A breezy week seems to be in prospect for competitors at this year’s Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup which starts on Monday out of Porto Cervo, Sardinia. Two J Class teams, Velsheda and Svea, will race in mixed fleet handicap divisions up against the cream of the world’s big Maxi yachts.

If the forecasted brisk NW’ly winds come in as expected, it may not prove the best practice for next month’s upcoming J Class Barcelona Regatta - where conditions are expected to be typically light to moderate - but the crews are looking forward to returning to Porto Cervo where both have won trophies before. Most notably Svea won the J Class two years on the trot. 

Svea’s navigator Steve Hayles enthuses, “For us it is pretty much business as usual. With the new J Class rule you have to make your decisions early. So we are looking forward to a solid week of racing in up range wind conditions. We will be in with the other boats, coastal racing, it is all good practice and no matter what it should be a really good week. We always enjoy it. We should see some NW’ly winds – not quite mistral direction – but that should mean nice flat water. Flat water and windy….it doesn’t get better!” 

And Velsheda’s tactician Tom Dodson says, “I always love coming back and racing in ‘Bomb Alley’. It would be great to be J Class racing again but here we are in a mixed fleet so we always just go out to try to win and to beat the other J Class, we try to do both, but in general on Velsheda we are happy in the breeze. When you think of racing out of Palma or Barcelona, say, it just reminds me how much I love racing up around the islands, it’s easy to forget how beautiful it is. And in terms of racing the first bit after the start is always so important as you can often stay ahead once you are ahead, but for sure we never, ever get tired of racing here.”

The 2024 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup takes place 8-14 September and is hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in collaboration with the International Maxi Association.