Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez has certainly pulled out all the stops to celebrate their 20th anniversary over the past week! Glorious sunshine and all types of breeze resulted in some sumptuous races right up close to the enchanting shores of France’s Var region.

4,000 sailors and their array of 300 Modern and Classic craft will begin to troop back to their respective home ports from today, doubtless with a heavy heart at the prospect of having to wait a whole year until they can return to this magical and timeless festival of yachting in late September 2020. Before that though, they spent the whole day rightfully celebrating the winners at the traditional prize-giving held at the Citadel in Saint Tropez.

Sumurun by a nose

The darlings of the general public and specialists alike, the classic or traditional boats are bunched into 11 groups in Saint Tropez according to their size, rig type and class measurement, with the aim of putting on a fair competition. To give honour where honour is due, in the group of Grands Traditions, Sumurun, the Bermudan ketch (Fife 1914) sailed brilliantly to finish just one point ahead of the 15mR Mariska (Fife 1908) after a series of races contested in all types of breezes. Moonbeam of Fife (Fife 1903) completes this podium. Among the breathtaking schooners, Elena of London, with an LOA in excess of 50m, bagged the title after winning all the races ahead of Naema, Orianda and Puritan.

Il Moro di Venezia among the 12mRs

Three magnificent 12mRs, spanning a decade of the America’s Cup competition from the seventies, relished the racing in Saint Tropez. The Italians on Il Moro di Venezia took the win in corrected time, paying homage to second placed Ikra, which is always very quick whatever the conditions in the hands of top French racer Nicolas Bérenger, ahead of Pierre Bausset’s legendary France.

Yanira ahead of the curve

The Bermudan cutter Yanira, built by the Danish naval architect Bjarne Aas and masterfully helmed by the Spaniard Pepe Negrete, took the main spoils in the Marconi A Classic group. Validating three races and as many victories despite some fierce competition, her rivals had to battle it out for the remaining podium places; Daria Cabal ultimately snatching second on the Bermudan cutter Saint Christopher (Sparkman & Stephens 1968) and Philippe Monnet and Yves Pajot’s Lys bagging third on Lys.

Stiren takes the title in the Group B

Bermudan rigs The most recent winner of the Rhum category in the 2018 Route du Rhum, Sidney Gavignet sailed aboard the Bermudan yawl Stiren (Sparkman & Stephens 1963) this week. It proved to be a good call since he leaves Saint Tropez as champion thanks to two fine race victories. The Bermudan sloop O’Jala II put up some solid resistance by taking the win on Wednesday. Palynodie II, the 1962 Olin Stephens sloop earns herself another podium at Les Voiles.

Kismet dominates Viola

Just as spectacular, the Group of Gaff Bs that gathers together a number of metre boats, all of which are over a hundred years old, witnessed a merciless battle between the season’s top three boats. In this way, Viola (Fife 1908), winner in Antibes and Cannes, had to make do with second place as she did in Monaco. Indeed, it’s Kismet (Fife 1898) which triumphs despite a great finish by Viola in the last race. Oriole (Herreshoff 1905), which is just as familiar with the top step of the podium, had to content herself with third.

Seven Seas of Porto dominates the group of large Bermudans

The Epoque Marconi A group comprises ketches, yawls, schooners and Bermudan cutters of nearly 20m in length. It’s the 12mR Bermudan rig Seven Seas of Porto (Crane 1935) which dominated this very elegant group, finishing ahead of the Italian sloop Emilia Prima (Costaguta 1930) and the American yawl Manitou (Stephens 1937).

Cippino II does it again

In the very dense fleet of Epoque Marconi boats that features the 18 craft chosen as this year’s group to compete for the Rolex Trophy, it’s the 1949 Frers design Cippino II which has repeated her success at Monaco Classic Week. Only Blitzen (Sparkman & Stephens 1937) managed to challenge her domination by taking one win. Within this tough context, the Bermudan yawl penned by Stephens (1934) Stormy Weather of Cowes, secures a worthy third place.

Olympian… Olympic!

