Porto Cervo woke early for the opening day of the 23rd Rolex Swan Cup, with 170 yachts and around 1,800 sailors crowding the quays in front of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. The fleet size alone makes this edition historic, a record number of Swans gathered in one place, fitting for a regatta marking the 60th anniversary of the Nautor Swan shipyard.
Light winds dominated day one. The Race Committee opted for a short coastal course, sending the fleet upwind from the Gulf of Arzachena through the Passo delle Bisce before heading to the lighthouse on Isola dei Monaci. The three Swan Maxi classes got a slightly longer run, 9.6 miles in total, with an extra mark off Porto Cervo and a reaching leg added in.
Windward-leeward racing was planned for the ClubSwan One Design classes, but the breeze was too soft for most of them. Only the CS28s managed to get a race away. Lorenzo Bortolotti's Black Swan took the win, ahead of Swing and Anya Race.
More than 100 Swans tacked through the Passo delle Bisce in barely a puff of wind, a scene that captured what this fleet is really about. Sailors here seem just as content picking their way through light air as they are driving hard upwind in a blow.
One boat worth watching through the regatta is the Swan 65 Force 9. Her crew includes four sailors who completed the 2023/24 Ocean Globe Race, the modern re-run of the original Whitbread Round the World Race, alongside eight more using this regatta as part of the selection process for the next OGR in 2027.
Day one's class winners were BeCool in Swan Maxi Division A, Cloudy 7 in Swan Mini-Maxi Division A, Elan in Swan Legacy Division B (Sparkman & Stephens), Lunz am Meer in Swan Legacy Division B (Classics by Frers), Luca F in Swan Pure Cruising Division D, and Coco De Mer in Swan Maxi Pure Cruising Division D.
In the evening, Paul Cayard fronted a Meet and Greet in Piazza Azzurra outside the YCCS, drawing a large crowd. Cayard, a YCCS honorary member, Rolex testimonial and Nautor Swan ambassador, is also the reigning Star Class world champion and class president. He spoke about his long association with the Star, a class that has produced many America's Cup skippers, and what it has meant to his sailing career.
Conditions are set to flip for day two. A mistral of 14 to 18 knots is forecast, gusting past 20, with the first start set for 12 noon CEST.
