More perfect conditions and perfect Maxi scorelines at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

After two days of racing at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the final event of the International Maxi Association’s 2024 Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge, the leaders remarkably hold perfect scorelines in all four classes.

For a second day, the race committee of the event’s organiser, the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez, laid on a coastal race for Maxi C and D while the larger/faster Maxi A and B raced two windward-leewards. Once again the starts for the 41 maxis was from the Bay de Pampelonne, leaving the courses on the Golfe de Saint-Tropez for the ‘modern’ and ‘classic’ classes. With a first warning signal at 1200, the coastals saw Maxi C setting off first (after a general recall followed by a black flag start) then Maxi D. Today’s course was a long windward-leeward with an opening 18 mile beat southwest to Formigue.

In Maxi C there was perpetual nip and tuck between the defending champion, IMA President Benoît de Froidmont's Wally 60 Wallyño and Luigi Sala's similarly-rated Vismara 62 Yoru. With the wind peaking at 20 knots, for a second day running the Italians came out on top, winning by just 40 seconds under IRC corrected time, with Karl Pisec's Solaris 72 Black Pearl third.

For Saint-Tropez Sala has employed Trieste tactician Lorenzo Bodini (who usually races on the all-conquering H20), who said: “Wallyño is a tough boat to beat in windward-leewards while we are really good reaching, so today we are happy. We fought a lot - in every small wind shift we tried to add to the gap between us.

“The wind was strongest at the top mark. After that we had some good puffs but it was really tricky because then the wind dropped again with an unforecast 10-15° shift.”

For a second day Anthony Ball’s 1979 vintage Swan 65 sloop Six Jaguar won in Maxi D with Luca Scoppa’s Dehler 60 Blue Oyster second, 2 minutes 8 seconds behind under IRC, and Francois Benais' Shipman 63 Bambo, the 2021 winner, third.

 

But the highest octane competition was the Maxi A and B windward-leewards across Pampelonne Bay.

In the first race while good starts were made by Pier Luigi Loro Piana’s ClubSwan 80 My Song at the pin, Wendy Schmidt’s 85ft Deep Blue mid-line and Alessandro Del Bono’s IRC82 Capricorno up towards the committee boat, it was Peter Harrison’s 72ft Jolt that successfully crossed the fleet within the first minutes and then never looked back: She rounded the top mark first ahead of Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s 82ft Django HF with Sir Peter Ogden’s Maxi 77 Jethou third on the water. At the finish, after IRC time correction, Jolt won with Jethou second, ahead of Django HF and My Song.

Jolt started well in the second race, with the fleet one down after the 72ft Balthasar split her jib from luff to leech moments prior to the start, while My Song was locked out behind the committee boat. After the gun, surprisingly one of the heaviest boats in Maxi A, Claus Peter Offen’s Wally 101 y3k, led at the top mark followed by Django HF and Jolt. Ultimately this race again went to Jolt, under IRC 1 minute 42 seconds ahead of Jethou (second for a fourth time here) with Deep Blue third.

Remarkably Jolt won today's second race despite having neither electronics, nor hydraulics. “In the pre-start we had a major shut down so we just went old school,” explained tactician Hamish Pepper. Sailing giant maxi yachts without hydraulics is usually not possible: “We were lucky that when it shut down we had things in a good place - if the vang was on we wouldn’t have been able to get around the top mark because we couldn’t ease it, so we sailed around with the settings we had. We were lucky to get away with it.”

In Maxi B, Terry Hui’s Wally 77 Lyra also continued her perfect scoreline, despite having a main halyard issue coming into the final finish. In the opening race today Christian Oldendorff's magnificent 111ft Spirit Yachts Geist was second with Maurits van Orange’s newly-acquired Wally 80 Sud third, while in the second race the podium was completed by Andrés Varela Entrecanales’ Vismara 68 Pelotari.Project and Peter Dubens' Frers 60 Spectre.

It was especially impressive to see the 111ft modern classic Geist rounding the top mark first in today’s second race. “The boat is going pretty well,” commented tactician Paul Campbell-James, one of several British grand prix yacht heavyweights racing onboard.

“Replacing the keel and the rudder has transformed it - last year we had to really heel the boat over and dip the leeward rail in to get any helm. Now we can sail the boat flatter and we are competitive on rating.” They also have a spinnaker deck drop system allowing them to drop kites in 10 seconds instead of 90, allowing drops to be left much later.

“Again it was a left hand track today,” continued Campbell-James, currently wing trimmer for the Canadian SailGP team. “In the first race Lyra did a good job winning the pin and everyone tacked reasonably early, so they were fine. In the second we won the pin and everyone went miles past layline so that, when we tacked back, we were reaching in, which, as this boat is longer than everyone else's, was pretty nice…”

Their racing came with some issues. They snapped their main sheet, but, with fast thinking, immediately tacked and tied off the snapped sheet tail around a winch. “We then had our best upwind!” quipped Campbell-James.

Tomorrow is layday for the Maxi fleets with racing set to resume on Thursday.

(Report by James Boyd / International Maxi Association)