inside a maxi yacht

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Maxi 1000: Quick, seaworthy and solidly built

• Graham Snook
• June 9, 2022

If you’re looking for a quick and comfortable cruiser that is full of great features with solid build quality, few boats can rival the Maxi 1000, as Graham Snook discovers

Product Overview

Anna-Leigh and Alex Cox have both sailed for many years but Gemini , their Maxi 1000, is the couple’s first yacht. They also own a Sunseeker 31 motorboat, but Anna-Leigh’s yearning to return to sailing won over and they now use either boat when work allows, often cruising the Solent or beyond.

As a first yacht for coastal and offshore cruising, the couple have fallen on their feet with Gemini ; the Maxi 1000 has a good pedigree. Her designer was Pelle Petterson, Swedish Olympic medalist and skipper of America’s Cup challengers.

Being made redundant during a global pandemic might not be the best time to buy your first yacht, but it happened at just the right time for Anna-Leigh and Alex. ‘We never thought we’d be able to own a yacht like Gemini , at least not at this stage in our life,’ smiles Anna-Leigh.

‘After more than 20 years with the same company I was made redundant and Alex was looking to expand Raw Bean [his coffee business], so I joined the company and we bought Gemini . We love her, she’s a great boat!’

A deep forefoot prevents excess slamming to windward. Photo: Graham Snook

The Maxi 1000 was a development of the Maxi 999 that was produced between 1985 and 1992 when the 1000 started production. The model remained in build for 10 years with more than 1,000 built.

Gemini was hull no. 1042, launched in early 2002 and was one of the later boats. Having reached 20 years old, Gemini hides it well; a few loose areas of caulking on the weathered teak decks and scratched detailing of stickers around the coachroof windows show the extent of her life so far.

Covid delays

Anna-Leigh and Alex bought Gemini in 2020, but they weren’t able to collect her from Fowey until spring 2021. ‘We were really lucky though,’ explains Alex. ‘Although because of Covid and the regulations, we weren’t able to visit the boat, Gemini ’s previous owners Pete and Ali Siddall would go down and check on her, they really looked after us well.

‘We couldn’t have asked for a better seller. When we eventually left Fowey they came out and waved us off, taking photos which they then sent us.’

Although they have sailed for years, Gemini is Anna-Leigh and Alex Cox’s first yacht. Photo: Graham Snook

There was a light breeze when I joined Alex and Anna-Leigh at Swanwick, a far cry from the couple’s first date when Alex had borrowed a friend’s yacht to impress Anna-Leigh, only for it to blow a gale – the less said about that trip the better, but they are living happily ever after now.

Gemini was moored stern-to and boarding was easy. The Maxi 1000 has a long bathing platform with a ladder and a step in the transom. Despite having a radar pole fixed to the step, there was plenty of foot space – one more step and I was in the cockpit.

The Maxi 1000 shares a lot of family features with her previous models; sleek with a pleasing sheer line and wedge-shaped coachroof. After the 1000, bows became more vertical and hulls broader.

Petterson has been clever with the design, keeping the freeboard at a sensible height but sloping her decks up gently going inboard to increase the headroom below.

As standard the 1000 was fitted with a 7/8ths fractional rig and a self-tacking jib, which Gemini still has. The couple have found that the furling No2 genoa (28m2) suits their sailing, giving her the extra sail area the self-tacking jib lacks in light winds. Her Lewmar 40ST winches make short work of either sail.

She also has two jib tracks on the inboard edge of the deck; the forward set allows a jib to be sheeted within the shrouds while the genoa passes outboard.

Gemini has the optional teak deck, which adds to her desirability. Photo: Graham Snook

Friendly conditions

In the conditions we had, 6-10 knots true, we weren’t going to be pushing her limits. On the wind (32-35º apparent wind angle) we had an apparent wind speed of up to 14 knots and she was sailing well.

Making between 5.2-5.9 knots in the gusts, she would start to feel pressed but remained comfortable and responsive; a few more knots breeze and the genoa might have needed a turn taking in or switched to the self-tacking jib, but as we only had a short beat up Southampton Water it was soon time to bear away.

At 60º AWA the wind was dropping 7-10 knots but we were getting 5-5.4 knots through the water. Gemini has Whitlock wheel steering; its rod connections keep the steering slack-free with responsive control.

Sadly, the breeze decreased more, at 90º in 6 knots she was making just over 4 knots, but by the time we were sailing at 120º AWA in 3.6 knots apparent, it was more drifting with control than sailing.

It was time to put the kettle and the engine on, and head back. Gemini has the optional full teak deck and she looks all the smarter for it. There are a few places where it’s worn or been sanded to a depth where the caulking sealant has come adrift, but the fastenings holding the deck are still well-hidden by their wooden plugs.

Lewmar 40ST winches make it easier to sail shorthanded. Photo: Graham Snook

She has a detachable mainsheet on a short traveller in the cockpit, enabling the cockpit table or a cockpit cover to be easily fitted.

Stowage in the cockpit is excellent with a cavernous locker to starboard and deep lazarette lockers beneath the helm’s seat and to port.

Moving below, Gemini has wide companionway steps over the engine compartment. The forward section is removable to give good access to the front of the engine. One is instantly struck by the amount of solid wood on show; on the whole, it has aged well.

The Maxi 1000 was available with a teak or an American cherry wood interior, the latter having a more interesting grain pattern.

Below decks

Immediately to starboard is the heads. If you’re entering the boat with soaked oilskins you can get changed in here and then leave the wet kit in the locker to the rear without having to drag it through the boat. Once dry, it can be left in the oilskin locker outboard of the chart table seat, so it’s on hand when you need it.

The chart table is a good size, and what looks like a squeeze is a comfy navigation station. The lid overhangs the table and has a good chunky laminated solid-wood surround with a grab handle forward in the semi-bulkhead.

The locker beneath the chart table has the bin and there’s a drawer beneath that. There is a handy cubby hole outboard, beneath the chart table, and the switch panel is above. Instrument space is a little limited but otherwise, it works well.

The aft end of the saloon has over 6ft of headroom. Photo: Graham Snook

Opposite, to port, is the L-shaped galley. It has high fiddles and a good grab handle aft of the large double stainless-steel sinks. Above the stove are deck-level lockers with smoothly sliding doors.

Her original 90-litre water capacity was increased by her former owner to 260 litres for trips away to the Isles of Scilly. There is a good line of drawers and a locker beneath the sinks and a pan locker below the stove.

Headroom below is good, with 1.83m+/6ft+ in the galley, aft cabin and rear of the saloon.

Moving forward, the wedge-shaped coachroof takes away headroom from the forward end of the saloon down to 1.68m/5ft 6in and the forward cabin to 1.6m/5ft 3in.

