul Cayard, who most recently has been crowned Star World Champion, historically the hardest small keelboat title to win and which Cayard last won in 1988 (Torben Grael, who was fifth on that occasion is also here racing on Capricorno).
"I got us a bad start, but we dug out and had a huge comeback and finished second," said Cayard of their race today. "There was a maximum of six knots but the boat just moves in that."
In both Maxi 4 and 5, Luigi and Alessandra Sala's Vismara 62 Yoru and Enzo Pelizzaro's Solaris 60 Crazy Diamond again won, the only two remaining boats competing in the maxi classes still holding perfect scorelines.
"We had 4 or 5 knots and we never stopped completely," commented Luigi Sala of their race, which they won, like yesterday, ahead of Alessandro Doria's Seaquill. "It was very very light, and the wind was shifting quite a bit, but it was nice because we discovered that our boat, even in light winds, is still competitive. Yesterday we led from the start but today everything was a bit more difficult. On the last leg, the big Southern Wind 96 Liberty Squared was close to us but we were as fast as them! So it was a lot of fun." For tomorrow's layday, the Salas are planning to refine their pétanque skills.
In Maxi 4 today, Maurits Van Orange's Wally 80 Sud managed to improve on yesterday, finishing third.
Maxi 5 once again saw Crazy Diamond beat the 2022 winner here, Juerg Schneider's Swan 65 Saida, with the Oyster 825 Viva la Vida third.
In the light conditions Crazy Diamond once again benefitted from a good start and getting ahead into clear air. "We made a good first windward leg and then we were first in our class in real time," explained tactician Andrea Collina. They had headed left out of the start and got a good shift on which to tack back and from there consolidated.
Tomorrow is layday for the maxi fleet at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez with racing resuming from Thursday until Saturday.
More information on Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez here.
For more on the International Maxi Association visit www.internationalmaxiassociation.com or see the 2025 IMA Yearbook.