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Loro Piana Giraglia 2024: A Legendary Offshore Race
13 June 2024 - Genoa, Italy - Loro Piana Giraglia 2024 - An epic regatta! Strong wind and very rough sea for the offshore leg of the Loro Piana Giraglia. Starting yesterday at 12 from the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, the fleet of 129 boats sailed towards Corsica, rounded Giraglia, and returned to Genoa.
Line Honours Winner: Black Jack 100
The first to cross the finish line: the Dutch maxi Black Jack 100 of Remon Vos, who came close to the 2012 record!
Despite missing the 2012 record by just 15 minutes, the crew of Black Jack 100 celebrated their second consecutive line honours victory. Remon Vos praised the boat and the extraordinary crew, stating, "It was an epic regatta. We bought the boat just over a month ago, and thanks to an extraordinary crew, we managed everything well in fairly challenging conditions."
Black Jack 100 faced high averages of around 20 knots and wind peaks of 37 knots, with steep, breaking waves near Giraglia. The crew's exceptional seamanship and the boat's competitive edge, despite being built in 2005, shone through in these tough conditions.
Offshore Race winners of the ORC Classes
ORC 1 Group:
- From Now On (Owner: Fernando Chain) - Swan 45, 2003
Finished: 24:56:00, Corrected Time: 00:00:00 - Lady (Owner: Nicolas Quadrado) - Dufour 40, 2006
Finished: 29:26:41, Corrected Time: 01:13:28 - Elo II (Owner: Yacht Club Italiano) - Proto, 1990
Finished: 27:10:42, Corrected Time: 02:09:08
ORC 2 Group:
- Code X (Owner: Sandi Croz Misiraca) - Code X, 2021
Finished: 26:32:06, Corrected Time: 03:16:40 - Tekno (Owner: Piero Arduino) - First 31.7, 2004
Finished: 35:46:07, Corrected Time: 04:26:25 - Melagodo (Owner: Luca De Luca) - First 34.7, 2005
Finished: 34:54:16, Corrected Time: 05:11:48
ORC Double Handed (DH) Group:
- Spartaco (Owner: Matteo Uliassi) - Sun Fast 3300, 2024
Finished: 32:29:12, Corrected Time: 03:48:47 - Humboldt (Owner: Christoph Schubert) - Dehler 30, 2020
Finished: 35:01:12, Corrected Time: 07:51:52 - Toio (Owner: Matteo Arru) - Proto, 2004
Finished: 37:39:01, Corrected Time: 08:01:16
Summary of Overall Winners
The Loro Piana Giraglia 2024 showcased remarkable talent and thrilling performances across various categories.
Overall Winners:
- Line Honours: Black Jack 100 (Owner: Remon Vos)
- Overall Winner (IRC): Lann Ael 3 (Owner: Didier Gaudoux)
- ORC 1: From Now On (Owner: Fernando Chain)
- ORC 2: Melagodo (Owner: Luca De Luca)
- ORC DH: Spartaco (Owner: Matteo Uliassi)
Overall Winner: Lann Ael 3
The overall winner of the 2024 Loro Piana Giraglia, awarded to the best corrected time in the most numerous group (IRC), was Lann Ael 3, owned by Didier Gaudoux. This prototype, designed by Sam Manuard and Bernard Nivelt, completed the course in 24 hours, 49 minutes, and 17 seconds. Gaudoux and his co-skipper, Erwan Tabarly, showcased remarkable skill and strategy, navigating their 11-meter NM35 through the challenging conditions.
Lann Ael 3's design, featuring a semi-scow bow ideal for downwind sailing, found the perfect conditions to excel. Gaudoux's extensive experience, combined with Tabarly's notable lineage and expertise, contributed to their outstanding performance. This victory adds to Gaudoux's impressive sailing achievements, including a win in the Fastnet race in 2017 with Lann Ael 2.
The event once again demonstrated why the Loro Piana Giraglia is one of the most prestigious and eagerly anticipated regattas in the Mediterranean, combining intense competition with a spirit of camaraderie and excellence.
Over the years, this offshore race increasingly took on mythical dimensions. The navigation combines technique and poetry; over the years, it has become a sailing maturity for many young enthusiasts. 'I did it too' becomes an important medal on every sailor's chest.
Over the years, the number of participants has increased inversely proportional to the course completion time. The current record for boats on the starting line is from 2016, with as many as 302. Meanwhile, the lowest time belongs to Igor Simcic's yacht Esimit Europa 2, which in 2012 broke the previous record with 14 hours, 56 minutes, and 16 seconds.
The format has remained more or less the same; in the 1970s, the participating boats were always more than 100, even 150. These are extraordinary numbers considering the niche of yachting; until the 1990s, the starting and finishing locations alternated between Italy and France. Participating remained a semi-adventure in an era when the entire crew slept on board and took part in the boat transfers. The Giraglia witnessed the transition from wood to fibreglass, with boats becoming increasingly lighter and more sophisticated and with faster passages. Since 1998, the format has remained unchanged: meeting in Saint Tropez around mid-June, three days of coastal races in the splendid gulf, a beach party for all participants on the eve of the offshore – always memorable – and departure in the morning for the 'long' 241 nautical miles that, today as then, ends in Genoa with the obligatory passage of the Giraglia islet, just as imagined back in 1952.
But with the 70th anniversary milestone reached last June, the Giraglia is changing its attire once again. The arrival of a new and prestigious title sponsor like Loro Piana adds another piece to a regatta that increasingly resembles an event. The days of inshore races are extended to 4, and the regatta village is expanded to create even more camaraderie during the days in Saint-Tropez.