In the saloon are five deck-level bottom-hinged lockers. Where there would be a sixth on the starboard side is an open-fronted locker with a solid wood fiddle. The lockers have solid wood louvred fronts and weighty solid-wood frames.

Two hatches provide plenty of ventilation in the aft cabin. Photo: Graham Snook

With all this wood it could have easily felt like the inside of a coffin; thankfully though, the Maxi 1000 has a white GRP inner liner which forms the supports for the forward and aft berths, the saloon seat bases, and chart table seat.

Not only does this make the workflow of building the yacht more efficient, it also lightens the lower areas of the yacht.

In these seat bases, one finds lockers that can be accessed from the top and inboard without having to lift cushions or crew. It’s especially handy as Gemini is sensibly fitted with lee cloths, which would further add to the faff of getting into the lockers were it not for these locker doors.

She has a bench seat to starboard and U-shaped seating to port, which has a nice feature that allows the bunk base to slide out to create a double berth. This gives Gemini three decent-sized double berths.

Still in good nick

At 20 years old, Gemini is still in great condition. There are some battle scars in her woodwork and watermarks in her floorboards, but it’s nothing some sandpaper and varnish couldn’t put right.

She has lots of nice little details, such as the raised deck outboard of the helm or the plastic edging around the inspection hatches on the floorboards that seal the edges and stop them from binding and squeaking.

The chart table has plenty of stowage. Photo: Graham Snook

In the forward cabin, there are bottom-hinged doors to access the under-berth stowage without having to lift the bunk cushions. The long vee berth has an infill, but there is no other floor space in the forward cabin, so with the insert in place, as you would do with sheets on the berth, there’s no room to get changed unless you do so in the saloon or lying down. Not an issue with children, but it might not be ideal for you or any guests you invite onboard.

The berth is 2.09m/6ft 10in long with a maximum width of 1.77m/5ft 9in, but at shoulder height it is only 1.44m/5ft 9in.

Alex and Anna-Leigh have found the aft cabin makes the better owner’s cabin on board. It’s easy to see why, it feels huge. While the berth isn’t the widest (at 1.6m/5ft 3in) headroom is 1.83m/6ft and the space above the berth is unusually generous too. I kept expecting to bump my head but it never happened.

The aft cabin also has both shelf and locker stowage outboard. Locker ventilation is great thanks to the louvred doors. There are reading lights and the main light switch can be reached from the berth. The cabin also benefits from two hatches that open into the cockpit for increased ventilation.

Beneath the berth are the batteries and there is also access to the engine and to the saildrive gearbox.

Opposite the aft cabin is the heads, again there is good headroom here. The shower pulls out of the heads and there are mirrored sliding lockers outboard.

The plinth for the toilet is quite high. The toilet has a fold-down cover that stops the toilet from getting wet and gives a good seat for those having a shower. The toilet roll holder is sheltered in the locker under the sink, also in there, you’ll find a drawer for even more stowage.

Louvred doors provide good ventilation to the lockers. Photo: Graham Snook

The Maxi 1000 is a good-looking boat that will find favour with those who like yachts with attractive lines and are happy to have a pretty boat rather than a roomy boat.

She harks back to a time before impractical plumb bows when yachts were more parallelogram in profile than brick. Her narrow beam does restrict her accommodation and interior comfort by modern standards, but she’s a more comfortable sailing yacht because of it.

Looking for rivals, I was struck by the good value the Maxi 1000 offers. The quality of her woodwork was good, but compared to other Swedish-built yachts or yachts of a similar quality she was considerably cheaper, almost a third in some cases.

Although her interior woodwork wasn’t pristine, she is two decades old and the quality of the joinery was better than many yachts built today.

Finding a yacht the same age and price that offers excellent coastal cruising, build quality and clever design features along with the ability for club racing, is a hard task.

For those with deeper pockets, there’s the Finngulf 33, Arcona 340 or the Hallberg Rassy 34. If you’re looking for more performance, there are yachts like the Elan 333 or X-Yacht 332, J105 or the newer Dehler 34, but as YM caters for cruising sailors I’ve suggested three rivals that are similar but with a twist…

Alternatives toi the Maxi 1000

There was an option for a deep performance keel

For a more modern alternative, without having to spend half as much again as a good Maxi 1000, the Dufour 34 is similar in ethos to the Maxi 1000 and within roughly the same price bracket. The 34 model was launched after the Maxi in 2003, and developed into the 34 Performance.

In 2010 it evolved to become the 34e; gone were the aft helm seat and step in the transom. Instead, she gained an open transom with raised aft deck, liferaft locker and fold-down bathing platform, while forward was a larger steering wheel.

Like the Maxi 1000, she’s a nippy 33ft coastal cruiser with the comfort of two separate cabins as standard and a large cockpit that enables her to be used for cruising or racing. Her hull is sleek, well-proportioned and easily driven. She has a single spade rudder and her standard draught was 1.5m/4ft 11in. There was an option for a deep performance keel (1.9m/6ft 2in) to allow her to reach her full performance potential.

A wheel bisects the aft end of the cockpit and got bigger as she became the 34e. Nowadays a boat like her would have twin wheels. The steering was smooth and the large wheel made helming enjoyable.

Below decks, the layout is very similar to the Maxi 1000, even if it doesn’t match the Maxi’s quality; instead of one-piece laminated surrounds to the galley and chart table Dufour uses corner pieces and has an ‘assembled’ feel rather than the crafted feel of Swedish boats.

The use of darker mahogany veneers is also more apparent on board. The berth size is good and, unlike the Maxi, there is room to stand in the forward cabin and there is hanging and shelved stowage in the forward cabin too.

The saloon has a bench seat on each side, with the chart table to starboard. The heads is opposite the galley and there’s the option for a second aft cabin. As the 34 is a newer design and was launched when the Maxi was ending her production cycle, one should expect to pay more.

An easily driven hull shape gives the 346 good directional stability. Photo: Bob Aylott

The centre cockpit Moody 346 is a good option for those wanting more interior space while still retaining good sea-keeping. It comes at the expense of performance, but the 346 is certainly no slouch – far from it.

Just under 250 Moody 346s were built since its launch in 1986, and some also featured twin keels.

On deck, the 346 can’t compete with the large aft cockpit of the Maxi 1000 or the Dufour 34, and the downsides of the centre cockpit may outweigh the benefits; the raised position increases rolling motion. It’s also smaller and there are more steps to move around the boat from here, whether you’re heading to the saloon, or mooring up or boarding from aft.

However, there is decreased pitching, a large aft cabin and greater owner privacy. Indeed, it is below decks where the 346 makes up ground.

For many, the privacy and space offered in the separate aft cabin is what persuades them to choose a centre-cockpit design. The galley is a longer L-shape and has more countertop space, but much of it is along the corridor to the aft cabin where the headroom is reduced by the cockpit’s shape.

