Inshore maxi winners decided at Loro Piana Giraglia

The last day of Loro Piana Giraglia inshore/coastal racing, taking place out of Saint-Tropez, was another which very nearly didn’t happen. But on this occasion, following an unpromising forecast, there was enough breeze for the race committee to send the two maxi fleets off on a shortened 12-mile coastal race. As usual, this started from the Baie de Pampelonne and headed three miles south-southeast to the upwind mark before returning downwind to finish in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez.

The majority of the fleet made the most of the shifts inshore on the course’s right side before heading offshore on a long starboard tack to the windward mark. Here, remarkably, it was Alessandro Del Bono’s 82ft Capricorno, that led ahead of the 100 footers. Naturally this was not to last and the Lizz Flowers-helmed 100ft Galateia pulled ahead and went on to be first home. However there was compression on the downwind leg and by the time the maxi leaders were entering the Golfe de Saint-Tropez Sir Peter Ogden’s Jethou was up to second and doing well to keep the larger, faster yachts behind her, and went on to win the race under IRC corrected time.

“For us, it was perfect conditions – 6-10 knots – to sail against the 100s,” explained Marc Blees, standing in on the helm for owner Sir Peter Ogden. “At the last moment, Brad [Butterworth] made the decision to go down and start at the pin. The shift came and we had more puffs on the first upwind. Most of the other boats were coming from the right but we tacked well underneath them. Downwind we got rolled by the 100s but we found a free lane into the coast, close to my favourite restaurant Club 55. Then we gybed at the right time.”

Blees concluded: “We miss Peter [Ogden] greatly. He is proud of his team. But everything has worked well…”

Once upon a time the Maxi Grand Prix class boats would have annihilated the 100s in light conditions but today was the first time over the last four days that they prevailed with George Sakellaris’ 72ft Proteus second. Capricorno finished third under IRC.
 

Despite a disappointing sixth today, Karel Komárek’s 100ft V had done enough to win the class for the larger/faster maxis, finishing on 16 points, two ahead of Jethou with Galateia third on 20.

“We definitely made it hard for ourselves today,” commented Paul Wilcox, V’s tactician now Ken Read has departed to run Karel Komárek’s America’s Cup campaign, alongside strategist Sime Fantela and former Olympic Laser sailor Gareth Blanckenberg. “It was a light wind race - super tricky. In that the 70+ footers are nimbler than us. We didn't have a great start today, but we recovered nicely. With the long downwind it was always going to be hard to beat the smaller boats, but we put up a big fight.”

V has now won her last four regattas. Boat and crew are in a good place, says Wilcox. “And the guys looking after the boat - we've (touch wood) got to the point where the boat is pretty reliable. The guys are working well as a team. People are having fun and the boss is having fun, which is really important.”

The Loro Piana Giraglia is organised by the Yacht Club Italiano in collaboration with the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez. The four days of inshore and coastal racing represented the third event in the International Maxi Association’s 2026 Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge. V now leads this on 192.87 points ahead of Galateia's 139.18 with Jethou third on 124.19.

The outstanding performance of the regatta came from Carlo Puri Negri’s Farr/Felci 70 Atalanta II which won today’s race in the small maxi class, leaving her unbeaten here.

“Today the race was great,” commented Tazio Puri Negri, fourth eldest of Carlo’s five offspring. “We started with the mentality not to make any errors, because the only possibility of us losing was if we were disqualified. That went really well. We started very strongly at the upper end of the line, ahead of Cippa Lippa X, which was our main competition and basically we match raced them the whole time. We arrived at the first mark very close and kept them behind downwind, where they are stronger.”

Puri Negri acknowledged that this was the best result for Atalanta II in her recent history although she achieved similar results in her early years, including winning the Mini Maxi class here two decades ago.  

Today Atalanta II’s time corrected out under IRC to more than three minutes ahead of the Volvo Ocean 60 Fincantieri-Doers on Board, which was first home on the water, leaving Guido Paolo Gamucci’s Cippa Lippa X to finish third under IRC. However this was not enough to displace the canting keel Mylius 60 which ended up second overall on 14 points, behind Atalanta II on 5, with Benoît de Froidmont Wally 60 Wallyño finishing third on 16.

Thus de Froidmont, the former IMA President, beat the present incumbent, Maurits van Oranje’s Wally 80 Sud by four points and just one place.

“Today was fun,” commented van Oranje. “It was tough because our boat is heavy and we need a lot more wind to get her going. Upwind we struggled to get to the top mark. This week was good, because we didn't break anything and we’re improving every race. Compared to last year we are able to sail the boat to the proper angles. We are getting better, so I'm happy.”

As to the Loro Piana Giraglia inshores, the IMA President commented: “This week has been well organised. I must pay a big compliment to the Yacht Club Italiano for arranging all of this beautifully and give a great word of thanks to the sponsors.”

Tomorrow the offshore race of Loro Piana Giraglia will set sail from Saint-Tropez with a first warning signal at 11:55.  

Read more about Loro Piana Giraglia here. 

Full results here.