Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez’s record-sized maxi fleet of 51 for a second day saw Maxi 1 and the J Class racing windward-leewards from the Baie de Pampelonne, while Maxi 3, 4 and 5 were dispatched southwest on a 28 mile coastal course to a mark off Cavalaire-sur-Mer.
In the 13-strong Maxi 1 racing for the Trophée Edmond de Rothschild, Peter Dubens’ Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Champion North Star III, a brand new judel-vrolijk designed 76 footer, took the race win.
She finished 1 minute 7 seconds (under IRC) ahead of Alessandro Del Bono’s 82ft Capricorno with Karel Komárek’s 100ft V third and first to cross the finish line.
In the second race it was the turn of V to prevail, her time correcting out to less than a minute ahead of yesterday’s winner, Sir Peter Ogden’s 77ft Jethou with Filip Balcaen’s 72ft Balthasar third.
On the coastal races, in Maxi 2 with Luciano Gandini’s Mylius 80 Twin Soul B coming out on top, albeit by just four seconds from Quaid Biani’s Wally 94 Astra 1. Yesterday’s winner Terry Hui’s Wally 80 Lyra came home third after some technical issues that included breaking a kite.
In Maxi 3 and 4, there were the same winners as Mondayy. In the former, Lasse Petterson’s Mylius 60 Why Not won by 4 minutes 10 seconds on corrected time from Luigi Sala’s Yoru and Dario Castiglia’s Baltic 65 RE/MAX One2.
Similarly in Maxi 4 the Dehler 60 Blue Oyster, chartered this week to Alessandro Aita (owner Luca Scoppa and several of his crew are also on board) won again Tuesday.
Blue Oyster today finished ahead of 2025 winner Enzo Pellizzaro’s Solaris 60 Crazy Diamond and Jonathan Butler’s Swan 62DS Coco de Mer.
With three races sailed by the J Class at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez all three teams have now won one race each and Rainbow leads the regatta, but only on countback.
A technical problem for the Swedish flagged Svea, favourites to win the event, meant they had to retire from both Tuesday’s breezy races. Aggregating eight points for their two DNFs means Monday’s race winners Svea are now third overall on five points, after discarding one DNF.
Standings after three races including one discard:
1st J-H2 Rainbow 2,1,(2) –3pts
2nd J-K6 Hanuman (3),2,1 — 3pts
3rd J-S1 Svea 1,4,(4) — 5pts
Wednesday is a layday for the Maxi class with racing resuming over Thursday to Saturday.
James Boyd / IMA