Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2025: Italian triumph among Maxi and Vintage Sails

It’s called Les Voiles de Saint Tropez and it’s the end-of-summer sailing festival where at least once in your life you have to attend…if you love sailing. And this year, strolling at first light along the Vieux Port docks, among the 245 yachts moored for the 27th edition of Les Voiles, you could hear our language echoing from every corner. It wasn’t just suggestion: the tricolor crews literally ran rampant, taking home trophy after trophy in what was probably the most Italian of editions ever.

Beginner’s luck (which beginner is not)

The best story of this edition has the flavor of Romagna and smells of saltiness. It comes from Enzo Pellizzaro, owner of the Solaris 60 Crazy Diamond, who dominated the Maxi 5 category by winning all five races held. A crazy result, especially considering it was his first time in Saint-Tropez.“It was a wonderful week, I couldn’t ask for more,” commented Pellizzaro, almost in disbelief.“It was probably beginner’s luck!” Luck, perhaps, but also a lot of handle, shared with a group of friends with whom he has been sailing since childhood. Their victory proves that at Les Voiles it’s not just million-dollar budgets that count, but also heart and fellowship.

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But the tricolor wave did not stop there. In the queen class, the Maxi GP, Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s wallyrocket 71 Django 7X, with the legendary Vasco Vascotto at tactician, engaged in a breathtaking duel with the American Vesper, winning by a single point in a fight that was decided on the line. And what about Twin Soul B, Federico Lunardini’s Mylius 80, which held off defending champion Lyra thanks in part to the infinite class of Paul Cayard on board. The Italian triumph was completed by the second place of Capricorno of the Del Bono brothers among the Maxi 1s and the victory of Luigi Sala’s Yoru among the Maxi 4s.

But Italy also made its presence felt in the vintage and classic boats: Massimiliano Ferruzzi’s Moro di Venezia won in the IOR category, while the 12-meter S.I. KZ5, with Tiziano Nava at the helm, finished in second place. And rounding out the tricolor celebration was Michele Colasante’s Corto Maltese, which put everyone in line in the hard-fought IRC 4 class.

The diva of the Gulf: Her Majesty Atlantic

If the Italians won, she took center stage: Atlantic. The replica of the 1903 schooner, at 64 meters in length and 300 tons in weight, left everyone speechless. When she unfurled her “Hollywood sail area,” as Captain Fosse Fortuin called her, an enormity of 2,600 square meters of canvas, an almost religious silence fell over the gulf.

To tame this holy monster, Fortuin has assembled a 30-person crew that is a small masterpiece of international diplomacy: Italian sailmaker Beppe Zaoli to take care of the huge new 820-square-meter mainsail, and a handful of Dutch sailors from the Talsma shipyard, “giants in their field” who specialize in maneuvering classic yachts in tight spaces. The result? A perfect choreography that provided unforgettable images. And the dream continues: after the Caribbean, Atlantic will return to Europe and then head to the Pacific in 2027, with a schedule that includes Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Rolex Trophy for the best Big Boat eventually went to Chris Barkham’s Cambria, but Atlantic took home something more valuable: the hearts of all the spectators.

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez Pride: the legend that doesn’t age

But it was not only the Maxis that provided excitement. Among the Moderns, the most fascinating story bears the name of Pride, the historic Swan 44 of the Grave family, which has been guarding this black jewel with manic attention since 1973. William Grave and his crew dominated the IRC 3 category while also winning the Coupe de la Ville de Saint-Tropez for best overall Modern, confirming that the charm of some boats is truly eternal.

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This is no accident: Pride is the boat that in 1981 challenged the 12-meter Ikra giving birth to the first Nioulargue, the one that would later become the soul of Les Voiles. A troubled history that of this Swan 44 signed Sparkman & Stephens: after years of semi-abandonment near Saint-Tropez when historic owner Dick Jayson stopped racing, the boat was rescued in 2005 by Alfonso Vesentini, who fell madly in love with it. “I sent a love letter to Dick Jayson, saying that a boat with that pedigree SHOULD continue to sail,” Vesentini recalls In an interview with us on the occasion of the 2023 edition of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez..

In 2013, after Dick Jayson’s death, the boat passed to his granddaughter Gillian Graves and her husband Will, a great sailor with experience also in the America’s Cup with Dennis Conner. It was Will himself who wanted the full refit completed in 2023 at the Shipyard & Marina Sant’Andrea in San Giorgio di Nogaro, with a design by Studio Cossutti: new sail plan, streamlined deck, carbon mast 2.3 meters higher than the original. Perfect work and strictly Made in Italy.

This year the Grave family wanted to kick it up a notch by hiring Steve Benjamin, Etchells world champion and Olympic medalist in the 470 in 1984. The result? A practically perfect week, with the worst finish being a second place. Total domination in one of the most crowded categories, with 33 boats competing.

The spirit (and the protagonists) of Les Voiles

Because that’s where the secret of this event lies: in the unique mix of top-level competition and a relaxed atmosphere that has no equal. As Patrice de Colmont, the inventor of the Nioulargue from which it all originated, used to say: one regatta a day and then everyone ashore to party. And the spirit of Club 55 is more alive than ever.

This was seen in the evening organized by new partner, Edmond de Rothschild, where sailors competed in bowls between glasses of rosé. Guests of honor included Charles Caudrelier, fresh winner of the Route du Rhum. Observing the maneuvering of the vintage boats, he confessed, ” I have never sailed on a Classic boat! But I find the crew work, the coordination fascinating. It’s a real choreography “. He, used to managing the 11 crew members on the Volvo Ocean 65s, looked up to the 20 sailors engaged on the Maxi and Classic.

And the dock was Oscar-worthy! Paul Cayard, Torben Grael, Mauro Pelaschier and even His Majesty King Frederik X of Denmark. Not forgetting personalities like Pier Luigi Loro Piana, Ariane de Rothschild and Marie Tabarly, who gave this edition that extra touch of class that only Les Voiles can give.

A finale with a bang

This 27th edition, described by many as “one of the most balanced and photogenic ever,” ended with a spectacular finale. On the last day, 55-knot gusts swept the gulf, forcing crews to double their moorings and the organization to improvise the awards ceremony under cover of Place des Lices. It was a movie ending to a dream week, capped off by the magnificent fireworks over the gulf that illuminated by day the silhouettes of the world’s most beautiful boats

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2025 will go down in history as the edition of the Italian triumph, but also as the confirmation that certain places and certain events have a soul. A soul where “the most beautiful regattas on the water are combined with the best atmosphere on land.” Appointment for next year, for another page of sailing history.

James Barbaro