As Vele d’Epoca di Imperia celebrates its 40th Anniversary, the gathering of the “Queens of the Sea” welcomes an event of truly international significance. From 29 August to 1 September 2026, the Gulf of Imperia will host the 12mR GP World, a world-class event forming part of Imperia Sailing Week.
Its inclusion broadens the international scope of the event and offers a unique opportunity to experience the International 12 Metre Class up close: yachts created under a rating rule that went on to become symbols of elegance, design innovation and top-level competitive sailing.
A rating class that became an icon of international sailing
The enduring appeal of the International 12 Metre Class stems from a fascinating paradox: a technical rule succeeded in producing some of the most recognisable and admired yachts in international sailing.
The class name derives from a rating formula introduced in 1907 under the International Rule, which classified racing yachts according to a formula combining factors including length, sail area and displacement. This balance gave rise to yachts with very different characteristics, all designed to compete at the highest level and each reflecting, in its own way, the evolution of twentieth-century yacht design.
The number twelve therefore refers to the yacht’s rating under the formula, rather than its overall length. This distinction is essential to understanding the significance of the class. The 12 Metres were designed within a precisely defined set of rules, giving designers and boatyards scope to work with proportions, waterlines, sail area, materials and construction techniques in the constant pursuit of the optimum balance between speed, seaworthiness and elegance.
Today, this heritage is preserved and promoted by the International Twelve Metre Association (ITMA), the international governing body for the 12mR Class. It brings together a global community organised into three main fleets — Americas, Northern Europe and Southern Europe — ensuring the continuity of a class whose yachts continue to be restored, sailed and actively raced.
This is where technical excellence meets the fascination of great historic yachts. Every 12 Metre tells the story of the era in which it was designed, the ambitions of its owner, the craftsmanship of the yard that built it and the vision of the naval architect who sought its perfect balance.
The America’s Cup years that made the 12 Metres legendary
The international reputation of the 12 Metre Class is inextricably linked to the America’s Cup, one of the world’s most famous and prestigious sailing trophies. From 1958 to 1987, the class was selected for America’s Cup competition, ushering in a remarkable era in which leading yacht clubs, designers, boatyards, owners and world-class crews competed at the very highest level.
Following the monumental era of the J Class, the 12 Metres brought a new concept of competition to the America’s Cup. The contest moved to more moderately sized yachts, where the advantage came not from sheer scale but from the ability to interpret the rating rule more effectively than the competition.
Every design decision could make the difference. In this relentless pursuit of performance, the 12 Metres became true laboratories of yacht design, transforming technical innovation into performance — and performance into sporting legend.
Newport and Fremantle are two of the defining locations of the 12 Metre era in America’s Cup history. Newport, in the United States, evokes the Cup’s long American chapter, while Fremantle, Australia, recalls the dramatic 1987 edition, the last America’s Cup to be contested in 12 Metres. After that year, the class left the America’s Cup stage, while continuing to thrive as both a historic and highly competitive racing class.
For Italy, this story has one particularly evocative name: Azzurra. In 1983, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda launched Italy’s first America’s Cup Challenger, bringing top-level sailing to the attention of the Italian public and transforming a sporting campaign into a shared national story. At the helm was Mauro Pelaschier, Official Ambassador of the 2026 Vele d’Epoca di Imperia, a connection that continues to make the 12 Metre Class especially familiar to Italian sailing enthusiasts.
The 12mR World Championship at the 40th Anniversary of Vele d’Epoca di Imperia
As listed by ITMA in the Southern European Fleet calendar, the city of Imperia will host the 2026 ITMA World Championship.
The yachts expected both on the racecourse and alongside the docks will showcase the enduring vitality of the 12mR Class: yachts originally created for competition that continue today to embody design culture, sporting heritage and genuine head-to-head racing on the water.
The 12 Metres coming to Imperia: yachts, owners and dockside appearances
The 12 Metres expected in Imperia bring with them very different stories. Some will compete on the racecourse, while others will be on display alongside the docks, giving visitors different perspectives from which to discover one of international sailing’s most iconic classes.
At present, the racing fleet includes Kookaburra II, Kookaburra III, Kiwi Magic, France, French Kiss and South Australia. Completing the line-up, Thea, Emilia and Vanity are among the yachts expected to be present dockside. Around these remarkable yachts are prominent owners and crews whose own stories span the worlds of business, the America’s Cup and international sailing.
Kookaburra II, owned by Patrizio Bertelli, Chairman of Prada and patron of Luna Rossa, was created for Australia’s 1987 America’s Cup campaign. She arrives in Imperia with a sporting pedigree that remains very much alive: in 2024, she won both the 12 Metre World Championship in Porquerolles and the Puig Vela Clàssica in Barcelona.
Kookaburra III was the Australian yacht selected to defend the Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club against Stars & Stripes ’87 in the last America’s Cup contested in 12 Metres, at Fremantle in 1987. Today she is owned by Maurizio Vecchiola, the Italian entrepreneur at the helm of Finproject, the Marche-based company specialising in expanded plastic materials whose technology contributed to the industrial story behind Crocs and their rise to become a global phenomenon.
In Imperia, Kookaburra III will also welcome Tommaso Chieffi aboard, one of Italy’s most successful sailors, with an outstanding career spanning Olympic classes, the America’s Cup, offshore racing and one-design competition.
Kiwi Magic, KZ-7, represents New Zealand’s arrival on the international sailing stage. In 1987, she represented the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in the Louis Vuitton Cup, with Chris Dickson at the helm, becoming one of the symbols of New Zealand’s first major America’s Cup campaign.
France carries with her a landmark chapter in French sailing history. Commissioned by Marcel Bich and launched in 1970, she was the first yacht to represent France in the America’s Cup.
French Kiss brings another chapter of France’s America’s Cup story to Imperia. Owned by Christophe Babule, she was designed by Philippe Briand for Fremantle 1987 and reached the semi-finals of the Challenger Trials, where her campaign came to an end against Kiwi Magic.
South Australia was born out of the same intense technical and competitive environment surrounding the 1987 America’s Cup. Designed by Ben Lexcen and built in 1985 for Australia’s defence of the Cup, she will bring another remarkable piece of that era’s design and sporting heritage to Imperia.
Alongside the docks, Thea, Emilia and Vanity will extend the story of the class to those experiencing the event ashore. Thea, designed and built in Norway by Johan Anker in 1918, takes visitors back to the European origins of the 12 Metre Class. Emilia, commissioned in 1929 by Senator Giovanni Agnelli, adds an important Italian chapter to the history of the class.
Together, these yachts will bring the history of the International 12 Metre Class vividly to life: yachts created to race, shaped by restorations, changes of ownership and new competitive chapters, now ready to bring to Imperia Sailing Week the spectacle of a historic class that continues to compete where it belongs — on the water.
Ph. Studio Borlenghi
