The moment that captured the scale of Les Voiles came on Wednesday, and it had nothing to do with a finish line. Atlantic, a 70-metre three-masted schooner and a modern reconstruction of the yacht launched in 1903, crossed the start on the wrong side of the line. The rules required her to complete a full penalty turn. She did it in the narrow strip of water between the mark and the dock. The original Atlantic made her name in 1905, when she set a transatlantic record that stood until 1980. More than a century later, her replica brought that history into the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, where the room to manoeuvre was measured not in open ocean but against the harbour wall and the boats around her.
A HARBOUR AT FULL CAPACITY From 26 September to 4 October, the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez gathered 253 boats for the 28th edition. The fleet included a record 51 Maxis, alongside the Modern and Tradition divisions. Organisers reported 123 Modern yachts and 80 Tradition yachts; more than twenty of the classic boats were over a hundred years old. The oldest, Sky, was built in 1890. The quays were part of the spectacle. Organisers reported more than 75,000 visitor-days across the event, while close to 4,000 sailors came to Saint-Tropez to race. This was also the first edition without Patrice de Colmont, who died on 11 October 2025. In September 1981, a wager associated with his Club 55 set the Swan 44 Pride against the 12 Metre Ikra. The challenge became La Nioulargue, and in 1999 the event took the name Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. The original idea—a classic and a modern yacht testing themselves against one another—remains part of its character.
FIVE KINDS OF WEATHER IN SIX DAYS The week opened in very light air. On Monday, the postponement flag stayed up in the Baie de Pampelonne until early afternoon, and the Maxis and J Class managed one race. Tuesday brought a stronger easterly, with difficult sea conditions that tested crews and equipment. Wednesday was a rest day for the Maxis. Thursday brought rain and too little breeze for Maxi and J Class racing. After waiting through much of the day, the committee cancelled their racing at 2:30 pm. The classic fleet still had its own contest: Challenge Day, a pursuit race for centenarian yachts that would become one of the week’s defining spectacles. Friday brought a lighter easterly of around ten to fifteen knots. Saturday closed the main Maxi programme in sunshine and a steadier breeze, with several class titles still to be settled.
THE J CLASS: NINE POINTS APIECE Three J Class yachts on one start line is a rare sight. At Saint-Tropez, Svea, Rainbow and Hanuman turned the class into a contest of small margins, sail handling and recovery. Niklas Zennström’s Svea, launched in 2017 from a 1937 Tore Holm design, won Monday’s race. On Tuesday, her genoa halyard shackle broke soon after the start and the sail came down. Peter Harrison’s Rainbow won one race that day, while Hanuman won the other. The Wednesday friendly match brought another setback: Hanuman’s genoa split during a gybe. In the scored racing, Svea won both Friday races. The series continued on Saturday, and after six races Svea and Rainbow finished level on nine points. Svea took the title on countback, with Hanuman one point behind on ten. Zennström also won the Corinthian King’s Cup, awarded to the best owner-helmsman. The final standings gave the J Class one of the week’s clearest demonstrations of how a regatta can turn on consistency as much as outright speed.
MAXI 1: THE OLDER BOAT HOLDS ITS GROUND The 76-foot North Star III arrived in Saint-Tropez as the reigning Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Champion, following her victory in Porto Cervo. On Tuesday, she won the opening Maxi 1 race on corrected time, ahead of yachts that were larger and faster across the line. Sir Peter Ogden’s Jethou was built in 2012 as a 72-footer and has since been lengthened to 77 feet. On Friday’s coastal race off Cavalaire-sur-Mer, North Star III lost a spinnaker overboard during a sail change after the drop string broke. Her crew spent several minutes recovering it, a costly interruption in a race where every minute mattered. She finished the week fourth in Maxi 1. Jethou and Karel Komárek’s Wallycento V went into Saturday level on points. Jethou won the final 28-mile coastal race and the Edmond de Rothschild Trophy, finishing the series on six points. V was second on nine, and Filip Balcaen’s Balthasar third on twelve. Komárek nevertheless left with a season title. V’s second place at Les Voiles secured the International Maxi Association’s Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge, a separate competition calculated across the Mediterranean season.
MAXI 2, 3 AND 4 In Maxi 2, the battle between Terry Hui’s Wally 77 Lyra and Luciano Gandini’s Mylius 80 Twin Soul B came to a head on Saturday, when Twin Soul B was called over the line early. Lyra won the class on five points, ahead of Twin Soul B on seven and Marcos Vivian’s Astra 1 on twelve. Maxi 3 produced another countback. Luigi Sala’s Vismara 62 Yoru and Lasse Petterson’s Why Not both finished on six points. Yoru won the tie-break, taking her third consecutive Les Voiles victory in the class. Benoît de Froidmont’s Wallyño finished third on nine. In Maxi 4, Luca Scoppa’s Dehler 60 Blue Oyster, sailed by Andrew Fitzmaurice’s crew, won with three victories from four races and four points. Crazy Diamond, the 2025 winner, finished second on ten, with Atalante third on thirteen. Blue Oyster also received the Coupe de la Ville de Saint-Tropez as the event’s overall Maxi champion.
