Back to previous page    Language   Italian   Spanish

Rolex Swan Cup 2026, sixty years of Swan sailing together in Porto Cervo

From the Swan 36 Tarantella to the Swan 128, 170 yachts gathered in Porto Cervo to tell six decades of Nautor Swan design and sailing

The 2026 Rolex Swan Cup brings 170 yachts to Porto Cervo to celebrate sixty years of Nautor Swan through racing, design, heritage and a shared passion for sailing

One hundred and seventy yachts gathered in the same place can tell a story far greater than that of a regatta. In Porto Cervo, the 2026 Rolex Swan Cup turned the Nautor Swan fleet into a living history of sailing yachts: sixty years of design, materials, ideas and different ways of experiencing the sea sharing the same waters.

At one end was Tarantella, the Swan 36 designed by Sparkman & Stephens and belonging to the Finnish shipyard’s earliest generation. At the other stood the Swan 128, a contemporary expression of the Maxi range. Between them were dozens of models spanning different eras and carrying the signatures of designers including Sparkman & Stephens, Ron Holland, Germán Frers and Juan Kouyoumdjian.

More than simply an anniversary celebration, the 23rd Rolex Swan Cup therefore offered an unusually tangible way of seeing how the sailing yacht has evolved over six decades.

A fleet spanning sixty years

The 2026 Rolex Swan Cup reached the maximum capacity set by the organisers with 170 entries, establishing a new record for the event. The fleet represented 30 nations, from across Europe to Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

Placed bow to stern, the yachts would have stretched for more than a mile and a half. Yet the variety contained within that fleet was more significant than the number itself.

Ocean cruisers, established classics, cruiser-racers, maxi yachts and modern one-designs all sailed together off the Costa Smeralda. Each generation carried its own interpretation of performance, comfort and yacht design.

From Tarantella to the Swan 128

The original Swan 36 designed by Sparkman & Stephens belongs to a period when recreational sailing was still establishing many of the principles now taken for granted. Tarantella represents the beginning of a story that started in 1966.

Sixty years later, the Swan 128 reflects a very different world: advanced materials, digital design, complex onboard systems and superyacht dimensions, while retaining the idea of a yacht fundamentally intended to sail.

Between those two points lies a succession of yachts through which the evolution of design can almost be read directly on the water. Sparkman & Stephens were followed by Ron Holland, Germán Frers and Juan Kouyoumdjian, each contributing differently to the Swan design language.

The Dance of the Swans

The image most likely to remain associated with this edition came before racing even began.

To mark the 60th anniversary, the entire fleet took part in the Dance of the Swans, sailing together around Isola dei Monaci. The sight of 170 Swans on the water at once transformed one of the most recognisable landmarks in the La Maddalena Archipelago into a meeting between generations of yachts.

It was not a competition, and perhaps for that very reason it captured the anniversary particularly well: yachts built decades apart continuing to share the same sea.

When racing becomes community

The Rolex Swan Cup remains, first and foremost, a competition. Maxi, Mini-Maxi, Cruiser Racer, Swan Legacy and ClubSwan One Design fleets completed a week of close racing, with several titles decided in the final races.

Yet focusing only on the results would tell only part of the story.

Throughout the week in Porto Cervo, crews shared the docks, gatherings and social events. This is the dimension Nautor Swan has long associated with ClubSwan: not simply owning a yacht from the same shipyard, but belonging to a community built around sailing.

It is significant that some of the awards recognised people and stories rather than performance. The Spirit of Swan award, for example, went to Windekind, sailed entirely by the owning family: father, mother and son.

The winners on the water

Among the Swan classes, Freya, a Swan 90, won the Swan Maxi title after completing a comeback with three consecutive race victories. Arobas, a Swan 601, secured the Mini-Maxi title, while Swan 45 From Now On won the Cruiser Racer category.

Among the Swan Legacy yachts, Shirlaf prevailed in the Sparkman & Stephens over-47-foot class, while Swan 44 Pride won both its category and the overall Legacy title. Lunz am Meer took the Classics by Frers class.

In the One Design fleets, Earlybird won the ClubSwan 50, Team 42+1 the ClubSwan 43, Nadir the ClubSwan 42, Cuordileone the ClubSwan 36 and Anya Race the ClubSwan 28.

The results underline how wide the gap in both size and generation was between yachts competing on the same racecourse.

Sailing beyond competition

Another significant moment was the presentation of the Fabio Gallia Trophy to French sailor Catherine Chabaud.

The first woman to complete the Vendée Globe, Chabaud has crossed the Atlantic fifteen times and, after her racing career, devoted a significant part of her work to marine protection.

Her presence introduced a dimension extending beyond sporting results. Ocean sailing, experience, maritime culture and care for the marine environment all belong to the same world that events such as the Swan Cup can help bring together.

The story continues in 2027

With the 60th-anniversary edition concluded, the calendar is already looking ahead.

The next major gathering announced for the Swan community will be the 2027 Nations Trophy, scheduled in Porto Cervo from 2 to 5 June and intended as a precursor to the 2028 Rolex Swan Cup.

Yet perhaps the most enduring legacy of the 2026 Rolex Swan Cup will remain the image of its fleet.

Seeing one of Swan’s earliest yachts alongside one of its most recent models reveals something that a timeline alone cannot: how yachts can change while the desire to sail remains the same.

__
Nautor Swan, ClubSwan Racing

21 September 2026
© MED Yachting Editorial Team
Rolex Swan Cup 2026, sixty years of Swan sailing together in Porto Cervo
__
The information in this article has been sourced from and adapted from official sources and/or press releases, in accordance with our editorial code of ethics.