Ultimate Regattas and Best-Kept Secret

The Robb Report asked North Sails President Ken Read, “I’m a weekend sailor who wants to tick off a bucket-list item this summer by watching or even crewing in a world-class sailing event. I need advice on the best regattas out there and optimal locations. Any ideas?”

Said Read, “One of the beauties of sailing is you can choose your adrenaline rush,” says Read, referring to how each event differs. “It’s symptomatic of the style of racing you’re doing.” It’s not just the sailing that makes a great regatta, he adds, but “the social events, parties, and local scene. There’s no way any sailor, or non-sailor, could not have fun.” So here’s his primer on the “insane variety” of race weeks: There’s the futuristic SailGP foilers streaking across San Francisco Bay, the classic 1930s wooden-yacht regatta in Monaco, and the world’s most technical (and expensive) Maxi yachts racing along Bomb Alley at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Costa Smeralda in Sardinia. At the other end, the U.K.’s Cowes Week is “fun but mayhem,” says Read, where 1,000 sailboats are divided into 40 classes and the starting guns are antique cannons near Cowes Castle. At Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, dozens of Maxi sailing yachts and hundreds of restored classic wooden vessels are docked stern-to in the historic port’s quays, while “thousands of visitors drool over these old boats,” packing the waterside cafés. Read has sailed Les Voiles many times, adding that it makes an exceptional vacation spot—the one thing all of these races share. “The goal of these regattas is to make you walk away going, ‘Holy shit, I wasn’t expecting that.'” – Full report