By Karen Cooper

Now celebrating her 55th year, the Giraglia Rolex Cup is one of the largest and most eagerly followed regattas in the Mediterranean. Sponsored by Rolex for ten consecutive years, the regatta and all of the social events that revolve around it have become a staple in the annual calendar for the city of St. Tropez. And in the spirit of this tradition, last night was the prime soirée of the regatta, the Rolex Gala dinner and prize giving ceremony at La Citadelle in St. Tropez.


The evening’s festivities were also the official inauguration of the new La Citadelle courtyard, also known as “L’Amphithéâtre de la Mer”, which has recently undergone major landscaping and renovation. Guests climbed the steps up to the top of the hill and were greeted at the entrance to the courtyard by light blues music echoing across the tables and glasses of champagne upon arrival.

Everything was coordinated in red and white, from the tablecloths to the flowers that crowned the rotating platter centerpieces and numerous surprises awaited those who thought they were merely attending another dinner.

The first small surprise occurred as soon as one opened the menu- out came a butterfly! Not a real one of course, but a wind-up paper replica that whizzed out from between the pages, bringing delight and surprised smiles to everyone at the table.

As the sun slowly disappeared, turning the sky various pinks and purples, the announcers and presenters took to the stage for the Giraglia Rolex Cup inshore races prize giving ceremony. Lindsay Owen Jones, Chairman of the Board of Directors of L'Oreal, was among those receiving prizes as his Magic Carpet Squared came in 2nd overall for the IRC Class. The ceremony honored the top three yachts in each class for the inshore races and the owners of the top position yachts Calima and Edimetra VI each took home a Rolex timepiece in addition to their trophies.

The servers began their duties just after the winners had received their awards, and the multi-course meal was nothing short of exceptional. Just before desert, there was another surprise- a live acrobatic show that took the word circus to an entirely new level! The performing artists that took to the stage are known as Sonic, a body manipulation and balancing act from Italy that performed a spectacular series of choreographed numbers set to powerful music. The group is already very well-known as they performed in the official closing ceremony for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. They swung, balanced, turned, flipped and twisted in ways that no ordinary person could imagine doing and the result was an extraordinary display of the true power and flexibility of the human body.



The entire crowd was captivated, and as the show ended and applause rang throughout the courtyard, there was a second surprise in store for the 2000 by-invitation-only guests: a fireworks spectacle set in time to music. Guests watched the explosions light up the sky and the climactic finish to the show almost left one short of breath. It was easy to tell by the applause that the show had been an enormous success.


But there was still one more surprise in store for the evening: just as the guests had finished their desert, the Milanese group Suonichiari took to the stage and brought the crowd to their feet for a night of dancing that went well into the night. Everything came together as planned and the night was simply a success.


The Rolex Gala Dinner has become a traditional part of the annual Giraglia Rolex Cup. As a formal way to end the first part of the week-long regatta, the dinner honors the winners of the inshore races as everyone prepares to take to the open seas the following day for the offshore Giraglia Race.


Considered by many to be the ‘Fastnet of the Mediterranean’, the Rolex Giraglia Cup is organized by the Yacht Club Italiano under the supervision of the Federazione Italiana Vela, the Fédération Française de Voile, and with the collaboration of the City of St. Tropez, the Yacht Club de France and the Société Nautique de St. Tropez, which is the deputed organizer in France.

For more information about the St. Tropez lifestyle , please contact: Karen Cooper T: +41 79 267 2300 E: karen@regattanews.com International Media Contact Key Partners (KPMS) T: +41 32 724 28 29 F: +41 32 724 28 33 E: info@regattanews.com www.regattanews.com www.kpms.com .

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