It is the cosy aft cabin that steals the show here though, especially for a sub 35ft yacht. Not only does it have a large double berth outboard to port, but opposite there is also an L-shaped sofa.

While her interior might feel a little dated now, the 346 remains well made and practical, and can offer many miles of comfortable coastal cruising to anyone who chooses to buy one.

Most of the Westerly Storm 33s have tiller steering. Photo: Lester McCarthy

Westerly Storm 33

For those who like the idea of a 33ft cruiser with a touch of speed, but can’t stretch to the Maxi 1000, a cheaper alternative is the Westerly Storm 33.

The Storm was Westerly’s 1986 take on a performance cruiser and it sold 141 of them. After seven years, it (along with the company) was revamped. She became the Regatta 330 and another 15 were built.

The Storm holds true to Westerly’s values: tough British-built boats with solid joinery that sailed well. The majority have tiller steering, making them quick to respond and rewarding to sail.

The cockpit is a good size and while the coamings are low, they are sloped making them very comfortable when sitting out of the cockpit. Forward, the companionway has a teak grated bridgedeck, and steps below; this gives those operating the coachroof winches more room and provides stowage for the liferaft.

Her interior quality still shows today, although it’s clear that after more than 35 years interior design has evolved while the amount of solid wood has decreased. The lack of a forward anchor locker has increased the space and size of the forward cabin, and it has lockers and floor space to show for it.

The saloon is a good size as is the L-shaped galley, but what she gains forward she loses in the smaller aft cabin and heads. Westerly Yachts remain a popular choice with cruising couples and those with small families and the Storm is no different; she was designed for the British coastal waters and has all you need to enjoyably navigate them.

Expert Opinion

A yacht built by the old Nimbus boat yard and designed by Pelle Petterson is, without doubt, a winning combination of well thought out design and substantial construction standards. As a result, these boats always hold their value.

Of the yachts I’ve surveyed, very few had serious structural problems, but there are a few issues you need to be aware of. Port light fittings within the saloon can allow moisture into the normally very well finished internal joinery and laminate.

Many topsides were moulded in a dark blue pigment and while reasonably colour-fast for around five to 10 years, many do end up with the typical chalking and fading that many dark coloured gel coats suffer with. It can be quite noticeable where repairs have been previously undertaken.

Some 1000s had teak decks overlaid onto the main working GRP decks and as with several other yachts of this age, it’s very important to evaluate the condition and watertightness of the deck as replacement costs will always be expensive.

If you’re considering the wing keel option, take a close look at the hull to keel joint condition and obviously the internal fastenings. It’s not uncommon for yachts of this age to need the fastenings properly checked. It is also important to pay attention to the rudder blade condition as moisture absorption is frequently an issue as well.

Ben Sutcliffe-Davies, Marine Surveyor and full member of the Yacht Brokers Designers & Surveyors Association (YDSA) www.bensutcliffemarine.co.uk

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Inside The Wild World Of Super-Maxi Yacht Racing

The world’s fastest and most advanced sailing seafarers head to the Caribbean to compete in the yachting world equivalent of F1.

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I hit the tarmac in Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles revved up to partake in the yachting world equivalent of Formula One for the weekend. Hopping onto a screaming machine taming the forces of nature to barrel along billionaire style. For it was the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta and I was going racing aboard a super-maxi yacht .

Held annually this is one of the highlights of the yacht racing world’s calendar, drawing the best boats and crews from all over the world to pit their machinery and knowhow against each other during a long weekend of hard racing, hard partying and camaraderie—all on one of the most welcoming islands in the Caribbean.

The super-maxis are the ultimate racers of the yacht world and are governed by a set of rules which describe them as monohulls of more than 100 feet in length, with a keel and no limit on the number or type of “appendages.” Pure bucket-list stuff, where if you have to ask what it costs you clearly have no idea what you are getting into. At the end of ancient maps, uncharted waters were simply marked with mystical creatures and the notation, “here be dragons.” Well that is where I was headed. And fast.

Installed at the newly-opened Morgan Resort & Spa in this Dutch West Indies idyll, I inhaled deeply of the view; and pondered what a view it was, out over turquoise waters and clear blue skies gusting 25-plus knots of wind. For things were about to go super-maxi off the beaches of Sint Maarten, in the form of a ride aboard one of the most legendary racing yachts on the water today—Leopard 3.

At a touch over 100 feet, this carbon fiber/Nomex-hulled missile can shoot through the water at over 40 knots when at full tilt downwind. Fully rigged with over 15,000 square feet of thermo-formed carbon composite sails on her 154-foot carbon fiber mast and rigging, she is an extreme machine that has won everything from the Rolex Maxi Cup to Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, set trans-Atlantic speed records, and carried her racing crew of 20-plus souls to victory across the globe.

Designed by the legendary Farr Yacht Designs based out of Annapolis in Maryland, she is wide—22 feet at the widest point of her beam—and perfectly suited for fast offshore racing with more than a few tricks up her sleeve. Her “appendages” include a keel that cants up to 40 degrees, stabilizing her as if 200 extra crew members were sitting on the rail, and twin asymmetric lifting dagger-boards located either side of the mast to perfectly balance the sail forces when racing at full tilt.

The days of ex-NFL linebackers with 22-inch biceps grinding the winches of racing yachts are mostly behind the likes of Leopard 3, which features hydraulic winches, but the combination of almost military discipline and ballet-like choreography among its professional racing team are a delight to behold. The Captain and tactician calling the moves with precision timing, and an otherworldly sense of the wind down to the second, divining increases and decreases in invisible forces as if Merlin himself were aboard as the team trims sail to maximize speed at all moments.

The real key to the deployment of this technological wizardry is the team which employs it. As with Formula One, two things are necessary in spades—enormous amounts of money, and enormous amounts of skill and experience on the team. One begets the other, but it also pays for the eye-watering expenses of maintaining the boat and crew in peak condition with every carbon sail, titanium nut and bolt, and carbon fiber piece in optimal race-ready condition. Like life, things wear out, break, and go amiss.

I’ve been on boats that have snapped masts, lost sails, hell, almost sank. And for mere mortals if this happens you go bankrupt. But in the world of billionaire yacht-racing, you just Fedex a new carbon fiber mast half way around the world overnight, and have it fitted to keep you racing the next day. I saw Larry Ellison do this at Antigua Race Week one year when his yacht Sayonara snapped its mast—and it says everything you need to know about sailing super-Maxi style.

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Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup: A feast for the eyes

• November 3, 2022

Porto Cervo is one of the most spectacular venues in the world, and this year’s Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup was a feast for the eyes. Andi Robertson reports

Walk the hallowed docks of Sardinia’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda during the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup and it was impossible to get anywhere fast. The collection of maxi yachts this year was truly mesmerising, each meriting more than a passing glance. Correspondingly, the army of top professional sailors assembled was literally a who’s who of generations of America’s Cup , Ocean Race and Olympic sailing stars.

