“We are still incredulous but happy,” said Peter Forster, owner of the TP52 Red Bandit which the corrected time ranking decreed the overall winner of edition number 70 – we’ve had the boat since 2021 and mainly do offshore regattas. With Red Bandit it was love at first sight after we charted her for a Rolex Middle Sea Race that was particularly windy. That time we sailed in complete safety and we realised the potential of that yacht since then we have consolidated the crew, mainly consisting of a fixed nucleus of youngsters – the average age on board is 29 – all coming from Olympic classes. We are a tightly knit crew and though we sailed well throughout the first part of the regatta in conditions that were not exactly our strong point (upwind sailing), we lost some time becalmed at the Giraglia and watched Lisa R sail away in the night. We thought that was the end of the race for us and so, in the last stretch towards Genoa, we decided to go and look for more wind to the east, a choice you make when you’ve got little to lose, but it went so well for us that in the last 10 miles we recovered a great deal. Obviously, that risky decision led to our victory. On board everything worked fine, it’s a pleasure for me to sail with this young crew and I am happy to be able to frame this anniversary Rolex Giragliaamong the most important and enjoyable trophies of my sporting career.” Carl-Peter Forster, a German of 69, has behind him a long sporting career and a great love for offshore regattas that led him to take place in the world’s most important regattas including the Rolex Fastnet several times, theRolex Middle Sea Race and the Baltic Race. Last year he won the Copa del Rey and always sails with a crew from the Bayerischer Yacht Club – one of the most ancient and important in Germany and whose colours he bears. Red Bandit finished the Rolex Giraglia 2023 in a real-time of 29h17m19s and was ahead of the Ker 46 Lisa R owned by 2022 winner Giovanni di Vincenzowho was close to an unprecedented double, by more than 16 minutes. Third overall was Pepe Cannonball, Dario Ferrari’s Botin 75, which stood out in the coastal races in Saint-Tropez and sailed a very fast long race. In the ORC class, the winner was the Argentinian Swan 45 From Now On owned by Fernando Chain, who also came very close to winning in 2022, in front of Antonio Venneri’s Swan 42 Suspiria the Revenge and Stefano Rusconi’s Italia Yachts 11:98 Concrete Investing – To Be. With some boats still to finish, the Rolex Giraglia 70 is drawing to an end that will be marked at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning, the time limit for crossing the line, and the prize-giving ceremony at 11.30 at the headquarters of the Yacht Club Italiano in Genoa.

The Rolex Giraglia The Giraglia was conceived in 1953 as an offshore regatta of 241 nautical miles. Since then it has grown and today includes the approaching race from Sanremo and three days of coastal races in the Bay of Saint-Tropez. In 2023 this classic regatta celebrates its 70th anniversary. The Yacht Club Italiano organises the Rolex Giraglia with the collaboration of the Yacht Club Sanremoand the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez. With the patronage of: Yacht Club de France, the Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL), International Maxi Association (IMA), Municipality of Saint-Tropez, Municipality of Genoa and Municipality of Sanremo. B&G and North Sails are technical Partners. La Rolex Giraglia is valid for the IRC-UNCL Mediterranean Championship and is part of the IMA 2023 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge. Rolex has been a title partner of Rolex Giraglia since 1998.