From charter yacht to offshore racer, this October TESS will take on the 2026 Rolex Middle Sea Race.
TESS is not the kind of yacht you would immediately expect to see on a starting line.
At 24 metres, she is a classic sailing yacht built in France in 1986, with the unmistakable lines of her era and the character that comes with four decades at sea. Most of the time, she is a yacht made to be enjoyed. Long days under sail, swimming from the stern platform, afternoons on her flush deck and evenings in the generous cockpit with guests and crew.
This October, however, she will have a very different purpose.
TESS will arrive in Malta on October 12th to prepare for the 2026 Rolex Middle Sea Race, with the start scheduled on the 17th. Fifteen people will step on board, bringing together professional sailors, businessmen and experienced seamen. The team will be led by Bruno Montalbano Peila, CEO of Malta Sail Factory.
It will be TESS’s first Middle Sea Race.
The decision to race her is not about turning a classic yacht into something she is not. Quite the opposite. It is about bringing back a part of what has always been in her DNA.
Built by MAG and designed by Martin Francis, TESS was conceived as a high performance sloop. She has a 3.8 metre draft and more than 800 square metres of sail area, dimensions that still give her an impressive presence under sail.
She also has racing experience behind her. In 2018, TESS took part in the Tag Heuer Vela Cup, winning her category, Class 6 Crociera. This time, the challenge will be considerably bigger. The Middle Sea Race will take her around Sicily and across more than 600 nautical miles of open water.
For the occasion, TESS has been prepared with a new set of sails produced by Malta Sail Factory. The boat will race in a dedicated configuration, leaving behind, for a few days, the comfort and relaxed pace of her usual charter life.
That contrast is exactly what makes this project interesting to us at West Coast International.
TESS is a good example of the versatility of the yachts we represent. She can be a comfortable charter yacht for eight guests, with four cabins, a large cockpit and plenty of space to enjoy the sea. At the same time, underneath that relaxed exterior is a genuine sailing machine, designed around performance rather than simply appearance.
The Middle Sea Race gives us the opportunity to show that other side of her.
From Malta, we will be following TESS throughout race week and sharing the preparation, the atmosphere and the experience on the water.
For a yacht built in 1986, this is not about proving that she can compete with modern boats. It is about putting her back where she belongs, under sail, with the crew working together and the Mediterranean ahead of her.
Copyright: Protected by copyright, Credit: ©Rolex/Kurt Arrigo, Creator: Kurt Arrigo
