‘Times’ Three: A Peek at the Elite Racing World

‘Tarantella,’ the Rolex Swan Cup and the Fancy Yacht Club on Sardinia That Runs It

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Normally Loose Cannon’s attitude toward yacht racing mimics the description of gold “as a good walk spoilt.” But this trifecta of gift articles which, as a New York Times subscriber, we may share is a real treat. The author is a sports journalist who writes for The Athletic, the New York Times’ partner for sports coverage.

By ANDREW RICE, September 16, 2026

It will be one of the smallest of the 170 yachts competing at this week’s Rolex Swan Cup that will take pride of place in the bustling marina of Sardinia’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

A diminutive, unassuming 36-footer called Tarantella will be dwarfed alongside the larger yachts, some ranging up to 128 feet in length. But most of the 2,000 sailors in Porto Cervo will know that they wouldn’t be there at all if it weren’t for the breakout success of the Tarantella in the late 1960s.

The Swan 36 was launched by yacht builder Nautor Ab in July 1967 in the Finnish port town of Pietarsaari, and the fiberglass design would soon establish the brand as one of the most respected in the yachting world.

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Nearly 60 years later, freshly restored, Tarantella is preparing to sail into Porto Cervo’s harbor as both a museum piece and an active competitor at the biennial regatta that is the Swan Cup. It is one of many stops on a tour of Europe which will also take her to Sweden’s Gotland Runt, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, and, in 2027, back to Cowes on England’s Isle of Wight, the waters where the Swan 36 design first forged its international name.

Tarantella was born from the ambition of a paper salesman. Nautor Ab founder Pekka Koskenkylä was working for a wood-processing company in Pietarsaari, selling paper sacks, when he began constructing a wooden sailing boat for himself in his spare time.

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How the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Became One of the World’s Most Prestigious

By ANDREW RICE, September 17, 2026

As the European summer comes to an end, in Porto Cervo, on the northern coast of Sardinia, there’s time for one last festival of sail before the port and nearby village go into hibernation.

Hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS), the Rolex Swan Cup has attracted an entry of 170 yachts for this week’s regatta.

In the pantheon of the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs, the YCCS is frequently mentioned in the same breath as the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. Yet, while those aforementioned clubs trace their origins back to the 1800s, the YCCS was established in 1967.

When it comes to determining the importance and prestige of yacht clubs, age and tradition matter. So how has this club, not yet 60 years old, managed to establish a place at the top table? It comes down to a number of factors: ambition, vision, geography and royalty.

When Prince Karim Aga Khan IV first set eyes on this pristine, untamed stretch of northeastern Sardinian coastline in the early 1960s, it was a desolate expanse of granite rocks, wild rosemary and undeveloped beaches. Transforming it into a world-class sanctuary required large doses of imagination and capital investment. Alongside André Ardoin, Giuseppe Kerry Mentasti, and architect Luigi Vietti, the Aga Khan founded the YCCS in May 1967 as a non-profit sporting association.

Word spread quickly about this burgeoning paradise, and the Costa Smeralda became the playground for Hollywood royalty, European aristocracy, and global jet-setters, drawn by luxurious hideaways, like the Hotel Cala di Volpe and Hotel Pitrizza.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, perhaps the most famous Hollywood couple of the era, cruised the Costa Smeralda aboard their yacht, Kalizma. The biggest showcase for the Costa Smeralda came in 1977 when the James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, featured much of the area in key scenes, including the car versus helicopter chase.

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Rolex Swan Cup Is About Maritime Heritage and a Hazardous Course

By ANDREW RICE, September 15, 2026

The elite of the sailing world may have launched into hyperspace with their flying machines in SailGP and the America’s Cup, but for most sailors their passion still lies in racing slower but more tactical keelboats.

The Rolex Swan Cup takes place every two years on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia’s glittering northern Italian coastline, and this September a record 170 yachts will line up on a hectic start line.

Unlike most yachting regattas, where there is a panoply of different brands competing against each other, the Swan Cup is run purely for the owners of yachts built in Finland by Nautor’s Swan. Where older racing yachts go out of date the moment they’re no longer capable of winning races, this does not apply to Swan yachts which have taken on a classic status, ensuring they will never be considered obsolete.

Hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, arguably Italy’s most prestigious yacht club, the regatta has attracted all sizes of Swans. But how does the regatta work and who takes part?

There is no overall winner, just class winners, i.e., those with the best set of aggregate scores in their division across the whole week.

The schedule began with registration and measurement on Sunday and Monday, followed by practice sessions early in the week. Competitors generally participate in four to five days of active racing from Wednesday through tomorrow, with potential lay days (days off) depending on weather and division organization.

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