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Admiral’s Cup 2025: Team Jolt from the Yacht Club de Monaco got off to a very good start

  • 20 July 2025
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The Admiral’s Cup got under way on Saturday 19 July on the Solent, in challenging conditions involving a light seven-knot south-westerly wind and a falling tide. The spinnaker start immediately put the 30 crews under pressure, with every manoeuvre counting to avoid traffic and catch the slightest breeze. Within the first few miles, Jolt 6 (AC2), skippered by Pierre Casiraghi (vice-president of the Yacht Club de Monaco), and Jolt 3 (AC1), skippered by Peter Harrison, established themselves in the leading group.

Very quickly, the Channel Race moved into another dimension. As night fell, the wind strengthened to 25 knots, generating unstable and demanding cross seas. The return journey from the English Channel turned into a very challenging downwind leg, with A2 spinnakers being pushed to their limits. The crews arrived soaked and exhausted, and some had damaged equipment to repair. The 160-nautical-mile course lived up to its reputation as being tactical, physically demanding and unpredictable.
Jolt 6 made a strong impression in these challenging conditions, finishing second on corrected time in the AC2 category, just behind Callisto, skippered by the highly experienced New Zealand duo Dean Barker and Mike Sanderson.
Meanwhile, Jolt 3, skippered by Peter Harrison, secured a solid fourth place in the AC1 category, underlining the Monegasque team’s consistency and earning them third place in the provisional team ranking.
Another source of satisfaction for the YCM was that Django WR51, skippered by Giovanni Lombardi Stronati, a member of the Club, won the best corrected time in the AC1 category.
This positive result is all the more significant given that the Channel Race, the first stage of the competition, carries a double coefficient, meaning that no race can be omitted from the overall ranking — every point will count towards the title.
A rest day is scheduled for Monday. The two Jolts will resume racing on Tuesday on the Solent with the first inshore races, before taking on the prestigious Rolex Fastnet Race — the eagerly awaited final leg of the 2025 Admiral’s Cup.
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