Earning many admirers, the group comprising gaffers of 15 to 18m in length (the Epoque Gaffer A category), saw one of Saint Tropez’ regulars take the win: the Gardner (1913) P Class Olympian. Jostled about at the start of the week by Ester (Hellgren 1901), the gunter-rig sloop rescued from the Baltic, Olympian was unbeatable the rest of the week, getting the better of Marga (10m Lilljegren 1910) and Chips (P 13 Starling Burgess 1913). Aloha secures the win among the small “Epoque Marconis » James McElroy took victory aboard Aloha, a 1923 Bermudan R Class (Edson B. Schock), in a group comprising metre yachts and Bermudan yawls. It’s the 8m Sonda (MacGruer 1951), that takes second ahead of Java (Raymond Hunt 1938). Josephine the most consistent… For the old familiars that don’t fit into any Class Measurement at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, there is a special ‘Guest’ category made up of 6 craft this year. It’s the Bermudan IOD Josephine (Bjarne Aas 1959) which posted the most consistent performance this week, making the podium every time. Maria Giovanna II (Olin Stephens 1969) is second ahead of Windhover (Luke 1904).

For further information… see more

Overall Results:

Wally

1- Lyra
2- Galateia
3- Y3K

IRC A 1

1-Velsheda – Barnaby Henshaw-Depledge
2- Rambler – George David
3- Leopard 3 – Samuel Wright

IRCA 2

1- Kallima – Youri Loof
2- Umiko – Jacob Foale
3- Valkyrie – Hubert Wargny

IRC A 3

1- Twin Soul B – Luciano Nandini
2- Flow – Clayton Deutsch
3- Wallyno – Benoit De Froidmont

IRC A 4

1- Vesper – Jim Swartz
2- Ryokan 2 Olivier Lozachmeur
3- Jethou – Sir Peter Ogden

IRC B

1- Solte – Vencer Hasip
2- Daguet2 – Frédéric Puzin
3- Music – Albert Bataille

IRC C

1-Nanoq – Prince Ferderick
2- Rowdy 2 – Howard Dyer
3- Spirit of Malouen – Stéphane Névé

IRC D

1- Bella Donna – Jean Marie Gennari
2- Albator – Philippe Frantz
3- Vanessa – Patrizio Bertelli

IRC E

1- Give me Five 555 – Adrien Follin
2- Topas – Harald Brunning
3- Heat – Ole Augustin

IRC F

1- Camomille – Jean Louis Nathan
2- Pitch – Patrice Ribaud
3- Aetos – Nikolaos Sinouris

Tradition

Marconi A Classic

1- Yanira – Pepe Negrete
2- St Christopher – Daria Cabai
3- Lys – Philippe Monnet

Marconi B Classic

1- Stiren – Oren Nataf
2- Fantasque – Jacques Guillaume
3- Meterblick for fun – Otto Pohlmann

Marconi R Classic

1- Il Moro di Venezia – Massimiliano Sferruzzi
2- Ikra – Nicolas Berenger
3- France – Pierre Bausset

Epoque Gaff A

1- Olympian – Philippe Oddo
2- Marga – Alessandra Angelini
3- Chips – Sébastien Bazin

Epoque Gaff B

1- Kismet – Richard Matthews
2- Viola – Fabien Desprées
3- Oriole – Juan Carlos Eguiagaray

Epoque Marconi A

1- Seven seas – Marcus Kemp
2- Emilia Prima – Luigi Guarnacca
3- Manitou – Hamish Easton

Epoque Marconi B

1- Cippino II – Daniel Sielecki
2- Fjord III – German Frers
3- Comet – William Woodward Fisher

Epoque Marconi C

1- Sonda – Eric Leprince
2-Aloha – James Mc Elroy
3- Java- Alexis Le Pasteur

Grand Tradition

1- Sumurun – Hugues Boulanger
2_ Mariska – Benjamin Redreau
3- Moonbeam of Fife – Erwan Noblet

Guests

1- Josephine – Marc Froeschke
2- Maria Giovanna II – Jean Pierre Sauvan
3- Windhover – Olivier Poulain