More breeze, more sea on day two of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez s record-sized maxi fleet of 51 for a second day had Maxi 1 and the J Class race windward-leewards from the Baie de Pampelonne while Maxi 3, 4 and 5 were dispatched southwest on a 28 mile coastal course to a mark off Cavalaire-sur-Mer. However today, the competitors enjoyed better breeze with a stronger 10-15 knot easterly although the lumpier, chaotic sea proved challenging for helmsmen and crew alike.
 
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez is organised by Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez and is the deciding event of the International Maxi Association’s 2026 Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge (MMIC).
 
In today’s first windward-leeward for the 13-strong Maxi 1 (the combined Maxi 100 and Maxi Grand Prix, in IMA terminology) racing for the Trophée Edmond de Rothschild, it was the turn of Peter Dubens’ Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Champion North Star III, a brand new judel-vrolijk designed 76 footer, to take the bullet, 1 minutes 7 seconds (under IRC) ahead of Alessandro Del Bono’s 82ft Capricorno with Karel Komárek’s 100ft V third and first to cross the finish line.  
 
However in the second race it was the turn of V to prevail, her time correcting out to less than a minute ahead of yesterday’s winner, Sir Peter Ogden’s 77ft Jethou with Filip Balcaen’s 72ft Balthasar third.

 

North Star III navigator Miles Seddon commented: “It was a really confused sea state with stronger wind at the top of the course and then back down towards the finish line it was much lighter.

 “We weren't going so well at the first top mark and then the second beat was really good and we just clawed our way back and that got us back into the game. Then in the second race - we all arrived at the top mark together and we just got bounced around, went round in circles and got buried…”

 In the first race Joost Schuijff’s Leopard 3 was first to the top mark. “There was a little bit of a left shift at the top,” recounted V’s tactician Paul Wilcox. “Galateia were ducking Leopard and we were just to weather of them and I thought we should have a piece of Leopard 3 on the way back, but they had a little bit of pressure and left shift on the left and got in front of us.”

 In the second race it was the other way around and V led at the top and, in clear air, managed to extend.  

Of the conditions Wilcox continued. “There was just not enough wind to punch through and over the waves, which made it tricky for the trimmers and the driver to keep the boat going, especially as the chop was a bit asymmetric. On port tack you had to put the helm down to just keep her trucking.”

 On the coastal races, there was a turnaround in Maxi 2 with Luciano Gandini’s Mylius 80 Twin Soul B coming out on top, albeit by just four seconds from Quaid Biani's Wally 94 Astra 1. Yesterday’s winner Terry Hui's Wally 80 Lyra came home third after some technical issues including breaking a kite.

Twin Soul B’s tactician Francesco Bruni commented: “The first leg was simply fantastic. At second mark we were under gennaker and we managed to leave all the other boats behind. But our winning move was to hoist the Code 0 on the last leg which made it possible to  cross finish line after Astra 1 making us first by just four seconds!”

Maxi 2 has the most diverse collection of yachts from the Swan 131 Aristarchos 1 and the Spirit III Geist down to the speedy Baltic Café Race 68 Scorpione Hormar. Returning for a second year is the voluminous, but otherwise race-equipped, Swan 88 SPIIP (replacing the owner’s previous Swan 110). Fresh from last week’s Rolex Swan Cup, there they finished second, she finished eighth from 13 today.

Tactician and former Irish Finn Olympian Tim Goodbody, said of their day: “It's always challenging. There's boats from 19 to nearly 200 tonnes in the class, which is a big range, but it makes it interesting. You've got smaller boats in front of you and a lot of traffic to deal with, not just your own class. And there's obviously a lot of geographic effect here. It's a very different type of racing.”

 In Maxi 3 and 4, there were the same winners as yesterday. In the former, Lasse Petterson’s Mylius 60 Why Not won by 4 minutes 10 seconds on corrected time from Luigi Sala’s Yoru and Dario Castiglia’s Baltic 65 RE/MAX One2.

 “The course was similar to yesterday’s, with one lap more and there was a bit more wind,” commented Why Not’s famous sailmaker Dede De Luca. “We started this year with this boat. It takes time to learn and fine-tune it. Nico, our tactician, is doing well, calling the right shifts and positioning us right. It's tough competition, but we are happy about that as it helps improve our performance.”

Similarly in Maxi 4 the Dehler 60 Blue Oyster, chartered this week to Alessandro Aita (owner Luca Scoppa and several of his crew are also on board) won again today. “Compared to yesterday we made some mistakes,” commented tactician Roberto Ferrarese. “It was longer, but we broke a gennaker and had a problem in a gybe which dropped us to fifth. But we never gave up - we believed we could gain some positions and we fought for that. Our goal is to have fun and to perform well.”

Blue Oyster today finished ahead of 2025 winner Enzo Pellizzaro’s Solaris 60 Crazy Diamond and Jonathan Butler’s Swan 62DS Coco de Mer. “Today was good with good wind,” commented Pellizzaro. “Yesterday we started badly and went to the wrong side. Today we were in the race, so we are happy.”

In the J-Class racing Svea dropped out of the first race early with jib lock issues while in the second race Peter Harrison’s Rainbow was called OCS. Read the full story here.

 Tomorrow is lay-day for the Maxi class, with racing resuming over Thursday to Saturday.  Maxi awards ceremony is planned for Saturday evening. 

(Race report: James Boyd /IMA)

Event' website - for full results: www.lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr