Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2026: Gstaad Yacht Club Celebrates 15 Years of Centenary Racing

Every end of September, Saint-Tropez waits for “ses Voiles.” Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, one of the most anticipated weeks on the Mediterranean sailing calendar, gathers some of the world’s most beautiful classic yachts, modern racers, and Maxis for nine days of competition, heritage, and the unmistakable energy that fills the port and the gulf.

For the 2026 edition, one of the event’s most elegant traditions reaches a milestone. On October 1, the Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy celebrates its 15th edition, bringing together yachts more than a century old for a pursuit race that places historic craftsmanship, legendary design, and pure sailing pedigree at the heart of the week.

Gstaad Comes to Place des Lices

On September 30, the Alps meet Saint-Tropez in the middle of Place des Lices. Gstaad Yacht Club brings back its Swiss Night with mountain specialties, a ski race on asphalt, and the now-famous cow-milking competition, an eccentric prelude to the following day’s centenary race.

There is something wonderfully unexpected about seeing Gstaad play out beneath the plane trees of Saint-Tropez. Yet it suits a club founded in the Swiss Alps and deeply rooted in international sailing, especially during a week where heritage and personality matter almost as much as performance.

The evening keeps the tone light before October 1 shifts the attention back to the water. By then, the port is already fully inside Les Voiles mode, with crews, owners, collectors, and sailing enthusiasts moving between the harbor, Place des Lices, and the race village.

A Century of Yachting, Still Racing

📅 October 1, 2026
🌐 Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy

At 12:30 PM on October 1, the oldest fleet at Les Voiles heads into the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. Some of these yachts were already sailing before the First World War, yet they arrive here to race, not to sit polished in the harbor. Among them, the 1914 William Fife-designed Sumurun brings more than a century of yachting history back under sail alongside an extraordinary line-up of centenarian designs.

The Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy adds another twist. Its pursuit format sends the slower yachts out first, then releases the faster boats one after another, turning the race into a chase across the gulf. As the gaps begin to close, boats separated by decades of design converge toward the finish beneath the Tour du Portalet, with the first yacht across the line claiming the trophy.

That format gives the race its character. You can actually follow the tension as it develops, with the faster yachts gradually reeling in the fleet ahead and the final minutes tightening against the Saint-Tropez waterfront. For an event built around heritage, it never feels static. These boats are here to compete.

Les Voiles at Full Pace

The Centenary Trophy falls on one of the strongest days of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2026. The Club 55 Cup begins at noon, the centenarian fleet follows at 12:30 PM, Challenge Day continues later in the afternoon, and Maxi racing unfolds off Pampelonne.

By evening, the action moves back into town. Crews return to the port, the parade brings another burst of color through Saint-Tropez, and the Centenary Trophy prize-giving closes the day on shore.

That mix is exactly why Les Voiles remains such a fixture on the calendar. The racing matters, but so does everything around it: the harbor filled with extraordinary yachts, the crews spilling back into town, the history, the rivalries, and the sense that Saint-Tropez still knows how to make sailing feel glamorous without turning it into a spectacle for spectacle’s sake.

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