Since Rolex’s first partnership with the New York Yacht Club in 1958, the brand has supported the development of competitive sailing through alliances with yacht clubs around the world.
Places of exchange and competition, yacht clubs are the organizers of regattas and offshore races. They uphold sailing traditions and drive technological developments in the nautical world. They are also training centres for young sailors.
Through its relationships with yacht clubs, Rolex is committed to supporting efforts to perpetuate the discipline and transfer sailing expertise to new generations.
As a partner of yacht clubs and the international federation World Sailing, Rolex stands with those who develop the future of this sport every day.
Rolex is committed to continuously supporting some of the most active yacht clubs in the world.
Rolex is the Official Timepiece and Global Partner of World Sailing, the international sailing federation. It organizes the annual Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards, crowning the season’s best men’s and women’s sailors. As Title Sponsor of these highly regarded awards, the brand offers each winner a Rolex timepiece.
Gary Jobson is a major stakeholder and active member of the sailing community, contributing to the continuation and transmission of sailing throughout the world. He made his mark as a tactician during the 1977 America’s Cup, won by Courageous, the New York Yacht Club’s defender. Journalist and editor-in-chief of leading sailing magazines, he has contributed to more than 1,200 films and television programmes. Jobson is the author of 21 books on sailing and a former vice-president of World Sailing, the international sailing federation. He has been a Rolex Testimonee since 1999.
A great number of the yachts designed by German Frers have been known to cross the start line in leading international events. A celebrated naval architect, he has designed more than 1,300 yachts. For more than half a century, he has been at the forefront of technological progress in the yachting industry and supported several generations of sailors. The Argentinian has left his mark on cruising, regatta racing and ocean racing. He started out in the 1980s by designing some of the fastest and most modern Maxis of the time (Matador, Il Moro di Venezia II, Cannonball and Flyer II). Frers also collaborated with the highly regarded Nautor Swan boatyard. Many of his yachts have competed in international races partnered by Rolex. In 2021, the designer unveiled Recluta, a replica of a boat that his father, also a naval architect, had designed 80 years earlier. The 20-metre ketch was shown at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the home par excellence of yachting tradition and its continuation.