To leave the real world and immerse yourself in the Porto Cervo bubble is something special. Even the grizzled, white-haired pros who recall the formative years of the ‘Maxi Worlds’ and who come year in, year out, show no complacency. They love it and always will because it is the pinnacle event of maxi racing.

Post-pandemic, more than ever, there is a renewed appreciation for this spectacular event. Here there are no distractions beyond the wind blown rugged granite scenery, the turquoise waters and the rocky network of islands forming the La Maddalena archipelago.

The 32nd Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup was not the biggest ever, mustering 46 racing maxis in six classes, but it was almost certainly the most competitive event for many years, with quality in depth through each of the divisions.

The fleet was also more diverse than ever. For the first time since 2014 there were four J Class yachts competing under their own JCA handicap – an elegant step back in time contrasting sharply with the debuting foiler Flying Nikka , which raced in its own class, and the just launched powerful ClubSwan 80 My Song which lined up in the 13-boat maxi fleet.

Rambler off Isola delle Bisce lighthouse north of Porto Cervo. Photo: Luca Butto

A different league

“For sure after the pandemic there seems to be more people wanting to sail big boats than ever before and being able to afford to do so. And this regatta was in a different league to previous events in terms of quality,” noted the International Maxi Association’s secretary general Andrew McIrvine.

“One interesting development is now having absorbed the Wally class – which had a bunch of 80-footers and a bunch of 100-footers racing together – and getting them into performance, rather than size related classes, we have a good 13-boat maxi class. That is definitely better.

The foiling Flying Nikka raced in a class of its own

“And we have a more race orientated fleet, there used to be cruising maxis, and we have more professionals, whether or not you consider that a good thing. We are still very strict on the owner-driver rule, except in the Super Maxi fleet where in fact the two top owners are young and steer their boats anyway.”

In a typical September week at Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup there will be days of light winds and very often days lost to the Mistral. A fixed Thursday layday may seem like an anomaly but many owners – and their crews – start to feel their age mid week. This edition was no different, early starts made the best of the building Mistral on Friday, but Saturday proved unsailable.

Without question the standard of boat and sail handling gets higher every year. To see the J Class rivals tacking up ‘Bomb Alley’, as the rock-strewn passage north of Porto Cervo through the La Maddalena and Caprera archipelago is known, in 18 knots of breeze and flat water – seemingly within touching distance of the shore – is incredible.

Lord Irvine Laidlaw’s Highland Fling XI. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

Running downwind America’s Cup rival helms Peter Holmberg and Ed Baird showed a precision in their boat placement akin to sailing a Laser, all while choreographing nearly 30 crew. Are there elements of brinksmanship or bravado? Maybe, but the truth is many of the afterguard crew will have raced on these waters dozens of times, and laying one corner when others can’t will reap a dividend of several boatlengths.

The Super Maxi division victory was the biggest win yet for a ‘young’ (at just turned 50) Swedish owner on his Swan 115 Shamanna .

He also owns the well known Spirit 100 Gaia and Gerdney , a classic Swedish Skerries 95ft cruiser. He races Shamanna with eight of his long time friends – among them a cardiac anaesthetist, a pal who was ‘The Bachelor’ on the Swedish reality show of the same name – and a posse of good pros managed by British former Volvo/Whitbread, America’s Cup ace Guy Barron.

The 82ft custom Wally Highland Fling XI. Photo: Luca Butto

Raising the standards

Barron has sought to keep raising the standards of the ‘amateurs’ so they are fully integrated and respected by the pros, rather than allowing a ‘them and us’ scenario develop. Barron sailed with the owner and his friends originally in Sweden and was able to impart his knowledge and involve them in a way which has become important on the big Swan. “We sat down and said let’s make sure your guys get trained up and are part of it. So between Shamanna and Gaia we share the same pros, the same group and we’re all used to sailing with each other.”

Barron reckons – after some counting – that he has now raced from Sardinia 34 times, the first time being at the 12 Metre Worlds in 1987. “It is one of the best venues in the world and I never ever tire of racing around through Bomb Alley. It is breathtaking. I remember I was on Boomerang and we had THE crash.

Close fleet action. Photo: Luca Butto

“We hit a rock going 9.5 knots, having just got full speed on we stopped dead. We pulled the engine off the mount, cracked every frame in the boat, blew the terminals off the top of the batteries, flattened the wheel, the pedestals, seized the mainsheet and the runner winch. I ended up in an ambulance with George Coumantaros the owner. He’d fallen over and inverted his cheek. I slid forward, hit the solid stainless reaching stanchion and very luckily did not break my leg. I sail past there and still hear the noises in my head. It is a truly wonderful place to sail!”

Mini maxi rivalry

The six boat Mini Maxi 1 division is the domain of what were previously the Maxi 72 class. Now only Jim Swartz’s Vesper and George Sakellaris hull sister Proteus are close to Maxi 72 trim, all of the other four boats have had extensive modifications. Ironically the top two overall were Vesper , with Gavin Brady as tactician, and Proteus .

The changes across the rest of the fleet have been various: Peter Dubens’ North Star is the first boat to now use stored power for running rigging and sails with seven fewer crew – which at the Maxi Worlds gives a four-point rating credit. Spirit of Jethou (23.5m), Cannonball (22.86m) and Bella Mente (22.55m) have all been lengthened and have deeper keels. Bella Mente has a taller rig, as has Cannonball which can also now carry 1,000kg of water ballast per side.

Despite their differences, this was a very competitive class of boats which were conceived as the last word in maxi racing and richly laden with talent.

Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup fleet racing in Sardinia’s La Maddalena Archipelago. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

“We were fortunate to be consistent. We did not screw up,” smiled Gavin Brady after racing. “In fact the boat is arguably the same as when it won the World Championships five years ago (as Momo ). It is cool, I think, for Vesper to win the World Championship with the same keel, the same mast, the same sails.

“Our sport needs to see some sustainability and it is a good message that if you have something that works and you just go and sail well you don’t need to change the mast and the keel. That is something special for Jim as he does not want to go down the ‘arms race’ route. He wants to go and race, and may the best team win.

“This fleet of seven boats have evolved. It’s clear the owners want to develop their boats in the way they want and not be told what to do by a box rule. You have Jethou at one end and North Star at the other and we all went round the top mark within 30 seconds of each other. It’s not the Maxi 72 box rule of old but it is working and we have happy owners.”

Crew on the rail of the iconic J Class Velsheda. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

Water ballast, and how it is treated under rating systems, is one factor many grand prix teams are watching carefully, in readiness to adapt their boats. “The water ballast is the elephant in the room right now,” Brady explains.

