Happy Thursday everyone...
In today's newsletter:
- Sportscar technical innovation to power the Ferrari Hypersail offshore foiler
- Podcast: USA SailGP Team CEO Mike Buckley
- Galateia claims 2025 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge
- J24 Class rolls back the years at the 2025 World Championship in Plymouth, England
- Quiz Question...
Sportscar technical innovation to power the Ferrari Hypersail offshore foiler
When you are creating from scratch a radical new concept like a 100-foot offshore foiling monohull thinking outside the box very quickly becomes the new normal. No surprise then to see that the bulging technical brains behind Giovanni Soldini's Ferrari Hypersail project are incorporating top secret technical innovation designed for the supercar manufacturer's F80limited-edition, V6-hybrid hypercar and its 'elettrica' – the company's first venture into electric vehicles.
According to a press release I received today there has been plenty of bi-directional cross-pollination of ideas between the sports car and yacht design teams, with "many of the solutions adopted on board deriving from the experience gained in the production of hybrid vehicles and the first Ferrari elettrica".
In perhaps what is the boldest element of the Hypersail project, the massive offshore foiler is being created to be "completely self-sufficient from an energy standpoint and will be able to power all onboard systems exclusively through renewable energy sources".
According to the release:
"This ambitious project, led by Ferrari’s engineering team, has brought to the filing of numerous patents and the development of technologies never before applied to the nautical sector, innovations that could potentially be integrated into Ferrari’s sports cars in the future.
Among the most significant technical innovations is the integration of the rear axle developed for the Ferrari elettrica, capable of providing the power needed to generate hydraulic pressures to operate the cylinders, sails, foils, keel, and related flaps.
Completing the system, two DC-DC modules (800V-48V-12V), designed for the Ferrari F80, optimize the management and distribution of energy on board, ensuring maximum efficiency and reliability even under the most extreme operating conditions.
The entire electrical and electronic architecture has been designed to maximize energy flows while minimizing dispersion, thanks to the use of advanced control algorithms.
In line with methodologies used in the automotive world, the Hypersail project is based on a development process that starts with virtual design through simulation, leading up to the creation of dedicated test benches, with the aim of anticipating potential technical issues and reducing system debugging times."
It's mind-boggling stuff, to be honest, and it's hard to conceive how any project as jaw-droppingly ambitious as this one – even though it is conceived by the guru of foiling concepts Guillaume Verdier – could even be taken seriously if it were not for the involvement of a company like Ferrari.
Stay tuned for more of these project updates as we get them.
Justin Chisholm
Podcast: USA SailGP Team CEO Mike Buckley
On the latest episode of the Yacht Racing Life Podcast I sit down with USA SailGP team boss Mike Buckley for a frank and open chat about his experience of leading a team in SailGP, including: the importance of resilience and thick skin; the team’s challenges on the water; the impact of bringing in new sailors; the fundamental difference between America’s Cup and SailGP teams; and his plans for the team’s medium and long-term future.
Galateia claims 2025 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge
In another close-run edition, the 2025 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge (MMIC) concluded with last week’s Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez and was won by David M Leuschen and Chris Flowers’ 100ft Galateia. This broke a long run of victories of this prestigious series by International Maxi Association President Benoît de Froidmont’s Wallyño, its winner in 2019, 2023 and 2024. In fact only once before has it been won by a boat other than Wallyño – Alessandro Del Bono’s Capricorno in 2022.
The MMIC annually comprises five events: the Real Club Nautico de Palma's Sandberg Palmavela in May, followed by the inshore racing components of both the IMA Maxi Europeans in Sorrento and Loro Piana Giragia in June. To be eligible for this challenge, all MMIC contenders must be International Maxi Association members and are obliged to compete in September's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. The series concludes back on the Cote d'Azur with Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.
Over 2025, Galateia competed in four of the five MMIC events, scoring well throughout but setting up her MMIC victory when she was crowned Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Champion during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in September. All nearly unravelled when she was involved in a start-line collision between Alessandro Del Bono’s JV80 Capricorno and the race committee boat on the opening day of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. She was hurriedly delivered down the coast to La Ciotat where a metre long selection of her hull at the waterline was repaired and she returned to Saint-Tropez in time for racing last Thursday.
1. David M Leuschen at the helm of Galateia during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. 2. Breeze up during the Loro Piana Giraglia inshores. 3. With Magic Carpet e off Capri's Faraglioni during the IMA Maxi Europeans. 4. On the wind and on the way to victory at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. 5. Lizz Flowers at the helm during the IMA Maxi European Championship.
