The Giraglia changes partners and format. Loro Piana arrives

The Giraglia changes partners. After 27 years with Rolex, it becomes Loro Piana Giraglia. What changes as the Italian luxury fashion house enters cashmere and wool processing?

Loro Piana Giraglia. What changes

The most famous of the offshore regattas in the Mediterranean, which is 71 years old (the first edition was in 1953), organized by the Yacht Club Italiano and the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, aims even more to become a celebration of the sea, with the period of inshore races, in the Gulf of Saint Tropez, stretching from three and four days. The period of the event is June 7-15: the coasts will be June 8-11, with the “long” starting on June 12). The intention is to focus further attention-before the start of the “long,” 241-mile race from Saint Tropez to Genoa, via the Giraglia rock in Corsica)-on the location. In this sense, the regatta village will become even more of a party place.

Loro Piana and sailing

The Loro Piana name is linked to the sea and sailing, thanks to Pigi Loro Pi ana (72), vice president (and 15 percent shareholder) of Loro Piana, who is owner of the famous boats that always bear the name My Song. Loro Piana has announced that it will participate in the regatta with its ClubSwan 80.

And why is the Giraglia regatta so famous? It is a typical story from the world of “gentlemen yachting” and has as its protagonist Beppe Croce then president of the Italian Yacht Club who almost by chance strolling through the streets of Paris together with the French René Levainville, came up with a regatta to unite Italy and Mediterranean France after World War II. Here is the whole story, worth reading.

Giraglia, born in a Parisian bistro.

It is December 1952. Two cold people are walking through the streets of Paris. They are two elegant, dispatched figures, one of them has a nautical chart rolled under his arm. They are Beppe Croce and René Levainville, representing the Yacht Club Italiano and the Union Nationale des Croiseurs, respectively.

The two just concluded a very boring assembly at the Yacht Club de France, from which they came out with a “mission impossible.” To create an offshore regatta that could rival the famous British Fastnet regatta that united England and Ireland.

Anything but an easy task in a “lake” like the Mediterranean. Exactly like the Fastnet, the new French-Italian regatta was to be a true offshore regatta for sailors, whereas until then those in the Mediterranean were mostly a social catwalk.

July 11, 1953. The first Giraglia

Six months after that December night, on July 11, 1953, the first Giraglia was born, on the Cannes-La Giraglia-San Remo triangle course. As many as 22 boats participate, and 17 completed the 196-mile race. For the record, the first Giraglia was won by a French boat in 31 hours. The following year, the starting and finishing ports reversed, the enrollment increased to 31. In the 71 years the course changed several times, the miles became about 240, but the Giraglia “buoy” rock remained unchanged, becoming a landmark in world yachting for lack of alternatives.

Over the years, the number of participants has grown inversely proportional to travel times. The record number of boats at the start was in 2016, with as many as 302 boats. The record belongs to Igor Simcic’s Esimit Europa 2, which broke the previous record in 2012 with a time of 14 hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds.

Since 1997 the course has a new staple, Saint Tropez, queen of the French Riviera, where in mid-June the Giraglia coastal races are held in the magnificent gulf, followed by a memorable crew-party. The next morning the Giraglia proper, the 241-mile ‘long’ one on the Saint Tropez – Giraglia – Genoa route, gets underway with weather conditions as unpredictable as they are capricious.

Everyone can win

Indeed, the beauty of the Giraglia is the weather alternation between becalmed and windy, which makes this regatta a real unpredictable adventure (there have also been heroic rescues and controversies), especially since old boats can also win and not just super racing boats (as in the case of the legendary Hallberg-Rassy 41 Gianin VI).

Here is the new Giraglia website: www.loropianagiraglia.com