Big Pimpin’
With 97 boats from 18 nations in seven classes and elite pro teams competing alongside amateur crews in perfect sailing conditions, this year’s Rolex Swan Cup was a classic
From New Year to the New York Marathon, there are certain events that don’t just populate columns in diaries, they provide key anchors. Without them, a calendar feels unhinged. Among the classic events in the sailing world that pin the season down is the Rolex Swan Cup.
For more than 40 years this biennial event, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, has not only been one of the best-supported regattas of its kind, but for the many skippers and crew that return year after year, it has become a non-negotiable feature of the sailing calendar. More recently it has become a natural focus of attention for Swan’s highly successful Nations League. It doesn’t take much to see why the Rolex Swan Cup has proved so successful.
For starters, the wide variety of sizes and designs on the entry list from the brand-new Swan 120 Audrey the First to the S&S designed Swan 36 Josian (a magnificently restored example of one of the earliest Nautor Swan models dating back to 1967) says a great deal about the range and depth within the Swan family.