Top Class yachting takes centre stage at the YCCS in September

The second part of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's busy sporting calendar gets underway, as per tradition, with the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, scheduled from 8 to 14 September. 

New for this 34th edition will be the first ever Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship, organised together with the International Maxi Association (IMA) and reserved for the fastest Maxi yachts, identified by an IRC time correction coefficient (TCC) equal to or greater than 1.700. Ten yachts will meet the requirements to compete for this new world title: Bullitt, Capricorn, Deep Blue, Django HF, Galateia, Leopard 3, Magic Carpet3, My Song, SHK Scallywag and V.

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Rolex are celebrating an important milestone this year as they reach 40 years of partnership, a solid bond founded on common values of excellence, innovation, technology, respect for the sea, and support for the new generations. This highly successful collaboration began in 1984 with the Rolex Swan Cup, grew the following year with the addition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, and continued in subsequent years and decades with many other high-profile international regattas. Just a few noteworthy examples include the Rolex Settimana delle Bocche, the Sardinia Rolex Cup, and various Rolex World Championships dedicated to the IMS offshore sailing classes and the Farr 40 and TP52 classes. 

The fleet currently expected for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship will number more than 40 Maxi yachts with a minimum length of 60 feet - just over 18 metres – and extending as far as the 44-metre Svea. A total of 45 yachts have enrolled to date, divided into groups according to their respective characteristics and with separate scoring for each. In addition to the Maxi 1 yachts, the J Class yachts Svea and Velsheda will be racing in Porto Cervo, with their match race-style duels evoking scenes from the America's Cup battles of the 1930s, for which they were designed. Besides the J Class yachts, the largest competitors in the fleet will be the 35-metre Swan 115 Moat and the 33-metre Baltic Win Win. The Multihull Division will host the 25-metre maxi catamaran Allegra, the 24-metre Highland Fling 18, and the 20-metre Mana. The Maxi 2 class will include some of the pure racers that once belonged to the ex-Maxi72 class: Jethou, Jolt, Proteus and North Star. Among the relatively smaller yachts taking part will be the 60-foot Wallyño, the 65-foot Spirit of Lorina, the two Baltic “café racers” Ganesha and Open Season, and the Mylius cohort including Fra Diavolo, Manticore, Oscar 3, R6 and Schorch. 

Just as the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is rounding off, the Rolex Swan Cup will get underway. The biennial event, now in its 22nd edition, will also include Nautor Swan in the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the partnership between the YCCS, Rolex and Nautor Swan.

A welcome cocktail on the terrace of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda on the evening of 16 September will officially open the regatta, which already counts 95 yachts enrolled. The Rolex Swan Cup brings together many of the models built from 1966 to the present day, ranging from the compact 36-footer Josian, launched in 1967, to the most recent 98-foot maxi Drifter Cube. The Swan fleet encompasses both long-distance oriented yachts and the racing oriented yachts represented by the ClubSwan One Design range. Making its debut at the Porto Cervo event this year will be the ClubSwan 28, at just 8.5 metres long, this one-design sportsboat is the smallest model ever built by the yard and complements the existing range of racing models. Among the veteran yachts steeped in history expected to take part in Porto Cervo is undoubtedly the 65-foot King's Legend, runner-up in the legendary second edition of the 1977-78 Whitbread Round the World Race. 

Both the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup will feature social events ashore, including daily post-race refreshments in Piazza Azzurra, a crew party for all participants, and an owners' dinner by invitation only. 

The YCCS sporting activities will continue through to October with the Etchells class, with the class European Championship scheduled to take place in Porto Cervo for the first time from 4 to 6 October.