Founded, like the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, in 1980, the biennial event attracts Nautor’s Swan yachts from around the world and in recent years the fleet has regularly topped 100 yachts ranging from 37 to 112 feet (11 to 35 metres) in length and from early designs by Sparkman and Stephens to hi-tech one-design craft. The 2012 edition will play host to the Swan 45 Rolex World Championship while the remainder of the fleet will be divided into categories according to the size and age of the participating yachts. Organizers the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda have scheduled a series of courses along the rugged Sardinian coastline and around the many islands and islets of the La Maddalena Archipelago during five days of racing with a long race, that could take the fleet as far as the French islands off Corsica, also planned.