Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Day One: Capricorno and Northstar III Lead

By Stephen Yardley Edited by Stephen Yardley

Sept. 8, 2026 Event Yacht Club Costa Smeralda

Capricorno leads Maxi 1 and Northstar III leads Maxi Grand Prix after the opening day of racing at the 36th Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo. Artemis Bleu, Fra Diavolo, H2O and Sophia also top their divisions after the first races.

The first racing day of the 2026 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup has put Capricorno and Northstar III at the head of the two divisions carrying world-championship status in Porto Cervo. After the event opened on Sunday, the fleet moved into competition on 7 September with light easterly breeze and a mix of coastal and windward-leeward racing around northern Sardinia.

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda reported breeze of about 7 knots at the start, building to peaks of 11 knots around the courses. Most classes were sent into the La Maddalena archipelago, while the Maxi Grand Prix fleet stayed off Porto Cervo for two windward-leeward races, giving the championship contenders an immediate two-race scoreline.

Capricorno takes the first Maxi 1 lead

In Maxi 1, the J/V 82 Capricorno opened with victory and finished 2 minutes 27 seconds ahead of WallyCento V, with Leopard 3 third. The result makes Capricorno the first leader of the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship, one of the two world titles being decided during the week.

The Maxi 1 fleet sailed the longest coastal course of the day, including an anti-clockwise loop around Caprera and La Maddalena and an extension around Isola dei Monaci before the beat back toward Porto Cervo. At 30.5 nautical miles, the course rewarded boats able to keep moving through a relatively light and variable Mediterranean breeze rather than relying only on outright speed.

Northstar III starts with two Grand Prix wins

Northstar III made the strongest possible opening in Maxi Grand Prix by winning both windward-leeward races. Bella Mente ended the day second in the class and Balthasar third, leaving Northstar III with the early advantage in the Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Championship.

The result is particularly significant because Northstar III arrived in Porto Cervo newly launched before this event and immediately faced an established Grand Prix group. The International Maxi Association describes the Judel/Vrolijk design as a 76-footer, and two opening wins immediately turn the new yacht into one of the first major sporting stories of the regatta.

Artemis Bleu, Fra Diavolo and H2O lead their divisions

Artemis Bleu won the first Maxi 3 race, ahead of Astra I and Twin Soul B, while Fra Diavolo took Maxi 4 honours from Yoru and Wallyno. H2O led Maxi 5 at the finish, with Lunz am Meer second and Shirlaf third, spreading the opening-day wins across a broad range of maxi designs and sizes.

The course lengths varied with the classes. Maxi 3 and the multihulls raced 25 nautical miles through the Passo delle Bisce, while the Maxi 4 and Maxi 5 groups completed a 17-mile course involving Isola dei Monaci, the Tre Monti shoal and the return toward Porto Cervo.

Sophia leads the multihulls after the coastal race

The 63-foot trimaran Sophia took the opening win in the Maxi Multihull division, followed by the catamarans Allegra and Highland Fling XVIII. Six multihulls are competing at this year's event, adding a distinct tactical and performance element to a regatta traditionally associated with large monohull racers and performance cruisers.

With the first results now posted, the competitive picture is already more developed than it was at the event opening covered in our pre-racing report. The opening-day leaders are provisional rather than decisive, but the first coastal race and the two Grand Prix contests have established the early benchmarks for the remainder of the week.

More coastal racing is scheduled from Porto Cervo

The Race Committee scheduled coastal races for all classes for the following day, with the first signal set for 12:00 CEST and similar light conditions forecast. The regatta continues through 12 September, so both world championships and the other class standings remain open after a first day that rewarded clean manoeuvres and efficient light-air sailing.

For the superyacht and maxi community, the first day also underlines why Porto Cervo remains such a demanding venue: the racing combines open-water speed with narrow passages, islands and changing pressure around the La Maddalena archipelago. The early leaders now have points on the board, but the varied course formats leave substantial room for the order to change as the 36th Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup develops.