Loro Piana Giraglia 2025, if a classic regatta becomes “fashionable”
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We are in Saint Tropez. Where the Loro Piana Giraglia regatta starts, 241 miles from Saint Tropez to Genoa, passing the legendary Corsican rock of the Giraglia. But first, four days of coastal racing. For us on site is Ida Castiglioni, who collects stories, boats, characters atmosphere from the great Mediterranean classic.
Loro Piana Giraglia 2025: if a classic regatta becomes fashionable
I had first seen it in my twenties, when she was also the same age as me, with many boats of young people competing who were eager for the sea and tackling long sailing for the first time. I’m talking about the Loro Piana Giraglia, the regatta that is in its 72nd edition this year and whose start, scheduled for June 11, is preceded by four inshore races in the Gulf of Saint Tropez, a perfect stretch of water for sailing.
I had for years kept my Impala at Portosole, when the port director was Commander Franco Gavagnin, a tireless smoker in his office at the port. I often stayed and chatted with him: he would talk to me about boats and the sea but every now and then he would give me little absolutely unedited flashes about Italo Calvino, his longtime friend. Franco had told me about the time in 1952 when Beppe Croce and he had gone to Paris to talk to René Levainville, president of the Union National des Croiseurs. Gavagnin, a man of the frontier, was looking for a way to rebuild, after the end of the World War, an official relationship with friends in French clubs, perhaps through sailing and regattas
History of the Giraglia
The proposal to be accepted by the French was very ambitious, namely to “copy” in the Mediterranean the Fastnet (which had been “invented” in 1925). It would have been a long race, though not as demanding as the one that started every two years from Cowes in the Isle of Wight, passed Land’s End, reached the coast of Ireland, went around the Fastnet Rock, came back to Britain, and, after passing south of the Scilly Isles, arrived in Plymouth.
It was 1952, and in Paris the three had seen each other, talked, discussed, analyzed different possibilities, and finally-at a bistro table-they had agreed to organize La Giraglia, this new offshore competition: the chosen course called for the boats to go around the Giraglia rock (which is located off Cape Corso and supports a powerful lighthouse).
The first edition was raced in 1953 by 22 boats with departure from Cannes, the Giraglia as buoy and arrival in San Remo. The first edition was won by a French boat that tagged the finish line after 21 hours, and the following year the starting and finishing ports were reversed. The regatta changed format several times, and in the following years the starting and finishing ports changed several times: Toulon, Genoa, Saint Tropez, and at one point a night approach race starting in San Remo was also introduced.
I remember that-when the regatta was in July and the arrival in France-this was just in time to participate in the July 14 national holiday. But since 2000 the start has been definitively confirmed from Saint Tropez around mid-June. In 1997 the event became the Rolex Giraglia Cup, and since 1998 the format has remained unchanged, involving the Yacht Club de France while the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez has been involved in the organization since 2002. The Giraglia has been raced every year except for 2020, when it is canceled due to the pandemic. In 2023, the 70th anniversary of the race was celebrated with 183 boats entered.
It is a regatta that has entered the history of sailing, the most prestigious Italian regatta, which has always seen boats of all kinds at the start, and which could illustrate the evolution in these decades of how hulls are built. In the beginning were the historic wooden boats, then laminated boats, moving on to aluminum, resins and finally carbon. With decks that in 70 years have returned as clean as those of a dinghy, while all the technologically complex parts are below deck. Especially among the smaller boats, crews farmed out by groups of friends, while on the maxi racers, pulled boats of the latest generation, brought in by professional sailors.
The importance of “gentleman yachting”
This year we are at the 72nd edition, the second with Loro Piana as the ‘title sponsor.” The Loro Piana brand has been acquired by Bernard Arnault’s French luxury multinational LVMH since 2013, and the Italian company is booming especially because of the quality of ‘materials’ and products. The brand has decided to tie itself to the world of sailing, but no America’s Cup, SailGP or round-the-world, events related to the world of professionals, but regattas that involve ‘gentlemen,’ a special category of sailors, namely those sailing enthusiasts who stand at the wheel of their boat, however big it may be. In fact, one of the rules of the Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 is the ‘owner-driver rule’ whereby the boat must be steered by the owner. Loro Piana also chose to tie in with an event held in Italy last month, Tre Golfi Sailing Week. The Saint Tropez event was an opportunity for Damien Bertrand, who until now was general manager of Loro Piana, to introduce everyone to Frédéric Arnault, Bernard’s fourth son, who will replace him while he goes on to head Louis Vuitton.
Loro Piana’s entry into this event has truly changed the image of the event in every single aspect. From the attention to graphics, to the care of the hospitality venues, where the flowers arranged at the tables become works of art, to the professionalism and kindness in the approach to those involved whether as technicians, guests or journalists.
