Maxi racing underway at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
by International Maxi Association 29 Sep 23:21 UTC
29 September - 5 October 2025
Terry Hui's Wally 80 Lyra - Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez © Gilles Martin-Raget /
www.martin-raget.com
Despite an ultra-light forecast, on the Baie de Pampelonne the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez's race committee for the maxi fleets managed to pull a certain animal out of the hat and successfully held racing for all five maxi sub-classes on the opening day of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.
The 80-100 footers in Maxi 1 and former Maxi 72s in the Maxi Grand Prix class raced windward-leewards, while Maxi 3-5 raced a short coastal course west towards Cavalaire and back. After a two hour wait for the wind to fill in, the latter were sent off first.
In Maxi 3 Sven Wackerhagen's Wally 80 Rose made the best of the conditions to finish first on the water and under IRC corrected time, ahead of Luciano Gandini's Mylius 80 Twin Soul B and the Swan 90 Hummingbird.
Getting off to an uncharacteristically slow start was Terry Hui's black Wally 80 Lyra, the regular winner here in this class, today posting a fourth, 20 minutes off the lead. Back on board calling tactics is Rockwall Racing SailGP team skipper Nicolai Sehested: "We love this event and are happy to be back to defend our title, hopefully." While they trained for four days last week, today was the first competitive outing for Lyra since winning here last year. "We have the best crew we ever had, so I don't think it'll be a problem for us. For me it's more about remembering how to position an 80ft monohull. Then it will be down to just making sure we go the right way."
Of today's race, Sehested said they had run out of breeze on the return in the bay due west of Pampelonne. "That hurt us a lot, because most people could sail around us and sail away."
In contrast in Maxi 4, Italian Luigi Sala's Vismara 62 did manage to get her defence off to a good start, winning by 16 minutes from Alessandro Doria's Swan 60 Seaquill, followed by Paul Berger's Swan 80 Kallima.
Matteo Holm, General Manager of Millenium Sails, mainsheet trimmer on Yoru explained: "We had a really good start. Ganga [Gabriele Bruni, tactician] was very good in the timing and we had a good upwind and the gain we made, we held on to for all the distance. Plus the boat was very fast - we did a lot to prepare her this season. So we are very happy." During the race the wind was typically 5-8 knots and it was only at the lower range for around 20 minutes. The shifts were no bigger than 20°.
In Maxi 5 Enzo Pellizzaro's Solaris 60 Crazy Diamond came out on top, 19 minutes ahead of the 2022 winner here, Juerg Schneider's Swan 65 Saida, with the substantial Oyster 825 Viva la Vida third. Only launched in 2023, Crazy Diamond races with an amateur crew of friends from across Italy, Pellizzaro heralding from Rimini. She won her class in the Solaris Cup in Porto Rotundo in May and on the strength of this, Pellizzaro decided to enter Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.
Having started later Maxi 5 saw slightly more breeze, around 11 knots, at Cavalaire and they never stopped, although this may have been because Crazy Diamond stayed more offshore. Her sails also suited the conditions: "The boat is fast and we had a new gennaker, which was bigger than before," said Pellizzaro.
Windward-leeward racing on the Baie de Pampelonne didn't get under way until 1450 with the start for the Maxi Grand Prix class.
Sir Peter Ogden's 77ft Jethou made the best of the first beat, heading out to the right, but then several tried to get another piece of it by gybing early on the run. In contrast on Jim Swartz's Vesper, tactician Gavin Brady chose to hold on starboard. "I think that's what won us the race," commented Vesper's Ken Keefe. "It was pulsing in on the right and if you got it right you looked like a brain surgeon but if it pulsed out you'd never get out."
However it was close. While Peter Harrison's Jolt was first home on the water, followed by Vesper and then Peter Dubens' North Star, Jim Swartz's team had done just enough to put North Star behind her, although by just a matter of seconds.
Keefe continued: "The race committee did a great job today because they were patient with the wind and got the smaller boats off on the coastal. Then they waited long enough for the wind to settle down, we had a great race and the breeze was perfect," although they never saw more than 9 knots.
Sadly there was drama on the start line in the Maxi 1 when Galateia went for a gap between Alessandro Del Bono's 82ft Capricorno and the race committee boat that didn't open up as expected. By this time it was too late to tack their 100 footer away or duck Capricorno's transom. While the collision broke some stanchions on Capricorno and caused some abrasion on her hull (she continued the race finishing third) Galateia is in need of a new bobstay and suffered some more serious damage to her hull. Her team were contemplating how to effect repair work and felt it was unlikely they would be racing before Wednesday's layday. Capricorno is expected to be out tomorrow.
On the first beat Pascale Decaux's Wallycento Tilakkhana II gaining the favoured right to round the top mark first. However Karel Komárek's Wallycento V showed her pace on the run taking the lead. "We probably had a touch of speed and one really good puff on that first run," explained V tactician Ken Read. "And then don't get in the way of the boat... which we almost did on the second run."
Throughout the race they never saw more than 10 knots and they spent the day under A1s and light jibs. "Actually the weather forecast was quite good today," Read commented.
And what's the attraction of racing here? "I asked Karel that - he just loves it here. Coming in from practise the other day, he just stood up, looked around and said 'what's there not to like about this? Great crowds and the hustle and bustle of Saint-Tropez and the mystique of Saint-Tropez and all these boats... You walk around here and it's like a boat show. It's great for sailing."
While V won, the most satisfied crew was that of Tilakkhana II. Of their race Dee Caffari explained that tactician Laurent Pagès had sent them right "we tacked early so we committed to the right, but it was really hard because it was a right-hand shift and it was getting lighter. But the good thing for us was we made very good manoeuvres. We were battling all the time with V which was a really good reference for us. They called a very tight lay line at the top mark and we called a fat lay line and we stayed ahead of them, made a good hoist and had a good downwind leg. On the second lap we were behind but we rounded opposite sides of the gate within seconds of each other so it was down to who had the best upwind after that."
The race committee subsequently attempted to get a second race in but abandoned it as the wind was dying.
Tomorrow the plan is once again for Maxi 1 and Maxi Grand Prix to race windward-leewards and the rest coastals. The forecast looks similar to today.
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.