The Giraglia is two regattas sharing one week. First, days of inshore racing in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez — a fleet of hundreds, from weekend sailors to grand-prix boats, racing courses within sight of the beaches. Then the main event: the offshore race to Genoa, close to 240 nautical miles, rounding the Giraglia rock off northern Corsica, customarily starting midweek in mid-June — in 2026, the offshore start falls on 17 June per the organisers, with prize-giving in Genoa on the 20th. The winners arrive a day after the start; the back of the fleet sails through a second night; everyone gets a story.
Event details reflect the organisers' published 2026 programme, verified this season. The race is organised by the Yacht Club Italiano with the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez.
Why the race matters
The Giraglia is old, serious and egalitarian at once: a course that rewards navigation as much as speed, through the variable summer weather of the Ligurian Sea, with a handicap system that lets a well-sailed smaller boat take the overall trophy from the maxis. The double audience is its genius — the Saint-Tropez inshore week is a social fixture with racing attached, and the offshore is a proper sea passage that finishes under the cranes of Genoa's port. Few events let a spectator watch a regatta from a beach club on Tuesday and a fleet finish from a waterfront promenade on Thursday.
How to watch it
The inshore week needs no plan beyond being in Saint-Tropez with a view of the gulf — the starts are visible from the town's ramparts and the beaches east of the port, and the fleet's return each afternoon is the town's entertainment. The offshore start is the spectacle worth timing: several hundred boats crossing a starting area off the port, then streaming east past Cap Taillat in the late morning. From the water, spectator craft keep clear of the line and the fleet's corridors. The finish in Genoa is the connoisseur's option — boats arriving around the clock into the port area, and the yacht club's prize-giving closing the week.
If you're planning around it
Saint-Tropez in Giraglia week is full — berths and hotels are committed far ahead — and the town's population roughly doubles with sailors, which cuts both ways. The smart charter play mirrors the race: base in the gulf for the inshore days, then either follow the fleet's first hours east along the coast or turn west for the quieter anchorages the racing fleet has just vacated. In 2026 the dates are published well ahead; in this game, the early planner gets the quay.