“Everyone is trying to be secretive but we all know what is going on. Everyone has drawings to put water in everything from a TP52 to a maxi but we just don’t know what the rule is going to do. I think it is a good way, a clean way to make boats go faster. Salt water is in abundance and if we want to pump water into the boat to make it faster and more fun it is a lot more sustainable than carbon fibre and sails that will go to landfill.”

Lord Irvine Laidlaw bade farewell to his faithful Reichel Pugh 82ft custom Wally Highland Fling XI with a swansong win in the 13-boat maxi class. Cameron Appleton calls tactics alongside navigator Andrew Cape: “Porto Cervo is a unique place usually offering a real range of conditions, inshore racing and navigational type courses, and you have to be good at every part of it,” Appleton recalled.

“You get to know the tricks of the place and where the wind bends are but it is how you get there to use them that is the skill.”

With co-owner Niklas Zennström driving his first regatta on Svea , flying the flag for his native Sweden, the J Class title was never really in doubt, though the racing was always close.

Svea seems to have a speed edge and has a great crew marshalled by Bouwe Bekking. The J Class are looking towards a World Championship in Barcelona during the 37th America’s Cup with potentially seven or eight boats. Next to return to the fold will be Rainbow , bought by Kiwi owner Neville Crichton, who is refitting the boat in Palma to be ready for the later part of next season.

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Maxi Racing to the Max

• By Kimball Livingston
• February 21, 2023

Maxi racing in the Med is hot. Call it a lesson in the value of getting your act together. The game has grown and changed dramatically—and deliberately—with fleets of 50 as the new normal. Ten years ago, none of this was ensured. The secretary general of the International Maxi Association, Andrew McIrvine, tells us, “Rapid change was needed, or it was going to just die.”

How it didn’t “just die” is a story worth telling, and we lean on McIrvine for that. “The International Maxi Association was originally a social club for the owners of 80-footers. That generation was going out as I was invited in,” he says. “The racing had categories that were impossible to define, so people were always gaming it. What’s a racer-cruiser versus a cruiser-racer? And could we ever have effective class splits based on hull length?”

The answer to that, as proven, is no he says. “The categories are now performance-defined, using a single-number IRC rule that includes an accurate weight measurement, not a calculated weight. We photograph the interiors so we know who’s stripping them out. The database includes 155 boats, and it has checks on people who fly too close to the rules. That gives other people the confidence to come out and race.”

The 2023 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge offers a series of six events, wrapping up in August with the Palermo-Montecarlo Race. That’s 500 miles from Sicily to the Champagne at Yacht Club de Monaco—not to forget the fly-through gate at Porto Cervo along the way and the option of leaving Corsica to port or to starboard. It’s a sporty race in a sporty calendar.

“I truly believe the IMA has made a difference. We’ve attracted a new, younger membership. We’ve added events, and the compass has expanded from the Med to the Caribbean . Whereas we used to have a big mini-maxi contingent and not many boats 80 to 100 feet, in 2022 we suddenly had 12 of the 80- to 100-foot maxis racing, and racing on proper terms. At least two of the current owners are building new boats, which I believe is the sign of a healthy class.

“Then there are the Maxi 72s that have all been modified outside the box they were designed for, but they still race together. They’re more optimized than the other boats, so no one outside their group wants to race against them—they’re a threat—but we can usually give them their own sandbox to play in.”’

And what of the Wallys that seems to have disappeared?

“We gave that up. Wallys come in different sizes, different speeds. I can’t think of a single case of twin Wallys. Now they’ve rejoined according to their ratings, and I think, frankly, the Wally era is over. Luca Bassani’s success with Wallys is such that all designers have copied his concept. When he started, big race boats were neither ergonomic nor pretty, and the decks were bristling with winches. If you go aboard any boat now, it looks like a Wally.

“You could also go the way of Rambler and Comanche, where you pay more and more money to be more and more uncomfortable. Down below, you’re sitting in a carbon-black hole (black because paint adds weight) beside an engine that runs to power the canting keel and the winches. On deck—and it’s true with the Maxi 72s—you find they are exhausting boats to sail because they’re fast upwind at steep angles only. They’re on the edges of the hull to keep the wetted surface to a minimum. The hulls are so wide at the stern, all the crew is hiked hard at the aft end of the boat. And then, in a tack, you’re going from 45 degrees to 45 degrees, and if you don’t get it right running across the deck, you’re in trouble. On a clean deck, there’s nothing to grab on to.”

Placing itself somewhere in between the extremes of the grand-prix set and the ­leaning cruisers, Nautor has a new ClubSwan 80 it’s touting as a one-design class. Loro Piana brought Hull No. 1 to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup last year at Porto Cervo, and the boat performed well. Weighing the odds of developing a successful one-design, it’s worth remembering that the ClubSwan 50 had its skeptics, who were proven wrong. But the 80 is a take-no-prisoners statement. It’s a major turn for a company whose classic racing events feature boats with furniture. Now we’re talking all carbon with a canting keel, a tacking daggerboard, push-button controls, twin rudders, design by Juan K, and construction in Italy by Persico—very fashion-forward. I’m sure you had a look at that boat.

“It’s a fascinating project, and it looks extreme, but it has, theoretically, cruising potential,” McIrvine says. “Inside, it’s all black carbon—artfully crafted—accented with strips of mahogany veneer. No furniture, but you have the option of adding interior modules for cruising. And we shouldn’t overlook the carbon-fiber bidet in the owner’s head.”

Clearly, Nautor thinks the IMA has a good thing going, and it wants a bigger piece of it. Beyond rational class definitions, one very important thing is resonating, McIrvine says. The owners are driving.

“Our rule is critical, and we are strict about imposing it, with rest breaks allowed,” he says. “Generally, it takes a lifetime to amass the wealth to race a big boat. By the end of a day race, most owners are exhausted. Which is not to say that amateur drivers are on their own. An astonishing number of names you know show up to whisper, ‘A little higher, sir, a little lower.’ That keeps the standards high, and it’s a reminder that being a pro sailor is a dodgy profession. There are only 10 TP52s in the Med, for example, only nine SailGP teams in the world and five America’s Cup teams. However, we don’t restrict driving in the superyacht group at all.”

The other boat debuting at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup was FlyingNikka , which raised the concern of foiling monohulls threatening the order. “ Nikka showed that she can sail in the fleet safely, so at St. Tropez we put her in a class where her rating was absurd. The boat would do 35 knots in the right conditions, but they couldn’t keep her on foils going upwind. Tacks were agonizingly slow. What Roberto Lacorte is looking for is line honors in longer races.”

The venues where maxis can and now gather are also a draw. The Caribbean was the inevitable expansion opportunity beyond the Med, where it’s obvious that people like to go to St. Tropez, Capri, Sorrento, Giraglia and so on. Neither coast of the United States can accommodate such a fleet.

