Fifteen boats line up in Porto Cervo for 2026 Rolex TP52 World Championship

The 2026 Rolex TP52 World Championship, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in collaboration with the 52 SUPER SERIES and the TP52 Class, gets underway today with the Official Practice Race, followed by the Skippers’ Briefing and a Welcome Cocktail on the terrace of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Racing for the world title begins tomorrow at midday in the waters off Porto Cervo.

Rolex is title sponsor of the event and an institutional partner of the YCCS.

The Rolex TP52 World Championship marks a return to one of its most iconic venues: 2026 will be the fourth time the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda has hosted the event, following the 2007 Rolex TP52 Global Championship - held before the class received official recognition from World Sailing - and the 2011 and 2014 world championships.

A fleet of 15 TP52s from 11 nations will compete on the race course off Porto Cervo from tomorrow through 20 June to claim the world title. This is the largest fleet ever seen at the TP52 World Championship and one of the most competitive line-ups in recent years.

The TP52 class represents one of the most advanced disciplines in professional sailing. At 15.85 metres in length, these pure racers are developed within strict dimensional and structural parameters that drive design innovation and performance evolution, making the competition particularly fierce both on the water and from a technical standpoint. The Porto Cervo event will also be the second leg of the 52 SUPER SERIES circuit, where the world’s top professional sailors compete alongside highly competitive owners.

Among the big names taking to the water in Porto Cervo are Francesco Bruni on Sled, Vasco Vascotto on Platoon Aviation, Guillermo Parada on Gladiator, Cameron Appleton and Alberto Bolzan on Alkedo Vitamina, Santi Lange and Cole Parada on Provezza, Ed Baird on Trinity Racing , Loïck Peyron on Paprec, as well as numerous Olympic champions, world champions and stars of the America’s Cup and The Ocean Race.
Favoured contenders for the title include Takashi Okura’s Sled, 2021 world champion and winner of the season’s opening leg in Puerto Portals; Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon Aviation, three-time TP52 world champion; and Tony Langley’s British-flagged Gladiator, winner of the 2024 Worlds in Newport.

Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back is also attracting attention, fresh off a third-place finish in Puerto Portals and crewed largely by sailors from the American Magic Quantum Racing programme led by Terry Hutchinson. For the Worlds in Porto Cervo, Lucas Calabrese, Olympic bronze medallist in the 470 class at London 2012, returns to the team as strategist.

Among the teams expected to play a leading role is Andrea Lacorte’s Italian entry Alkedo Vitamina, one of the fastest boats in the fleet and the only crew to notch up two race wins in the opening leg in Puerto Portals. Also worth keeping a close eye on are Ergin Imre’s Provezza and Andy Soriano’s Alegre, both tipped to be front and centre in the battle for the title.

There is considerable interest too in the 52 SUPER SERIES debut of a second Italian team, Vudu, owned by Mauro Gestri and based in Scarlino. Originally launched as Azzurra in 2015, the boat arrives in Porto Cervo having recently secured second place at the ORC World Championship, with Michele Regolo on tactics.

The last time the Rolex TP52 World Championship came to Porto Cervo was in 2014, when Quantum Racing clinched the title by just two points over Azzurra, the team representing the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Given the strength of this year’s fleet, the final outcome looks more open than ever: more than half the boats on the starting line can realistically aim for the world title, in a week where consistency and the ability to minimise mistakes will be decisive.

Andrea Recordati, Commodore of the YCCS, commented: “Hosting the Rolex TP52 World Championship for the fourth time is a great honour for our Club, and it takes us back to the decade when the new Azzurra, owned by our members the Roemmers family, competed and won in the 52 Super Series. I would like to thank our institutional partner Rolex, the 52 SUPER SERIES, the owners and their crews who have joined us in such large numbers here in Porto Cervo. It will be a championship of the very highest level, as is fitting for the most competitive keelboat class. Fair winds to all!”

The start of the first race is scheduled for tomorrow, 16 June, at 12 noon CEST. The forecast for the week indicates light breezes.