There was no sign of early autumn inconsistency. The changeable conditions of the previous Mediterranean regattas with sometimes too much or too little wind seemed to be blown away for the 25th anniversary of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. What started out as a fun regatta in 1981 as the Club 55 Cup has been called Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez since 1999. In addition to the Maxis, which were divided into groups A, B, C and D depending on their rating, the Modern (according to IRC) and Classic classes sometimes take to the course on the same day. Last year, the organising club, the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez, abandoned the strict division into two different regatta weeks.
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez with 41 maxis
On the first two days, Monday and Tuesday, an individual programme was put together for the maxis, with the most exciting races taking place in the Maxi A and -B groups in the Bay of Pampelonne. This time, "y3k" was also at the start in the premier class. The Wally 101 was initially in the lead in the first race on Tuesday, but had to settle for midfield positions. Ultimately, this race also went to the Botin 75 "Jolt", whose owner Peter Harrison brought reinforcements on board in the form of racing cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish.
"Jolt" also won the second race on Tuesday, despite having neither electronics nor hydraulics. "We had a major breakdown in the pre-start phase, so we just went old school," explained tactician Hamish Pepper. Sailing huge maxi yachts without hydraulics is not really possible: "We were lucky that when the hydraulics failed, we had everything under control - if the boom vang had been on, we wouldn't have been able to sail round the top mark because we couldn't loosen it, so we sailed with the settings we had. We were lucky that we got away with it."
"Geist" strong even with a torn mainsheet
It was particularly impressive that the Spirit 111 "Geist" was the first to round the windward mark in the second race. "The boat is going pretty well," commented tactician Paul Campbell-James, one of several British Grand Prix yacht heavyweights on board. There were a few problems during their race. For example, the mainsheet broke, but after a quick tack they tied the broken end to a winch. "We then had our best cross," joked Campbell-James. "Replacing the keel and rudder has transformed the boat - last year we had to really heel the boat and dip the leeward batten to get any rudder at all. Now we can sail the boat more upright and be competitive in the classification." They also have a spinnaker recovery system that allows them to jettison the gennaker and codes in ten seconds instead of 90.
Galma" celebrated her regatta premiere with Wally founder Luca Bassani at the helm. Unfortunately, the Wallywind 110 was unable to finish the first race and did not start again. On Wednesday, the Maxis will retire and leave the field to the Modern and Classic groups. At Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the last races will be sailed on Saturday 5 October.
