48th Régates Royales Day 3: Champagne sailing chat with a beer in hand
by Jean François Cutugno 24 Sep 22:23 PDT
20-26 September 2026
48th Régates Royales Day 3 © Didier Ravon / YCC
When the planets are aligned and after the race, the Anglo-Saxon sailors replay the match on the edge of the quay or in the cockpit, they don't hesitate to talk about "champagne sailing", although rather with a beer in hand...
This is the case this Thursday 24 September in the harbour west of Cannes. Slightly cloudy sun, spray at 26 degrees, south to south-west wind gradually climbing to reach a good fifteen knots or even a little more in the middle of the afternoon, raising a nice chop... all the ingredients are there.
Back in port, on the Laubeuf and Saint-Pierre quays, the atmosphere is festive, and the crews are full of praise for the race committees, who first anchor courses with great care, and two get them off to start on time. On the other hand, those who forgot to smear their faces with sunscreen are already starting to regret it. While the 34 Dragon crews competed in three fine races in the eastern harbour before the final day on Friday 25th, while the Tofinou and 12 MJI raced at the bottom of the bay under the Estérel massif and on "banana" courses, the competitors in the other categories completed a 14.5-mile (26.8-kilometre) course, largely dominated in real time by the NY 49 Rowdy, impressive both in speed and tactics, and manoeuvring like in a book!
In keeping with the tradition of the Régates Royales, the "crews' party" on Thursday 24th, allows the crews to bring a culinary speciality around the couscous offered by the Cannes Yacht Club. On Friday, for the penultimate day of this 48th edition, a solid east to north-easterly wind is forecast under the influence of a small depression deepening off the Côte d'Azur, and moving towards Corsica...
A sporty-looking man walks up and down the Quai Saint-Pierre, and doesn't miss a beat. He is Croatian, and a former alpine skiing champion. Ivica Kostelic is simply a legend. During his career, which began at the age of 15, he was world champion in slalom, won the big crystal globe, four small globes, four Olympic silver medals and 26 victories and 60 podiums in the ski World Cup. He knows Cannes well, his father, a former handball player, having helped AS Cannes reach the 1st division when he was a child, before coaching him and his sister "the hard way".
"Sailing very quickly became part of my passion for the sea. As children, we spent holidays in a wild site in the middle of nature near Dubrovnik, without running water or electricity, and accessible only by sea. says the former ski champion, now 46 years old. He adds: "I really started offshore sailing when I was 20 years old, because I was very busy with my career as a professional skier."
Like Jean Galfione and Aurélien Ducroz, also two former champions, Ivica Kostelic competed in the Café l'Or (formerly Transat Jacques Vabre) in Class40. He has been following the Vendée Globe for a very long time, and dreams of competing in the next edition in 2028. "I consider it to be the most incredible sporting and adventurous challenge in the world," he explains with shining eyes. And if he is in Cannes these few days, it is not entirely by chance. He has just taken his licence from the Yacht Club de Cannes, has received the club's handlebars from the hands of the president Jean-François Cutugno, and wants to be based here to prepare for the round the world race.
Looking for a budget of 600,000 euros per year, he would like to acquire Sébastien Marsset's former Foussier, 27th in the last Vendée Globe, a Farr design with straight daggerboards from 2006 having been driven by Jérémie Beyou and Louis Burton... Notice to amateurs! In the meantime, he is heading back to Lorient, where he is training in the Figaro 3, and hopes to compete in the double-handed Transat next year.
Partners of the 48th Régates Royales: City of Cannes Côte d'Azur, TBS, IGY Old Port of Cannes, Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Maison Saint-Aix, Carlton Cannes Regent Hotel, Alpes Maritimes Department, South Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur Region.
www.yachtclubdecannes.org