The 23rd Rolex Swan Cup set to begin in Porto Cervo with a record fleet
With the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup having concluded on Saturday, Porto Cervo quickly changed gear. The quays in front of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda filled with Swans arriving for the 23rd edition of the Rolex Swan Cup, organised by the YCCS in collaboration with Nautor Swan and with the support of Title Sponsor Rolex. A total of 170 boats are taking part, the maximum number permitted and a record for the event, in an edition that coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Finnish shipyard’s founding.
The 60th anniversary was marked today by the “Dance of the Swans”, with the entire fleet gathering on the water around the island of Monaci, one of the most recognisable landmarks on the coastal racecourses through the La Maddalena Archipelago. The sight of 170 Swans sailing together was a rare one and is likely to become one of the defining images of the yard’s 60th-anniversary celebrations. Tomorrow the racing begins in earnest, with the first warning signal scheduled for 12 noon.
The fleet gathered in Porto Cervo traces, almost without interruption, the history of Nautor Swan from 1966 to the present day. It begins with Tarantella, the Sparkman & Stephens-designed Swan 36-001 that marked the start of production at the Pietarsaari yard. Restored for the 60th anniversary, she stands at the beginning of a story that, six decades later, extends to the two Swan 128s Be Cool and Raijin and the brand-new Swan 80 Elvi, all Germán Frers designs.
Bridging past and present is Giuseppe Puttini’s Shirlaf, a 1976 Sparkman & Stephens Swan 65 celebrating 50 years since her launch and returning to race in Porto Cervo after taking part in last week’s Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Also back is Lunz am Meer, the Swan 651 owned by YCCS member Riccardo Genghini. His daughter Lodovica is racing alongside him and is president of the association for classic Frers-designed Swans. The sizeable fleet of historic Swans also includes Marco Trombetti and Isabelle Andrieu’s Translated 9, another S&S Swan 65 with a remarkable history: launched in 1974 as ADC Accutrac, she was sailed by British skipper Clare Francis to fifth place in the 1977-78 Whitbread Round the World Race and, after recently returning to ocean racing, is once again engaged in a programme that will take her to the 2027 Ocean Globe Race.
Pride, a 1973 Sparkman & Stephens Swan 44 now owned by William and Gillian Graves, also deserves a mention. She is the same yacht that took part in the celebrated 1981 match-up with the 12 Metre Ikra in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez: what began almost as a playful challenge gave rise to the Nioulargue, the event that later became Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Following an extensive refit, Pride has returned to the family of her original owner and is now racing once again.
Above all, however, the Rolex Swan Cup remains a major Swan reunion, and among the many stories crossing paths on the Porto Cervo docks is one that captures its spirit particularly well. The Hartas family’s S&S Swan 44 Hokusai has the youngest member of the family along too, just five months old: not yet old enough to race, but perhaps one day a sailor herself, quite possibly aboard the same family yacht.
Jean-Marie Patier’s Swan 55 Storm has a particularly distinguished crew. At the helm is Lionel Lemonchois, a two-time Route du Rhum winner, in 2006 aboard Gitana 11 and in 2010 in the Multi50 class aboard Prince de Bretagne. Sailing with him is Catherine Chabaud, the first woman to complete the Vendée Globe, in the 1996-97 edition, and now France’s Minister for the Sea and Fisheries.
The 2026 Rolex Swan Cup brings together very different sides of the Swan world. Five classes will race boat-for-boat without time correction: ClubSwan 50, ClubSwan 43, ClubSwan 42, ClubSwan 36 and ClubSwan 28. The other divisions will race under the ORC rating system: Swan Maxi comprises yachts of 60 feet and above, divided into Maxi and Mini Maxi; Swan Legacy brings together Sparkman & Stephens and Ron Holland designs together with the Swan Classic by Frers; Swan Cruiser Racer includes models up to 58 feet, while the Swan Pure Cruising division is dedicated to yachts in predominantly cruising configuration.
