Loro Piana Giraglia: Coastal race with pressure, doldrums for the long haul?

The first part of the Loro Piana Giraglia has come to an end. Before the Mediterranean offshore classic starts from Saint-Tropez around the Giraglia Rock to Genoa, the Yacht Club Italiano is organising four days of warm-up races in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. The Mistral served up some crisp wind conditions.

German teams strong at Giraglia opener

On the German side, the Cape 31 "MeerBlick" finished in ninth place in the 25-yacht IRC 1 group with a consistently good performance; the second-best German IRC crew, the Neo 430 "Neomind", came tenth. Swans dominated ORC 1. The first places were taken by 45s, with Christoph Stein's Swan 53 "Crilia" in 3rd place, followed directly behind by the Swan 48 "Elan" from Martin tree. The 1973 Sparkman & Stephens design even led the class standings after the second day and a 3-2 series, but was held back by a 10th and 7th place finish.

Mistral challenged Maxis

For the maxi fleet, the Loro Piana Giraglia inshore races were more than just a rehearsal. Off Saint-Tropez, the 60 to 100-foot yachts sailed the third of five events as part of the IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge (MMIC) 2025. The complex racing machines were particularly challenged on the second day, which was characterised by gusts of over 25 knots. The north-westerly wind whistled offshore over Saint-Tropez' famous Plage de Pampelonne and produced some wind waves.

However, the water surface was flat enough for Roberto Lacorte's 61-foot foiler FlyingNikka to sail well. Although they sailed conservatively in the gusty conditions, the Italian speed machine reached 39 knots. "It was perfect to do 40+ knots, but we used the drag of the windward foil to reduce the speed without damaging the boat," explained Lacorte.

39 with and 25 knots without foils

In both races, the FlyingNikka started on the port side and, wrapped in a ball of spray, overtook even the mighty 100-footer on the first beat to finish first, but did not make it to the front after all. Alessandro Del Bono's Judel/Vrolijk 80 "Capricorno" coped well with the difficult conditions. The Brazilian tactician and multiple Olympic champion Torben Grael was delighted with 25 knots and said. "The crew did a great job and the boss [Del Bono] sailed well. We avoided big mistakes, which I think was the key to the day, along with interpreting the turns. It was hard to determine the berms. I like this type of racing."

The brand new Wallyrocket 71 "Django 7X" made an unexpected appearance on the Wallyrocket 51 and was also built by King Marine and designed by Botin Partners. Wally's 21-metre projectile finished only three of the six races, the last in first place. The local hero "Magic Carpet e" did not start at all. The former Maxi 72s were strongly represented with "Proteus", "Northstar of London" and "Balthasar", with the 77-foot-long "Jethou" leading the bowsprit in the Maxi A category at the end of the four days. The US crew of "Proteus" took the Inshore runner-up title. "Capricorno" finished in a strong third place in the Giraglia classification, but triumphed in the IMA Maxi 100 class ahead of the Wallycentos "Galateia" and "V", who are used to success.

All inshore results are available here.

On Wednesday, 11 June, the offshore race starts, in which an open triangle has to be sailed with the eponymous Giraglia rock north of Corsica as the turning point. After a storm in the last year it looks like flat winds for the 241 nautical miles.