THE CLASSICS RACE TO WIN The Rolex Trophy brought the P Class gaff cutters into focus. Philippe Oddo’s Olympian recovered from a disqualification on the opening day and went on to win the class. The final duel with Bernard Liautaud’s Chips made the closing stages of the series particularly close: Olympian finished on three points, Chips on five and Stephan Lobmeyr’s Joyant on seven. Grand Tradition also went to countback. The 1909 Fife 15 Metre Tuiga, flagship of the Yacht Club de Monaco, finished level with Viveka on four points and took the title. Jimmy Spithill helmed Tuiga, with Pierre Casiraghi and Boris Herrmann aboard. Among the 12 Metres, Kiwi Magic and French Kiss also finished level on four points. Kiwi Magic won on the countback, with her two race victories deciding the tie.
In the Big Boats, Stephen Benfield’s Elena of London won the class. Sir Richard Matthews’s Kismet won the Époque Gaffers after taking three of four races. Other class winners included Leonore in Époque Marconi A, Lak II in Époque Marconi B, Maria Giovanina II in Classic Marconi A and Eugenia V in Classic Marconi B. In the IOR class, the One Tonner Resolute Salmon took the title from the previous year’s winner, Il Moro di Venezia.
THURSDAY BELONGS TO THE CHALLENGES Rain did not dampen Challenge Day. Eighteen centenarian yachts raced a nine-nautical-mile pursuit for the Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy, which was celebrating its fifteenth year. Starts were staggered according to rating, giving smaller boats a head start against larger rivals. The 11.5-metre gaffer Lulu was first away. Sumurun, a 29-metre Fife design, started 43 minutes later. Kismet came through to win in front of the Village des Voiles, taking the trophy for the second time after her 2022 victory. In the Club 55 Yacht Cup, the Fife-designed Hallowe’en, a century old in 2026, beat Mariella. Her owner, Inigo Strez, also helmed her—a reminder that these classic-yacht races remain personal contests as well as displays of maritime heritage. The day before, the Wallycento Tilakkhana II had beaten Balthasar for the Club 55 Maxi Yacht Cup. Across the Gulf, Atlantic sailed alongside Créole, designed by Charles Nicholson in 1927, and Adix, launched in 1984 as a modern three-masted schooner. The three vessels offered a rare sight: large schooners under sail together, their scale and rigging bringing several generations of yacht design into the same frame. That evening, crews paraded through town in costume. Beautiful Day won the Maxi parade, while Belle Aventure et son cirque won the Tradition parade.
THE MODERNS: CONSISTENCY WINS The Modern fleet’s IRC classes put a different emphasis on the week. Here, the standings depended on corrected time, and a single poor result could change the series. In IRC 0, Spirit of Lorina, a Botin TP52, won the class. Interlodge IV finished second and Nanoq, entered under King Frederik X of Denmark, third. The Wallyrocket 51 Kilara II won the Wally Trophy. Lisa R won IRC 1. J Wow took IRC 2, ahead of Fremito d’Arja. In IRC 3, Dr Harald Bruning’s Farr 30 Topas finished ahead of Pride, the Swan 44 whose 1981 match against Ikra helped give rise to La Nioulargue. The Sun Fast 3200 Overdose Neo won IRC 4. The Modern fleet’s results brought the week back to one of its central themes: the boats differed in age, design and purpose, but each class still came down to the same essentials—sailing the course well, managing risk and avoiding the result that could undo everything else.
LOOKING TO 2027 The 2026 edition also marked 150 years of the Gitana sailing saga and the centenary of the Comité International de la Méditerranée. The organisers are already looking towards the next edition, scheduled for 25 September to 3 October 2027. A proposed duel between Shamrock V and Endeavour would bring two of the historic J Class yachts associated with the America’s Cup back into the spotlight. They are not, however, the only surviving original J Class yachts from the 1930s: Velsheda survives as well. Georges Korhel, the event’s long-serving Principal Race Officer, has also spoken about his attachment to Les Voiles after 28 editions. As the event evolves, the challenge will be to preserve its original spirit while continuing to give modern racing yachts and historic boats a reason to share the same water. The final standings supplied the week’s neatest ending: four titles decided by countback, after days in which the breeze, equipment and timing tested every fleet differently. Les Voiles remains a regatta where a yacht’s age and size may set the scene, but neither can settle the result on its own.