Le Voiles de St. Tropez celebrated 40 years of nautical excellence in a breathtaking spectacle – the largest gathering of Maxi Yachts in the world with more than 3,200 sailors competing from all over the globe. Watch the highlights below.
A new format
The 2020 edition of the Voiles de Saint-Tropez had successfully introduced a new format, which spread the regatta over two weeks in two stages – the classic yachts and sailboats less than 60 feet in the first week, followed by a full week dedicated exclusively to Maxis Yachts.
A breathtaking first week
As highlighted by Georges Korhel, Principal Race Officer of Les Voiles, the first week of the regatta was a great success. The event crowned formidable winners, starting with industry boss Patrizio Bertelli, winner of the Rolex Trophy with Scud and his high-flying crew, who defeated the sumptuous P Class. 10 categories of traditional sailboats raced for the prestigious trophies on offer. Pretexte (Nacira 47) won the North Sails Trophy (IRCB), and Nanoq, skippered by the Prince of Denmark won the BMW Trophy (IRCC) in particularly competitive groups. Olympian, the P Class of 1913 won the Centenarians Trophy of the Yacht Club of Gstaad.
The world’s largest gathering of Maxi Yachts
45 boats ranging from 60 to 107 feet gathered at the invitation of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez for the second week of racing. The Wally Class, the J Class and pure racers invaded the Gulf providing spectacular racing, in all winds. Comanche, Rambler 88, and Leopard3 along with the Mini Maxis 72s enchanted the public. Magic Carpet Cubed, Sir Lindsay Owen Jones’ Wally Cento fought to the last minute to win in IRC1 confirming his recent standing as World Champion. The pretty Wally 77, Lyra did well in Saint Tropez too. There was a formidable tango between the two J Class classics, Topaz and Velsheda whose rivalry finally saw Topaz take the victory.
A whose who
More than 800 sailors from all over the world competed in the second week on the Maxi’s, with 2,400 competing in the first week on the classics. Some Maxis require a lot of crew with boats like Comanche which needs a crew of 28, Magic Carpet Cubed and Velsheda have nearly 30 crew, and 37 crew are required to race Topaz.
On the pontoons we saw the likes of Jean-Baptiste Bernaz, Ernesto Bertarelli, Patrizio Bertelli, Arnaud Boissières, Michel Boujenah, Brad Butterworth, Dee Caffari, Pierre Casiraghi, Julien Cressant, Prince Frederik of Denmark, Simon Daubney, Francesco De Angelis, Bertrand de Broc, Patrice de Colmont, Kevin Escoffier, Shannon Falcone, Robin Follin, Thierry Fouchier, German Frers, Sidney Gavignet, Clément Giraud, Torben Grael, Peter Isler, Xavier Macaire, Corinne Migraine, Philippe Monnet, Marc Pajot, Lionel Péan, Loïck Peyron, Christopher Pratt, Jochen Schuemann, Giles Scott, Tom Slingsby, Bruno Troublé, Le Prince Maurits Van Oranje, Marcel Van Triest, Gerald Veniard, Tom Whidden.
The Voiles in numbers
132 modern sailboats
82 classic sailboats
45 Maxis
a total of 3,200 sailors
20 nationalities
The next edition of the regatta takes place from September 24, 2022.