“Water depth is a huge challenge for race committees,” McIrvine says. “A lot of the Bay of Naples is 1,200 to 1,500 feet deep. Off St. Tropez it’s much, much deeper. We’re using MarkSetBot, which is promising. It’s not 100 percent reliable, but an upside beyond remote control is that you can’t wrap your keel around an anchor line because there is no anchor line [on a GPS‑directed robot mark].

“Our people are selective about where they choose to race. One owner told me it costs him $750,000 to take his boat, team and containers to Porto Cervo for five days. No one wants to spend that kind of money on a badly run regatta, so it’s a conservative bunch.

“The IMA has a small board of directors backed up by a dynamic, insightful team. IMA costs are supported by membership subscription except for Rolex, which has been fantastic. When I started with the IMA, the Rolex people told me, ‘We’ve been giving you money, but your people just put it in the bank.’ I said, ‘I’m sure I can fix that,’ and I have. There is a lot of travel now, a much more glam yearbook, a lot of publicity. About half the boats racing last year were flying the IMA flag.”

So, everything is coming up roses? “There are still supply-chain issues around securing building materials. Outside of maxi racing, the 30- to 40-foot range is falling off a cliff, except for shorthanded distance racing. Looking ahead, we still don’t know if we are in a recession or a hiccup, but in previous recessions, maxi racing has gone on, looking good for two or three years longer than you might expect. Then the boats stay on the dock.”

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What Is A Maxi Yacht?

Wondering what is a maxi yacht? This type of large sailing vessel is extremely popular in the Whitsunday Islands , which happens to be one of the world’s most breathtaking sailing destinations! So if you’re planning a boat trip through the Whitsundays , you may want to brush up on your knowledge of maxi yachts and consider hopping on one for your exploration of the Coral Sea!

A maxi yacht generally refers to a racing yacht that is over 21 or 22 meters in length (68-71 feet). Though they are often built and designed for racing, many maxis are converted into tour boats after their racing careers. But many maxis have fascinating histories, whether it’s competing in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race or taking on global sailing expeditions. 

Because these boats are built with premium materials and engineering processes, they have superior speed and sailing capabilities compared to other catamarans or power boats. A maxi yacht can cost millions of dollars to build and maintain, so you can be sure you’re stepping aboard a top-notch vessel when you hop onto a maxi! 

Maxi Boat Tours In The Whitsundays

If you’re looking for the ultimate sailing experience in the Whitsundays , a maxi yacht boat tour is the way to go. They are some of the fastest boats, meaning you can cover more ground and see more sights in less time. Most maxi tours are 2 nights, with either 2 or 3 days for exploring. So you’ll get to pack in so much sightseeing in the Whitsundays during your tour!

Super maxi yachts are also the most spacious options for boat tours in the Whitsundays. There are often extensive cabins and saloons that allow ample space for relaxing on board. Often carrying groups of around 20-30 passengers, you’ll have a fun, social experience aboard a maxi yacht. 

Check out our top maxi tours here!

Best Super Maxi Yachts in the Whitsundays

Once you’ve decided to board a maxi yacht for your Whitsunday adventure, you may be wondering what are the best super maxi boat tours to choose from. Here is a quick overview of the top maxi yachts where you can have the sailing experience of a lifetime in the beautiful Whitsunday Islands . 

All maxi sailing tours visit the iconic Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet Lookout , as well as numerous marine life-rich snorkeling spots . They also include all food throughout the tour, and many are BYO alcohol. 

British Defender

British Defender is one of the most incredible maxis in the Whitsundays! At 77 feet long, this sturdy and spacious vessel was built in 1989 and has sailed all over the world. There are 3 bathrooms on board, each with a hot shower, as well as single and double bunks that can fit a total of 28 guests. 

As you sail to Whitehaven Beach and numerous excellent snorkeling spots over 2 day and 2 nights, passengers can get involved and help the crew with sailing! British Defender is also the only maxi in the Whitsundays with air-conditioning! If you’re visiting Tropical North Queensland during the hot summer months, you’ll definitely want that air-con so you can eat, sleep, and relax in comfort. 

British Defender is also available for private charter!

This 3-day, 2-night maxi tour is another one of the top sailing tours. Apollo has an extensive and successful racing history! This boat has won every major race on the east coast of Australia and is now one of the most comfortable tour boats in the Whitsundays. 

On your tour with Apollo, you’ll visit gorgeous local spots like Stonehaven Bay, Nara Inlet, Langford Reef, and of course, Whitehaven Beach . Apollo also offers the perfect balance of fun and relaxation. This 75-foot-long maxi has space for 26 guests, so you can make new friends but it’s not a party boat so you’ll be able to enjoy some serenity on your tour as well. After being fully refitted in 2022, Apollo is running better than ever!

Apollo is also available for private charter!

Siska offers a 2-day, 1-night tour that is the perfect social experience for young people ages 18-35. With only 24 guests on board, you’ll be able to make new friends without feeling too crowded on this luxurious maxi yacht. 

There is a spacious saloon with two dining tables, and an extensive awning that will provide some shady relaxation spots when anchored. Because Siska only runs for 2 days and 1 night, it’s a great overnight maxi tour for those who are short on time. But if you have at least 2 nights to spare exploring the Whitsundays, British Defender or Apollo are the ideal options!

Siska is also available for private charter!

Live chat with our travel experts or call us at +61 7 4914 2425 if you have any questions about planning your Whitsunday sailing trip!

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Ondine Under Bare Poles: Lessons learned from a dismasting

“From the CCA School of Hard Rocks

...lessons learned in pursuit of the Art of Seamanship”

By John Jourdane, Southern California Station The Cruising Club of America February 2022

I was sailing on the 82-foot Maxi racing yacht, “Ondine 4”. We had delivered the new boat from Palmer Johnson Shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, down the St. Lawrence River, across the North Atlantic to Norway, then into the Mediterranean to Sardinia, where we participated in the Maxi World Championships.

We raced for a week against a dozen other maxis. We did well, but lost to Kialoa, then headed back across the Atlantic to New York City. Our course was the great circle route, which took us north of the Azores and Bermuda.

When we were about half way across, our weatherfax showed a tropical storm developing off the Caribbean, which turned into Hurricane Irene. We tracked Irene and saw that it was heading for Bermuda.

We were just past Bermuda when the wind started to build. As it went to 30 knots, then 40, we put in reefs and a storm jib. The wind built to 50 knots, and we dropped the storm jib and just used a deeply reefed delivery mainsail. As Irene neared, we had a steady 60 knots with gusts to 70. As the sun went down, we decided to go to bare poles, or “scudding”, which is sailing downwind with no sails. We put out all our sheets and halyards as a drogue off the stern to slow us down and to keep our stern facing the breaking 30-foot waves. This was before commercial drogues were available.

