Nice claims maxi prize in 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar

With Italy lacking isobars this final May weekend, the winners of the 17th edition of the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar have been decided after one of the lightest, most protracted offshore races on record. The annual race from Livorno to Punta Ala is the fourth of seven events in the International Maxi Association’s 2025/26 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge. Of the 191 starters ten were in the IRC Over 60 maxi class this year.

Prior to the start at 1400 on Saturday (30 May) the light forecast, featuring the shallowest of depressions over the Tyrrhenian Sea, had caused the organisers - the Yacht Club Repubblica Marinara di Pisa, Yacht Club Punta Ala and Yacht Club Livorno – to reduce the course length by 25 miles. In the previous edition, the course had been modified: as usual starting from Livorno with a turning mark off Marina di Pisa, but no longer rounding the Giraglia Rock. Instead the small island of Pianosa, southwest of Elba became the new principal turning mark, competitors continuing to Formiche di Grosseto in the southeast and then back up to Cerboli, a small rock northeast of Elba, before finishing off Punta Ala. This year’s course remained the same but with the Formiche di Grosseto mark removed, giving competitors the added tactical challenge of having to negotiate the east coast of Elba. 

 

Ironically this edition followed one of the quickest in 2025 when Furio Benussi’s 100ft ARCA SGR, the race’s serial line honours winner had set a new record time of 15 hours 31 minutes and 57 second. While her average speed then was 9.7 knots, this year the giant maxi from Trieste finished at 1440 on Sunday afternoon with a time of 24 hours 40 minutes, having averaged just 5.1 knots on the shorter course. 

“It was really long, with light winds, but it's always a nice race - I love the 151 Miglia. For us it's the fifth time,” commented ARCA SGR skipper Furio Benussi, who shared helming duties during the race with his brother Gabriele. “It was amazingly light. During the night I think the maximum puff was 3-4 knots – nothing more.” Benussi said that they had parked for three hours on the approach to Pianosa, where the boats behind had caught up, creating an effective restart for the race. 

“The first four hours of the race were nice because we had 9-10 knots from the northwest. After Gorgona it all dropped off and from Gorgona to Elba it was crazy. But we are not volleyball, basketball or soccer players - the weather is part of our sport.”

Patience was tested further for those arriving later. Last to finish in the IRC Over 60 maxi class, Alessandro Pini’s Grand Soleil Maxi One Ely-J crossed the Punta Ala finish line only at 02:26 this morning (1 June) having completed the course at an average speed of 3.46 knots. 

The exceptional performance of this slow race came from the 78ft Nice, belonging to Marco Malgara, CEO and Founder of ICE Yachts. One of Italy’s most famous maxis, as Capricorno she spent the majority of her 31 years in the hands of the Del Bono family as both a round the world cruising yacht and as a highly successful racer – campaigned by Alessandro Del Bono she won the IMA’s Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge in 2022. 

“It was an interesting day - very difficult,” commented Malgara. “We had several stops and it was very, very difficult because of those. But in the end, although this boat is 31 years old, she was the next boat to arrive after ARCA.” Nice was second home almost two hours after Benussi’s 100 footer to win the maxi class under IRC corrected time ahead of Durlindana IV and Carlo Puri Negri's Felci/Farr 80 Atalanta II, winner of the race’s maxi class in 2024. In 2025 Nice and Atalanta II had filled this race’s maxi class podium behind Guido Paolo Gamucci’s Cippa Lippa X (unable to race this year due to its close proximity in the calendar to last week’s IMA Maxi European Championship). 

On board Nice, Malgara had shared the helming with Slovenian former Olympian and long term maxi yacht sailor Mitya Kosmina. “It was very difficult with little or no wind for a few hours,” commented Kosmina. “Rounding the island [Pianosa] was very tricky. It took a lot of concentration to finish the race and you spend a lot of energy trying to move these big boats. The longest stop was about two or three hours which was really tough.”

The 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar is known for its challenging conditions as much as for its exceptional parties and social program. Tonight after the prizegiving in Marina di Punta Ala, the race’s lavish Dinner Party will take place for the crews of all of race’s 191 yachts in the clubhouse and seaside grounds of Yacht Club Punta Ala. Here the IMA will once again be making a donation to Fondazione Mare Oltre Onlus, a charity enabling disabled sailors with reduced mobility the possibility of sailing on board their catamaran Elianto, especially designed for wheelchair-bound sailors. 

Read more about the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar here.

See the maxi class results.