Sardinia Cup: Bavarian Yacht Club starts with "Red Bandit" and "Neomind"

Fridtjof Gunkel

· 02.06.2026

Sardinia Cup: Bavarian Yacht Club starts with "Red Bandit" and "Neomind"

After 14 years, the Sardinia Cup is returning to Porto Cervo. Ten international teams, each with two boats, will be competing for the title from 2 to 7 June. The Bavarian Yacht Club will be competing with two strong crews.

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The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda is bringing the Range Rover Sardinia Cup back to the Mediterranean. Ten teams from eight nations will provide a total of 20 boats for the new club team format. Each team sails with two yachts of different sizes - analogous to the Admiral's Cup. The regatta takes place under IRC handicap, the fleet is divided into Sardinia Cup Class 1 and Class 2. In addition to boat size, the nationality of the yacht club determines team membership. Each crew must have one female sailor and one male athlete under the age of 25 on board. Big names such as Dean Barker, Vasco Vascotto, Guillermo Parada and Michele Ivaldi characterise the starting list. The Royal Ocean Racing Club is sending two teams into the race, while Germany is represented by the Bavarian Yacht Club.

German participation with two boats

The Bavarian Yacht Club will be competing with Carl-Peter Forster's TP52 "Red Bandit" and Sascha Schröder's Neo 430 "Neomind". Red Bandit won the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2024 and the Rolex Giraglia 2023 and, after a strong start in the Admiral's Cup 2025, had to end the series after breaking her mast. The crew is characterised by a high proportion of young sailors. "Neomind" sails with the Italian tactician Stefano Cherin. Both boats make up the German team in the international competition. The line-up shows the strength of Bavarian sailing at international level.

Strong field from eight nations

The Royal Ocean Racing Club is fielding two teams. The first consists of James Neville's TP52 "Ino Veritas" with Amereica's Cup winner Dean Barker as tactician and Per Roman's GP42 "Garm". Team two combines Peter Harrison's IRC 52 "Jolt 3" - winner of the Admiral's Cup for the Yacht Club de Monaco - with Niklas Zennström's Carkeek 41 "RAN", the reigning IRC European Champion. Adrian Stead takes over the tactics on "RAN". France is sending the Yacht Club de France with Jean Pierre Barjon's Botin 52 "Spirit of Lorina 2" and Jérôme Stubler's ClubSwan 42 "Raving Swan". Turkey is represented by the Turkish Offshore Racing Sports Club with Philippe Frantz' Botin 44 "Albator 3" and Vedat Tezman's HH42 "Chacal".

In keeping with tradition, the Sardinia Cup, like the vast majority of important trophies, is one thing above all: ugly. And heavy, as German crews have already learnt at three award ceremonies.

Italian teams dominate number of participants

Five Italian yacht clubs complete the field. The Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia was the first team to register. Giovanni di Vincenzo's Ker 46 "Lisa R" and Franco Niggeler's Mat 12.20 "Kuka". The Yacht Club Repubblica Marinara di Pisa is relying on Roberto Lacorte's Wallyrocket 51 "Rocket Nikka" with tactician Lorenzo Bressani and the Fast40+ "Nola" of Estonian owners Taavet Hinrikus and Margus Uudam. The Yacht Club Rimini will start with the TP52 "Blue" under Portuguese tactician Afonso Domingos and Gianclaudio Bassetti's new XR 41 "WB IX" with Lorenzo Bodini. Vela Club Portocivitanova combines Marco Serafini's TP52 "Xio" with Renzo Grottesi's ClubSwan 42 "BeWild" and tactician Michele Regolo.

Hosts with their own team

The organising Yacht Club Costa Smeralda will be on board with member Giovanni Lombardi Stronati. The Wallyrocket 51 "Django WR" will be skippered by the owner himself, assisted by Guillermo Parada and Vasco Vascotto. "Django JP", a Fast40+, is under the command of Alberto Bolzan with Michele Ivaldi as tactician. The team took third place in the Admiral's Cup. "Sailing under the colours of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in the Sardinia Cup is a great honour and a great responsibility," explains Lombardi Stronati.

Mix of coastal and long-distance races

After the official training race on 1 June, a coastal regatta will start on 2 June at 11 a.m. CEST. A long-distance race over around 150 nautical miles is planned for 3 and 4 June; the exact route will be determined depending on the weather. Further races will follow until Sunday 7 June as windward-leeward courses or coastal races in the waters of Porto Cervo and the La Maddalena archipelago. A gala dinner for owners and guests will be held in the YCCS restaurant on 5 June. YCCS Commodore Andrea Recordati comments: "The return of the Sardinia Cup epitomises the history of our club. We look to the future with the awareness of our past, of what we have built in almost 60 years of international sailing."

Weather forecast promises good conditions

Fresh but not excessively strong mistral winds are forecast for the first half of the week. In the second half of the Range Rover Sardinia Cup, the wind is expected to ease and shift to the north-east. The conditions offer ideal conditions for challenging races. The area around Porto Cervo and the La Maddalena Islands is considered one of the best sailing areas in the Mediterranean. The combination of technically demanding coastal courses and the long-distance test will test all facets of modern offshore regatta sailing.

German teams have already won three times

GER crews won the Cup in 1984, 1988 and 2010. In '84 and '88, three boats were still needed to form a team. That was still the era of the International Offshore Rule (IOR) with symmetrical spinnakers and spibooms and boats with narrow sterns and lots of lead. Today, light, planing IRC racers with gennakers on long bowsprits are the weapons of choice.

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