In the final tally of the 2025 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge Galateia ended the season on 319.99 points, beating Karel Komárek’s second-placed Wallycento V on 312.75 (ie by just 2.3%) with Capricorno third. George Sakellaris’ Proteus was top Maxi Grand Prix class yacht finishing fourth, having led going into Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Jean-Pierre Barjon’s Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina, which won the IMA’s 2024-25 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge after it concluded with Palermo-Montecarlo in August, was also doing well in the MMIC, relishing the prospect of becoming the first maxi ever to win both the MMIC and MMOC in one season, however she ended up fifth in the inshore series.
Launched in 2015, Galateia was originally built for David M Leuschen who brought in his friend Chris Flowers as co-owner after recognising that to ensure both Galateia and her crew remained in top racing form throughout the season, they should race as much as possible and keep developing their white 100 footer. Thus Galateia is regularly campaigned both in the Med during the summer and in the Caribbean over the winter with one or other owner helming, although this year Flowers’ daughter Lizz has also enthusiastically taken to driving.
Left to right: IMA Secretary General Andrew McIrvine with Galateia's owner David M Leuschen and Chris Flowers and daughter and keen helm Lizz Flowers. Photo: IMA / Studio Borlenghi. Below: Chris and Lizz Flowers with the IMA MMIC trophy. Photo: IMA.
“Obviously we had a tough week this week - it was heartbreaking what happened on the first day,” said Galateia tactician Kelvin Harrap of their first day collision at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. “But we've got some really key people in the team who did an amazing job to get the hole fixed and good shore support. It was about a metre long repair. We were very lucky.” The Galateia team acknowledged and thanked the Capricorno crew for their support following the incident.
As to their season Harrap recalled: “The Worlds we sailed well and I thought the [IMA Maxi] European Championship in Sorrento, we did really well too. Between V and ourselves, we both have good regattas and bad regattas. We have to keep improving: V's a fast boat, and I think we push each other a lot and that's a good thing for these two 100 footers. It is pretty amazing given our boats are 10 years old now.”
Returning to Europe from the Caribbean where Harrap recognised “we got our butts kicked”, they made a number of improvements to Galateia. This included the fitting of an interceptor (a tiny wedge that runs around the hull at the transom), as well as adjusting the fore and aft position of the 3+ tonnes of water ballast she carries plus further optimisation of her sail program, working with Richard Bouzaid from Doyle Sails as well as others within the team. The team also has a strong afterguard including Markus Weiser and Murray Jones.
Looking ahead Galateia is set to do three events in the Caribbean including the Nelson’s Cup in Antigua in mid-February then St Barth Bucket followed by the North Sound Maxi Regatta in mid-March before returning to Europe to see if she can defend her title.
J24 Class rolls back the years at the 2025 World Championship in Plymouth, England
I owned a J24 in the UK way back in the day – the wonderfully-named Convicts on Tour that was brought to Europe by Australian J24 legend Ian Bashford – I and loved every single minute I spent in the class.
The J24 is the classic "easy to sail, but hard to sail well" design.
In its heyday the World and European Championships attracted the best sailors in the world at the time, from American rock stars like John Kolius, Terry Hutchinson, Kenny Read, Brad Read. Chris Larson, John Kostecki, and Vince Brun, to European wizards like Vasco Vascotto, Lorenzo Bressani, and Andrea Casale.
The big names might have moved on to more lucrative pursuits these days and the fleet sizes shrunk somewhat from the 100-boat+ startline at the 1993 Europeans in Monaco which was won by Italian Olympian Luca Santella.
Nevertheless the class is seemingly still in buoyant health – as evidenced by this excellent round up video from a wild and wavy 2025 World Championship held in Plymouth, England earlier this year organised by the Saltash and Plym Yacht Clubs.
After a gruelling nine-race series, that was sailed at times in truly spectacular conditions, Killian Dickson's Irish entry Headcase emerged victorious from a fleet of 50 boats from across Europe and the rest of the world.
Kudos to the production team on this video – Joe Woodyear & Chambers Film & Media – on a superb job. Other major championship organisers should take note, this is how it's done.
Give it a watch and tell me that you aren't just a little bit tempted to check out the boats for sale section on the J24 website? Because that's exactly what I did.
Quiz Question...
Who won the 2025 Dragon World Championship?
Answer in the next newsletter...
Yesterday's answer: The skipper who famously won the Vendée Globe despite having given the fleet a two-day head start when a leaky ballast tank forced him to return to Les Sables-d’Olonne just 24 hours after the start was – of course – the legendary French sailor Michel Desjoyeaux
