After a start frustrated by the absence of the wind, the 35th edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup has entered into competition mode with two magnificent race days in Porto Cervo. The fleet of 47 sailboats, divided into five classes, has enjoyed spectacular navigation conditions, and the provisional ones begin to identify the maximum candidates for the respective titles, which will be resolved next Saturday

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2025 is progressing at a good pace. After a first day in which no test could be disputed due to the absence of the minimum wind conditions, the coast of Porto Cervo provided the perfect ingredients to chain two magnificent days of competition, adding results in the five categories in which the 47 ships that make up the fleet are divided.

The participants of the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship and the Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Championship have so far held a coastal test and two barlovento / sotavento-like races. In the World Cup of Maxi 1, in which the most powerful ships compete, the provisional leads the Wallycento V (with the Galician Iago López Marra on board), which accumulates a third in the coastal test, a fourth and a first. In Maxi Grand Prix, a category reserved for pure sailing boats, the best for the moment is the Maxi 72 Django 7X of Giovanni Lombardi (in which the canary David Vera sails), after scoring two third positions in the short tests and imposing on the coastal, 40 nautical miles.

In each of the remaining three classes, two coastal races have been completed. The provisional in Maxi 3 is the Millius 65 FD Oscar 3 of Aldo Parisotto after adding a first and a fifth; in Maxi 4, the Vallicelli 78 H2O of Riccardo of Michele after being imposed on the two disputed tests; and in Supermaxi, the Swan 115 Moat of Juan Ball, with the tactic of the Viguese Gonzalo Araujo and the navigation of the Sevillian Juan Luis Páez. The Vismara 68 Pelotari Project by Andrés Varela, the only Spanish flag ship between the fleet, occupies the thirteenth position in the competing Maxi 3 class after adding an 11 in the first test and having to withdraw in the second.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup continues until next Saturday, September 13. The Queen of the prestigious Yacht Club Costa Smeralda celebrates 40 years of association with Rolex, the main sponsor of the event since 1985.

2025-09-09: Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup... half a hundred colossus in Porto Cervo

The award of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2025 will be held on Saturday, September 13, at 17: 30 at the iconic Piazza Azzurra of the YCCS

The test will play two world crowns: the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship and the Rolex IMA Grand Prix World Championship. Both titles will be held in a program consisting of three days of coastal testing by the archipelago of La Maddalena and two of barlovento-sotavento-format races.

• The Maxi 1 class has nine participants between 80 and 100 feet long (between 25 and 30.5 meters). Among those who will fight for the title is the innovative Magic Carpet E (30.5 meters), owned by Sir Lindsay Owen Jones. Bottled in 2024 and designed by Guillaume Verdier, it has ultra-clear interiors of Axel de Beaufort for Hermès. Among its rivals are four ships of its own length: the Wallycento Galateia, Tilakkhana and V, and the Farr 100 Leopard 3. He will also face ClubSwan 80 My Song (26 meters), JV82 Capricorno (25 meters), Botin 85 Deep Blue (26 meters) and Wally 93 Bullitt (28.5 meters) of the YCCS Commodore, Andrea Recordati.
• The Grand Prix class brings together eight ships that previously belonged to the Maxi 72 class (between 21.5 and 23.5 meters in length), including the Jolt and the Django 7X, new to the first and third positions respectively at the Admiral's Cup. Balthasar, Bella Minte, Jethou, North-Star, Proteus and Vesper complete an impressive fleet that will play the world title in Porto Cervo.
• The Maxi 3 is the largest division, with 14 registered ships, including three Baltic 68 Café Racers (20.73 meters) designed by the Spanish Javier Jáudenes: Open Season, Ganesha and Scorpione Horma, launched this year. The Maxi 4 class has nine participants, including the Swan 601 @ robas and Durlindana IV (at the low end of the range of length, with 18.30 meters), the Vallicelli 78 H2O (23.8 meters) and the Swan 651 Lunz Am Meer (20 meters).

One more year, Spanish participation will again be numerous at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. The V68 Pelotari Project by Andrés Varela Entrecanas will be the only participant in the Spanish pavilion and crew, but another 24 ships of the fleet will be nourished by regatists from Spain. On board the revolutionary Magic Carpet E will compete Xabi Fernández, Antonio "Ñeti" Cuervas- Mons, Willy Altadill, Miguel Jáuregui, Carlos Hernández, Juan Meseguer; in the Moat, Gonzalo Araujo, Juanlu Páez, Alejandro Echevarría, Nicolás Pesich, Marc Terrasa, Toño Piris and Óscar Ibáñez; in the Balthasar, Simbad Quiroga, Javier de la Plaza, Pablo Arararte and Diego Torrado;... Other common names will not be missing from the international fleet such as Joan Vila (navigator of the Artemis Blaeu), Diego Fructuoso (tactical of the Aegir), Guillermo Altadill, Nacho Braquehais, Roberto Bermudez, Jaime Arbons, Nacho Postigo, Javier Jáudenes, Pedro Mas, David Vera, Victor Mariño, Pablo Torrado, Matthew Barber,... Thus, up to 71 regatists who confirm that the projects of the exclusive Maxi universe.