The competitive quality of the fleet is equally high. Nine winners from the 2024 edition are back in Porto Cervo: Freya in the Maxi fleet, Seaquill among the Mini Maxis, Isabella in Sparkman & Stephens Classic, Mascalzone Latino in S&S Racing, Katima in the Swan 45 class, the modified Swan 45 From Now On, as well as Ulika among the ClubSwan 50s, Fra Martina among the ClubSwan 36s and Marcello, owned by YCCS member Philippe Ligot, among the ClubSwan 28s.
The level of competition is further raised by the presence of some of the biggest names in international sailing. Paul Cayard will be tactician aboard YCCS member Leonardo Ferragamo’s ClubSwan 50 Cuordileone. The skipper of Il Moro di Venezia in the 1992 America’s Cup won the Star World Championship for the second time in 2025 and is also president of the class. On Wednesday 16, after racing, Cayard will hold a “Meet and Greet” in Piazza Azzurra, an informal event open to everyone focusing on the history of the Star and on his own career as a sailor. Ed Baird, helmsman of Alinghi in its victorious 2007 America’s Cup campaign, will be tactician aboard Ross Warburton’s ClubSwan 50 Perhonen. Vasco Vascotto will fill the same role on the Swan 128 Be Cool, while Flavio Favini will be at the helm of Alegher. Francesco “Checco” Bruni is also expected to join Earlybird from Thursday. Other leading names include Portugal’s Afonso Domingos, tactician on Volpe; Terry Hutchinson, who will call tactics aboard the ClubSwan 28 No Way Back; and Laurent Pagès, part of the Groupama 4 crew that won the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, who will sail aboard the Swan 58 Wavewalker.
The racing in the one-design classes also looks particularly open in light of the results achieved during the 2026 season. Among the ClubSwan 50s, YCCS member Marcus Brennecke’s Hatari won the Swan Bonifacio Challenge, while in the ClubSwan 42 class José María Meseguer’s Pez de Abril won both in Bonifacio and Porto Rotondo. In the ClubSwan 36 fleet, Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio’s GSpot won the season opener in Corsica, while Edoardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone took victory in Porto Rotondo ahead of Fra Martina. Among the ClubSwan 28s, Giulio Gatti’s Anya Race began the season with consecutive wins in Bonifacio and Porto Rotondo, where Marcello finished third. The ClubSwan 43 fleet includes Jean-Pierre Mustier’s Team 42+1, winner in Porto Rotondo. Completing the ClubSwan 36 line-up are the two ClubSwan Academy crews Magenta Development and Magenta Performance, part of an all-female project already present at the opening events of the season.
“It is a great pleasure to welcome such a large fleet to Porto Cervo in Nautor Swan’s 60th-anniversary year. The Rolex Swan Cup has a special history for our Club: it brings together different generations of yachts and sailors, from the boats that helped shape the yard’s history to the latest racing and cruising models, all united by a spirit that goes far beyond competition. Seeing 170 Swans together on the water for the Dance of the Swans was a particularly evocative moment. We have four days of racing ahead that promise to be very different from one another, and I wish all owners and crews a wonderful week of sailing in Porto Cervo,” said Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Commodore Andrea Recordati.
The forecast points to light conditions for tomorrow’s opening races, Wednesday 16 September, with a light easterly flow of only a few knots. The picture is expected to change significantly from Thursday, when westerly winds are forecast to fill in, with a potentially fresh Mistral component that could test both crews and boats and make the Islands Race particularly demanding.
Thursday 17 will in fact be dedicated to the Islands Race for all eligible classes, while the ClubSwan 36 and ClubSwan 28 fleets will continue with their dedicated races. The programme continues on Friday and Saturday, with the final prize-giving scheduled for Saturday 19 September at 5.30 p.m. in Piazza Azzurra.
Giuliano Luzzatto
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