We changed our watch schedule so only one person was on deck steering for a half hour, wearing a life jacket and harness and hooked onto jacklines in the cockpit.

In the middle of the night, the boat yawed while surfing down a wave, turned beam-on to the breaking wave, and we broached. The boat heeled well beyond 90 degrees. Fortunately I was in a leeward bunk, but the crew in the weather bunks were thrown out and across the interior. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.

We then heard a loud crash, and the boat stood back up. Everything seemed to calm down, but we had broken our mast.

We couldn’t do anything on deck given the nasty conditions, so we just drifted in the rough seas until dawn. The conditions lightened as Irene died down and moved away.

One big problem with breaking a mast is that there are no halyards to send someone up in a bosun’s chair. You need a monkey bowman who can shimmy up and cut away the shrouds and broken mast. We had a monkey, Kiwi Dave, who climbed up the mast, lashed lines for a headstay and backstay, then lashed blocks at the top so we could have a bit of main and storm jib halyard.

Then we slowly motor sailed to the nearest island, Saint Pierre, south of Newfoundland and about 350 miles away.

We called the owner, told him what had happened, and asked what he wanted us to do. He said to take the boat back to Sturgeon Bay, where Palmer Johnson could fix it. We loaded up with fuel and headed back up the St. Lawrence River, across the Great Lakes, and arrived safely at Palmer Johnson in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

What did we learn?

• Never sail under bare poles in extreme weather. You need to be proactive and be able to hoist a bit of sail up to maneuver and not get beam-to on breaking waves.
• Our hurry to get home may have affected our judgment. We should have sailed away from Hurricane Irene until it passed or died down.
• We should have had storm sails aboard that our crew had practiced setting and using.

One caveat: this advice is for monohull sailing. Multihulls are different: They often use stacked sails, which is like having a storm trysail up, and with modern drogues, they can keep stern to the waves.

The Cruising Club of America is a collection of passionate, seriously accomplished, ocean sailors making adventurous use of the seas. All members have extensive offshore boat handling, seamanship, and command experience honed over many years. “School of Hard Rocks” reports, published by the CCA Safety and Seamanship Committee, are intended to advance seamanship and help skippers promote a Culture of Safety aboard their vessels .

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The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Is a Regatta of Heart-Stopping Challenges

In Bomb Alley, the winds can change in an instant. And then there are the rocks.

By David Schmidt

Sailors call it Bomb Alley for good reason.

This notorious, roughly 15-mile stretch of water separates northeast Sardinia from the Maddalena archipelago and is an important feature of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, which will be held Sept. 5-11. During the strong northwesterly winds that blow from southern France across the northern Mediterranean Sea, this narrow passage has a reputation for unpredictability.

“You can be sailing in five knots, round a corner, and it’s blowing 25 knots,” said Jonathan McKee, a two-time Olympic medalist and a Maxi Cup veteran.

Those lively conditions are caused by the Venturi Effect, in which winds moving through constrained passages increase in velocity and decrease in pressure.

But that is just one of the problems that these huge yachts, with their deep drafts, face. Along with Bomb Alley, there are the rocks.

“The rocks are the nightmare,” said Andrea Caracci, an aeronautical engineer and a highly experienced sailor who is navigating the 100-foot ARCA sgr in the regatta. “It’s a fast boat — we can sail at 12 or 13 knots upwind and 20 knots downwind, so there’s little time to avoid damage.”

McKee called the rocks unnerving: “Because the water is so clear, you can actually see the rocks beneath the keel.”

These obstacles are compounded by the giant boats, which are what the race attracts; hence the name maxi. The regatta, which will be hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, is open to yachts 60 feet or longer, with the largest contenders sometimes exceeding 200 feet. This year’s largest competitor is the J Class yacht Topaz, which measures just over 140 feet.

Topaz requires more that 15 feet of draft, or underwater clearance, from the waterline to the bottom of the keel, while other boats, such as the Rambler 88 and the 100-foot Comanche , require 23 feet of water. The boat Caracci requires just over 20 feet.

The regatta features two types of racing: shorter maneuver-intensive races around inflatable markers, which typically take place off Porto Cervo, and the coastal races in which the boats predominantly use the area’s northern islands as natural turning marks. This year, the regatta’s biggest boats and the smaller maxi classes will contest a maximum of five of these competitions while the smaller classes will contest five coastal races or a mix that includes four coastal races and two of the shorter ones.

While all crews need to be sharp for the maneuver-intensive windward-leeward racing, navigators, in particular, need to know exactly where the rocks are on the coastal courses. They will be threading multimillion-dollar needles that weigh tens of thousands of pounds, and that are sometimes traveling at over 20 knots, through rock gardens that might grant only a few feet of keel clearance. Provided, of course, that the navigator perfectly positions the boat relative to the rocks.

While Caracci said that the rocks near the Isolotto Monaci Lighthouse were well known, others were more elusive.

For high-level teams, often with the biggest boats, the deepest keels and the biggest budgets, one tactic involves taking preregatta water-depth measurements at critical turns, adding yacht-specific information to their charts, and sometimes even donning scuba equipment to take a closer look.

“Some of the navigators check the rocks and measure their position and depths,” Caracci said. “The charts say the rocks are in one place, but we check anyway. The risk is too high — there could be big damage to the boat.”

Stu Bannatyne, a four-time winner of the Ocean Race and a Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup veteran, said it was challenging navigation.

“There are gains to be made by cutting between rocks where the charts say you can’t sail,” he said. “Many boats have run aground.”

Caracci has seen this happen on these waters. Twice. “Once was dramatic,” he said. “The boat was 100 meters in front of us, and its keel was one meter deeper than ours. It hit rocks that the charts said shouldn’t be there.”

Navigators also have access to information from their boat’s networked navigation instruments, including water depth, wind speed and direction, compass, and — critically — GPS. “Some [GPS] antennas can show you what the accuracy of the information is,” Caracci said. “There can be a differential based on the number of tracked satellites. If you’ve only got a precision of one meter, you need to stay away from the rocks.”

Another consideration is that the boat’s draft and leeway requirements can change depending on its underwater appendages. Maxi yachts commonly have heavy, torpedolike keel bulbs that are hung from skinny struts to keep the boat from capsizing. On some boats, these keels can be swung from side to side using hydraulic rams to keep the boat sailing flat and fast.

“Sometimes the maximum risk is when you’re heeled over with a canting keel that’s out to the side, so you need to make a calculation,” Caracci said about deciding when it is safe to sail over the rocks.

“When you’re heeled over, the boat might only draw four meters, but you might pass over water that’s only six meters deep. I really hate that.”

Another challenge for navigators, Caracci said, involves working closely with the boat’s senior crew members to make the best decisions. “The tactician always pushes, so the navigator needs to manage their aggressive approach,” he said, adding that racing over dense and sometimes unmarked hazards requires accepting risks that could give a boat an advantage.

