Sunshine and a decent thermal breeze greeted crews arriving in Saint-Tropez this weekend, as the 2026 edition of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez gathered pace ahead of Monday's opening races.
The Village des Voiles filled steadily through the day. Nearly a third of the Tradition fleet sailed in from Cannes during the afternoon, swelling a harbour already busy with Maxis and Moderns training in the bay. By 5pm the port was full enough for organisers to hold the official village opening.
Twenty-five yachts had set off from Cannes that morning for the 37th Coupe d'Automne, the Yacht Club de France regatta that traditionally bridges Les Régates Royales de Cannes and Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Five Tofinou yachts, classed as Moderns at Saint-Tropez, sailed alongside 20 Tradition yachts, including the four P Class boats set to contest the Rolex Trophy from Tuesday. Familiar Epoque aurique names also featured, among them Nin, Lulu and the New York 50 Marilee.
French Kiss led the fleet into the gulf, with France close behind. Il Moro di Venezia, Raoul Gardini's former Maxi from 1976, followed the 12-Metre pair. That yacht races in the IOR category within the Tradition fleet, a class that's growing, with seven entries this year including Tarantella, the 1966 Sparkman & Stephens design that launched Nautor's Finnish yard.
Monday brings the Maxis and Moderns into full swing. Fifty-one Maxis are entered, making this 28th edition the largest Maxi gathering anywhere in the world. Thirteen boats will contest Maxi 1 for the Trophée Edmond de Rothschild, among them Northstar III, owned by Peter Dubens, fresh from winning the world championship at Porto Cervo.
Three J Class yachts, Svea, Hanuman and Rainbow, were already out training on Sunday, carving elegant, quick lines upwind out of the gulf. All other Maxis will join them in Pampelonne Bay on Monday, leaving the gulf itself to the Moderns, some 123 boats across four IRC classes starting from the Tour du Portalet.
Race organisers have made changes for safety and sporting interest alike. Principal Race Officer Georges Kohrel explained the shift away from out-and-back courses: "Our goal is to no longer have out-and-back courses where fleets cross but to systematically have a third mark to round." For the same reason, Maxi start lines in Pampelonne Bay have been moved outside the banana-shaped course rather than through its middle. Course details will now be released only on race mornings, to better account for the weather, with organisers prepared to lengthen legs if needed to sharpen the racing, a request Kohrel noted had come particularly from the Moderns fleet.
Loïck Peyron will host a daily live session at the village entrance from Monday on the stand of BMW, the regatta's partner brand for which he is an ambassador. A regular at Saint-Tropez and a versatile racer who was competing on the TP52 circuit aboard Paprec only weeks ago, Peyron will draw on that experience to talk through each day's racing.
Forecast conditions favour light thermal breezes from the east to south-east through Wednesday, ideal for the opening races before conditions turn more unsettled midweek.
