The 71st Regata dei Tre Golfi got underway this afternoon from the Bay of Santa Lucia, in front of Castel dell’Ovo, marking the long offshore race of the ORC World Championship 2026 and a key moment of the Tre Golfi Sailing Week.

Organised by the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia, in collaboration with the Yacht Club Italiano (Genoa) and the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia, in conjunction with the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC), and supported by Rolex and Loro Piana, the race saw a fleet of 150 top-level yachts from around the world take the start in a 6-knot south-easterly breeze, including both

ORC World Championship competitors and teams entered only in the offshore race.

Due to the forecasted light wind conditions, the Race Committee, led by Stuart Childerley, decided to shorten the course to approximately 130 nautical miles. The revised course features the traditional start in Naples, a first mark at Secca della Cavallara, then a passage at the island of Ponza, before returning to Naples, where the finish line has been set.

Starts were conducted in staggered sequences: at 17:00 for Classes 0 and A, 17:10 for Classes B and C of the ORC World Championship, and 17:20 for entries competing only in the Regata dei Tre Golfi. Despite the light wind and staggered starts, the racing was highly competitive and engaging, with OCS (On Course Side) calls recorded in all three starts. Boats starting early were not required to return but will receive a time penalty applied to their offshore race result.

The forecast, characterised by light winds and calm seas, is expected to place even greater emphasis on strategy, with crews required to make precise tactical decisions from the outset to find pressure and maintain speed. Navigators have been closely analysing weather models for several days, with current projections suggesting the fastest boats could arrive in the afternoon of Saturday, 9 May. The race results will be calculated with the Time on Distance formula using the ORC Weather Routing Scoring, and the results of both offshore races - long and coastal - shall not be excluded from the total result. 

Immediately after the start, the TP52 fleet and the WallyRocket 51s established themselves at the front of ORC 0, performing strongly even in the light conditions. With the fleet featuring reigning and former ORC World and European Champions, Olympic medallists, America’s Cup sailors, Rolex Middle Sea Race winners, and past Tre Golfi champions, the eventual winners of the long offshore race are likely to emerge from among the standout campaigns listed below.

In ORC 0, the 15-boat fleet features an impressive lineup of TP52s and new-generation high-performance racers. Among them are the TP52 XIO of Marco Serafini (ITA), 2019 ORC World Champion, the American TP52 Summer Storm of Andrew Berdon, bronze medallist at the 2024 ORC Worlds, Turkey’s TP52 Arkas Blue Moon of Bernard Arkas, runner-up in the 2025 Tre Golfi ORC 0 series, and Germany’s TP52 Red Bandit of Carl-Peter Forster, winner of the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race overall under IRC with veteran Danish tactician Jesper Radich onboard.

The innovative WallyRocket 51 design is also strongly represented with three entries on the starting line, including Django WR of Giovanni Lombardi, one of the newest additions to the growing fleet of lightweight high-performance racers optimized for both IRC and ORC competition.

ORC A, with 26 entries, includes several of the world’s leading offshore campaigns. The reigning ORC A World Champions are the team on Niklas Zennström’s Carkeek Fast 40+ Ran (SWE), winners of the 2025 title in Tallinn. Interlodge 44, the Botin 44 of Gwen and Austin Fragomen, arrives as the 2024 ORC Class A World Champion, while Italy’s Lisa R of Giovanni Di Vincenzo returns after winning the 2023 Regata dei Tre Golfi offshore race and the 2025 ORC Mediterranean Championship in Sorrento.

Germany’s Desna of Johannes Wackerhagen finished runner-up at the 2024 ORC Europeans in Mariehamn, while Argentina’s From Now On of Fernando Chain returns after finishing second at the 2022 ORC Worlds in Porto Cervo and winning the 2025 ORC South American Championship. Selene-Alifax of Massimo De Campo is another former world champion in the fleet, having won the 2019 ORC Class B world title in Šibenik.

ORC B features 25 entries led by reigning ORC European Champion Technonicol, the X-41 of Georgi Kolesnikov (MLT) with Estonian helmsman Mati Sepp. Italian sailing icon Vincenzo Onorato returns with his legendary Mascalzone Latino campaign, while Stefano Rusconi's To Be was third at the 2022 ORC Worlds in Porto Cervo, and Guardamago 3 of Massimo Romeo Piparo claimed bronze at the 2025 ORC Europeans in Palma.

Also attracting attention is WB IX of Gianclaudio Bassetti, representing the new XR 41 design that claimed the 2025 Garmin ORC World Championship title in Tallinn and quickly established itself among the most talked-about new-generation racer-cruisers in ORC racing.

The largest fleet is ORC C with 38 entries. One of the newest additions is Robe da Mat, the brand-new MAT 11 by Luigi Buzzi, developed by M.A.T. Yachts in collaboration with renowned designer Matteo Polli as a competitive ORC Class C and double-handed racing design. The Czech M37 Hebe V of Zdenek Jakoubek also returns with a strong championship record, including second place at the 2019 Worlds in Šibenik and third at the 2023 Worlds in Kiel.

“It is fantastic to see more than 100 boats from over 20 nations gathered here in Sorrento for the ORC World Championship,” said ORC President Bruno Finzi. “The quality and diversity of this fleet once again confirms the strength of ORC racing worldwide. Seeing such a high-level international fleet starting the historic Regata dei Tre Golfi in the Gulf of Naples is something very special for our sport and for this championship.”

“Despite the light breeze and the Race Committee’s decision to split the fleet into multiple starts for safety reasons, it was a unique spectacle to see 150 boats filling the Gulf of Naples,” commented Peppe Montella, Board Member for Sailing at the CRV Italia. “The action will continue over the coming hours, with constant position changes already visible among the leading group. We expect this to continue until the first major tactical decision: whether to leave Ischia to starboard or port. The forecasts favour the starboard option, but the port route is more conservative and historically the more successful.”

The race can be followed live via TracTrac Live tracking available here.

Following the return of the fleet, the ORC World Championship will continue with inshore racing based in Sorrento, while the Tre Golfi Sailing Week will carry on in the following weeks with events dedicated to the Maxi Yachts and Multihulls, also based at Marina Piccola in Sorrento.

The event is supported by leading partners including Rolex and Loro Piana, as well as North Sails, Deloitte, Ferrarelle, Ottogas, Garmin, Banca Patrimoni Sella & C., Caffè Borbone and Azimut Investimenti.