While the regatta’s shorter races require rapid and highly choreographed maneuvers, the coastal races — for which the regatta’s organizers have more than 50 courses to choose from, depending on the wind’s strength and direction — are the most complex.

“This is definitely one of the events where local knowledge is tremendously important,” said Peter Holmberg , an Olympic silver medalist and the helmsman of Topaz at this regatta . “Although conditions change every day, there are definitely characteristics that are consistent and reward previous experience.

“Since you’re rounding islands and rocks, and not an anchored buoy in open water, one’s local knowledge and level of risk-taking determines how close they can round that mark and shave valuable distance with an inside track,” he said.

The complexities can be further compounded by the winds. In early September, racers can usually expect either 10- to 15-knot winds, or the stiffer northwesterly breezes — called the mistral winds — which typically hit 18 to 25 knots.

Winning, of course, requires actually finishing the regatta without a race-ending mistake.

“In mistral conditions, getting around the track isn’t trivial,” McKee said, pointing to the necessity of proper seamanship and tightly choreographed crew work, especially in Bomb Alley. “You can go for hours and, at the finish, only have 10 seconds separating the first and second boat. It comes down to the precision of the navigator’s routing.”

An earlier version of this article misstated how heavy the racing yachts are. They weigh tens of thousands of pounds, not tens of thousands of tons.

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In pictures: First look inside Swan 120 sailing yacht Audrey the First

Finnish shipyard Nautor's Swan has revealed the first interior images of its 36.5 metre Swan 120 sailing yacht Audrey the First since her global debut at the Monaco Yacht Show last year. 

Audrey the First is the first model in the Swan 120 series and the flagship of the shipyard's Maxi line. Billed as a "new era" of performance yachts for Swan, she was designed by longstanding collaborator Germán Frers with Mark Whiteley creating the custom interior concept. The interior even scooped a Neptune at the BOAT International Design & Innovation Awards in the best Best Interior Design, Sailing Yachts category. One judge described the interior as a "pure execution of detail". 

The owner of Audrey the First requested a highly-customised finish and brought in Mark Whiteley Design to develop the general arrangement and interior design in collaboration with Nautor's in-house design team. The brief was to marry and merge the two narratives of classic architecture and modern design into a new whole, and to establish a modern classic theme.

The design and build team created a modernised classic sailing yacht interior with a more cosy feel than usually found on modern performance cruisers. This modern classic look was achieved by pairing rich mahogany with stainless steel detailing, set against fielded panelling and white, hand-pinated surfaces. Bespoke furniture was created with the use of fine leathers, Loro Piana upholstery and loose pieces by Linley.

The main saloon is open-plan but split into two key areas with a convertible dining table to starboard and a lounge to port. The saloon is made flexible with adaptable seating that can be turned into day beds or regular-depth seating as required. An owner-requested wine bar that transitions from guest to crew space is another smart feature that earned extra points for layout innovation.

The saloon is accessed via a 1.8 metre wide companionway door made of curved glass that leads down from the cockpit. The cockpit sits well clear of the sailing operations and helm stations and can be used while at anchor or underway. Much like the saloon, it is a flexible space with low-slung tables that can be lifted and joined for al fresco dining.

The owner's cabin is placed aft, while the remaining guest accommodation is comprised of an additional three guest ensuite cabins, one double and two twins, as well as three twin crew cabins with private bathrooms for a staff of six.

Described by the yard as “defining the next generation of performance superyacht design”, the 120 features a concealed electronically controlled bimini top and sprayhood with ‘aisle seats’ on deck. A "snug" area is a key on-deck space that sits between the helming stations.

The transom meanwhile transforms into a large teak-decked swim platform with a garage large enough to hold a 4.5 metre tender and other water toys. Once the tender has been launched, this area can also be used for sunbathing or light dining.

Currently under construction at Nautor's Swan are two Swan 98s and a Swan 108 , a new addition to the shipyard's maxi lineup unveiled in May 2021.

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• The World’s Fastest Thoroughbred Racing Yachts Are Going Head to Head Again

Sailing’s most beautiful and technical racing yachts are battling for line honors once again.

David reed's most recent stories.

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They’re back. After a year of mostly canceled events due to Covid-19, the Maxis, the world’s largest thoroughbred racing yachts , are going head-to-head in one of sailing’s most exciting series. The most prestigious contests on the calendar are organized by the International Maxi Association , founded 41 years ago to manage the growing competition between yachting’s high-tech grand dames.

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Not to be confused with the elegant sailing giants known as Superyachts, which typically compete in gentlemanly regattas (sometimes called “buckets”) where boats are required to maintain at least 131 feet of distance between them, Maxis differ in size—Mini-Maxis at 60 to 79 feet, Maxis at 79 to 100 feet and Super Maxis from 100 feet—but are all built for close-hauled racing. With lightweight, carbon-fiber hulls and sails that can run into the six figures, Maxis are purpose-built speed machines, with crews scrambling across wet decks to lift giant spinnakers as skippers steer their race boats within spitting distance in an attempt to gain minor tactical advantages over the competition.

A yacht on course in the Rolex Giraglia 2021.  Giulio Testa

Among owners, the Mini-Maxi class has become the most popular, for the romantic reason that owners are required to steer their own boats. That involves much more than standing behind the wheel during a race. Owners often oversee the designs and builds of new boats, and help recruit veteran Olympic, America’s Cup and ocean-race sailors who fly in to crew the high-dollar machines. Planning a single campaign can take months.

We’re currently in the middle of Maxi season, the main events for which include the Maxi Yacht Capri Trophy , won in May by Vincenzo Addessi’s Fra Diavolo; June’s 241-nautical mile Rolex Giraglia , where Adalberto Miani’s Arca SGR was first to finish; the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup , in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, in early September; and late October’s 606-nautical mile Rolex Middle Sea Race , which starts and ends in Malta with a race around Sicily in between. (Some Covid-related changes are in effect this year, with the Giraglia, considered the oldest race in the northern Med, starting in Sanremo, Italy —rather than Saint-Tropez—and ending in Genoa.) As always, sailors are looking to claim not just the victory but the coveted “line honors” that accompany it: First across the finish line is first to the champagne.

Sailors competing on the Tyrrhenian sea in Capri, Italy.  Courtesy of Rolex

The year’s highlight is the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, featuring a week of intense coastal racing involving around 50 boats. The Aga Khan’s remarkable Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo is the host club, with Sardinia’s picturesque hills and charming ports reminding visitors why it remains the Shangri-La of sailing. And backdrops like Sardinia are the added attraction of Maxi racing, beyond its thrilling competition. The contests take place in some of the Med’s most idyllic settings, which make for ideal vacation spots after the trophies have been awarded.

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