Yacht Club de Monaco flagship Tuiga will return to Mediterranean competition at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez with Pierre Casiraghi leading a crew drawn from the America’s Cup, The Ocean Race, IMOCA sailing, foiling and freediving.
The 1909 gaff cutter will join around 253 yachts for the 28th edition of Les Voiles, taking place from 26th September to 4th October. The fleet is expected to include 80 classic yachts, more than 20 of which are over a century old.
Tuiga arrives in Saint-Tropez following an East Coast tour of the United States linked to celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Spithill and Herrmann join Casiraghi at the helm
Casiraghi, Vice-President of the Yacht Club de Monaco, will serve as skipper and tactician, sharing helming duties with two-time America’s Cup winner Jimmy Spithill and Team Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann.
The crew also includes Dutch offshore sailor Rosalin Kuiper, British sailor Tom Dawson and Italian Moth and foiling specialist Lorenzo De Felice.
French freediver Arnaud Jerald, who set a constant weight bi-fins world record with a dive to 126 metres in 2025, will make his first appearance aboard Tuiga. Nineteen-year-old Yacht Club de Monaco sailor Louise Debeaumont, an ILCA 6 competitor, will also take part in her first regatta on the historic yacht.
The line-up reflects Casiraghi’s aim of bringing together competitors from different disciplines while introducing a new generation to traditional sailing.
“The backgrounds are diverse yet complementary, involving different ways of reading the wind, trimming the boat and anticipating manoeuvres,” said Casiraghi.
He added that adapting those skills to Tuiga would require close coordination aboard a heavy and powerful yacht with considerable inertia.
“For every manoeuvre, preparation and timing between the helm, rig management and crew movement is critical,” he said. “It is this collective effort that interests me and which I believe can lead us to victory.”
Historic yachts return to the Gulf of Saint-Tropez
Racing begins on 28th September, with the traditional yachts competing for the Rolex Trophy. The programme will also include the Centenarians’ Trophy on 1st October for vessels more than 100 years old.
The 2026 edition coincides with the centenary of the Comité International de la Méditerranée, whose rating system provides the framework for classic yacht racing.
For Tuiga, the regatta marks a return to familiar waters and one of the Mediterranean’s largest gatherings of historic sailing yachts.
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Photo credit: Carlo Borlenghi