Pierluigi Loro Piana and sailing
Loro Piana’s connection to the world of boats starts when Pierluigi Loro Piana is 18 years old and starts going to Caprera to take sailing courses. He goes every year, likes it, and decides to buy a small boat and then one a little bit bigger and then another one even bigger and faster. And so he spends a lot of time, both cruising and racing, with his family and his brother Sergio, building a solid bond with the sea over the years.
He attended Saint Tropez and in 1978 participated for the first time in the “Nioulargue,” which from 1981 became “Les Voiles de Saint Tropez,” a series of competitions held in this sailing paradise between late September and early October. Since then he always takes part in the regattas held in the Gulf and several times over the years participates in the Giraglia.
The Loro Piana Giraglia, thanks to the combination with such a prestigious brand but above all to a group of passionate sailors, has since last year started a path of renewal that is transforming a classic event into a top event. Decisive was the decision to have daily prize-giving and the construction of a Race Village, a large space a la Tour du Portalet, dedicated and with “dj set and drinks”, where crews, designers, members of the organizing clubs and journalists can meet every day at the end of the races (from 4 to 8) has allowed for a truly reserved area outside the harbor, where the coming and going of tourists is incessant and where the pace is frenetic.
Loro Piana icons and sailing
The passion for sailing has run through Pierluigi and Sergio Loro Piana’s entire life, so much has sailing affected their way of living and dressing but also in the mission of their company, which has always been based-as it is in the world of competitive racing-on the quality and durability of materials. In this case the “material” is precisely the technical fabric with which some of Loro Piana’s iconic garments, ideally linked to the world of the sea, are made. They are sports garments that are born precisely from their personal experience, from their way of life on the boat.
The André shirt (who was the Swiss painter André Piot, who collaborated with the company) for wearing outside in hot weather, which started out in denim and then became increasingly light and soft
The Loro Piana Bomber (which cannot be confused with an ordinary windbreaker), invented in 2003 specifically for summer sailing and made of a special material – Windmate (wind-friendly). It was born out of the brothers’ commitment to researching a light and durable technical fabric, like that of a spinnaker, which is then subjected to the ‘Storm System’ treatment to increase its water resistance. The Bomber is then lined in lightweight cashmere.
White Sole boat shoes, which came into being in 1995 after extensive experimentation in the company and on the boat to make them slip-resistant, stable, flexible and lightweight, are made of leather and finished by hand.
Saint Tropez regattas
The Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 is preceded by four days of inshore racing – June 7-10 – with 139 boats on the starting lines, while the start of the 241-mile offshore race is given on June 11. The arrival of the first boats in Genoa is scheduled from June 12, at the same time as the YCI Race Village opens, while the awards ceremony will take place on June 14, also in the YCI area.
The first day of trials saw a perfect weather situation with sunshine, fair wind between 10 and 14 knots, little wave. For the Maxis two trials with a stick course while for IRC and IOR hulls a coastal course of 8 miles for smaller hulls and 11 miles for larger ones.
Among the Maxi A’s there was much anticipation for Django, Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s new Wally 71, which like Magic Carpet, Owen-Jones Lindsay’s Verdier 100, did not show up at the start. Not at the start of the second race, on the other hand, was Pierluigi Loro Piana’s Club Swan 80, not on board due to family commitments, which had placed 8th in the first race but had a technical problem at the end of the race because the daggerboard cable that bypassed the pulley and broke.
It is interesting to note that in the Maxi A ranking after the two races there is an alternation between the 100 “and the 70”. The 100 “are better performers because of their size but also weighed down by the teak on deck and, for short races like these, they are less performing because they maneuver worse while the 70” are true racers, more agile to maneuver. First place then for V, by Czech Karel Komarek, followed by Jethou, Peter Ogden’s Maxi 77; Galateia, Chris Flowers “Wallycento; Northstar of London, Peter Rubens” Maxi 72; and Capricorn, the Judel/Vrolijk 80
Karel, at the helm of the Wallycento and joined by tactician Ken Read, has just entered the sailing world after buying the ex-Tango Wallycento and completely updating it. He came to the world of big regattas through Ben Bartlett. Together the two created, organized and sponsored the North Sound Maxi Regatta this winter in the British Virgin Islands. Komarek, founder of the KKCG Group with a home in Verbier, Switzerland, also has a large powerboat named Obsidienne but no one has been able to find out what the V written on the stern of his boat means for. (Could it be the V for Victory?)
In Maxi Group B, the first day saw Jean Pierre Barjon’s Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina in the lead. The Maxis raced in the stretch of sea in front of Pampelonne while the other classes competed in a coastal course.
In IRC/ORC inshore racing first in real time was Bernard Arkas Sailing Team’s TP52 Blue Moon, which lines up as tactician Martin Watts.
Ida Castiglioni
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