After a 14-year absence, one of offshore racing's most storied team regattas returns to Porto Cervo this summer as the Range Rover Sardinia Cup runs from May 31 – June 6 at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.
Judging by the entry list, it looks like the sailing community hasn't forgotten what made this event so special in the first place.
Ten club teams, 20 boats, and a format that will be immediately familiar to anyone who followed the Admiral's Cup in its pomp — two boats per team, competing across two classes, with the same rules and configurations as the Admiral's Cup to allow clubs to campaign both events with the same programmes.
The requirement for at least one female sailor and one under-25 on each team is retained, which at least nods in the direction of the sport's future while the rest of the entry list reads like a who's who of the grand prix offshore world.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club has entered two teams, which tells you something about the appetite for this event in Britain. James Neville's TP52 Ino Veritas carries Dean Barker as tactician alongside Per Roman's GP42 Garm, while Peter Harrison's IRC 52 Jolt 3 is paired with Niklas Zennström's Carkeek 41 RAN — the reigning IRC European champion — with Adrian Stead on tactics. That is a formidable pair of boats by any measure.
Germany's Bayerischer Yacht Club brings Carl-Peter Forster's TP52 Red Bandit, winner of both the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race and the 2023 Rolex Giraglia, which arrives in Porto Cervo with a notably young crew. That will be one of the more interesting boats to watch.
The Yacht Club Repubblica Marinara di Pisa fields Roberto Lacorte's WallyRocket 51 Rocket Nikka — with Lorenzo Bressani on tactics — alongside the Fast40+ Nola, owned by Estonian entrepreneurs Taavet Hinrikus and Margus Uudam. The Yacht Club de France, Yacht Club Rimini, Vela Club Portocivitanova, and the Turkish Offshore Racing Sports Club complete the international field.
The hosts, YCCS, will fly their burgee through owner Giovanni Lombardi Stronati, who is running both club boats — Django WR, a WallyRocket 51 with Guillermo Parada and Vasco Vascotto in the afterguard, and Django JP, a Fast40+. The same team finished third at the Admiral's Cup. They'll know these waters better than anyone.
The Sardinia Cup was, at its height, one of the events that gave offshore club racing its identity — a proper team competition, demanding a depth of programme and commitment that went beyond simply turning up with a fast boat.
Whether this revival can recapture that spirit in a landscape where offshore racing has fragmented considerably since the last edition in 2012 remains to be seen. But the entry list is encouraging, the venue is magnificent, and the boats are serious.
It's so good to have it back.
It’s been sailing’s worst kept secret for the past several months, but it has now been formally confirmed that Australia is returning to the America’s Cup for the first time in 26 years.
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