A Weekend in Monaco with E1

In Monaco’s glittering Port Hercule—around which the principality’s towers rise like well-liveried sentries, silent yet prominent, punctuated only by the rat-a-tat of a revving supercar—the world’s first all-electric powerboat racing league returned this past weekend like something, slightly, out of a sci-fi action movie. 

The E1 Series, as it’s called, may be in its infancy (the sport is only in its sophomore year), but it already feels like a franchise from the near future: part Formula 1, part Star Wars, and part alluring Bond villain yacht party.

At the center of the spectacle are E1’s Racebirds, which are sleek, almost needle-like battery-charged crafts that foil sharply through the chop. Their design isn’t far off from a Rebel Alliance X-wing, if the Rebel Alliance had a penchant for luxury sponsors (Bombay Sapphire and the Saudi Arabian destination Alula, included). 

Each boat is identical in build, but personalized in color scheme. You’ll spot LeBron James’ name on the Alula boat, Rafa Nadal’s signature toro logo on another, and crew milling about with the words “Team Brady” printed across their shoulders. The global celebrity presence is part of the draw, as each team is backed by a superstar owner and “champion,” including these aforementioned athletes, as well as those from other industries, like Steve Aoki, whose Racebird looks like something out of an Ibizan adrenaline rush.

E1’s race format is straightforward in theory, if not always in practice: heats of head-to-head duels, run in close succession, with the winners moving into the semi-finals and then a final showdown. Each team has one female and one male pilot, and only one pilot races at a time. And, unlike on-land racing where tracks are paved and boundaried, the courses in E1 are outlined by high-visibility buoys that don’t float idly—they’re GPS-tracked aquatic drones, propelling themselves into position with remarkable precision. There’s no anchoring to the seabed. Instead, a ghost map in motion.

In Monte-Carlo, E1’s second-ever official race weekend there, the course snaked in front of the famed Monaco Yacht Club—whose decks doubled as a multi-tiered watch party, with guests in designer sunglasses and Brunello Cucinelli sneakers sipping Bombay Sapphire cocktails, like the house’s signature “Sparkling Lemon.”

The famed gin brand serves as one of the championship’s title partners, an alignment that makes aesthetic and strategic sense. Blue is the unifying hue of the E1 ecosystem—sea, sky, logo, mindset—and the drink’s luxe positioning dovetails neatly into what E1’s CEO, Rodi Basso, calls the “Blue Economy.” It’s shorthand for a burgeoning water-based enterprise: one focused on aquatic innovation, entertainment, and sustainability, not extraction and pollution.

The event had all the trimmings of a Riviera affair—linen blazers, Kelly bags and Rolex watches—but there was real competition and strategizing happening beneath the gloss. In the so-called Princely Lounge on the Yacht Club’s upper deck, Nadal and Brady were seen conferring with their pilots. Both of their teams had made it past the first round (though Rafa’s boat had incurred damage during qualifying the day before). There are lots of tactics involved—how to take a turn tight but clean, how to jostle for position without contact. And as with Formula 1, drama brews quickly on the water.

Still, we found one major hurdle: spectating isn’t exactly easy. The boats move fast yet they’re kind of far from shore, and without grandstands, tracking the action from land is a challenge. Even the commentators suggested at one point that they were confused. The Monaco hills may offer a postcard view (as do other sites, like Lago Maggiore, which happened earlier this year, and Miami, which is upcoming), but for now, the racing itself is best caught on drone footage, on-boat cameras, or from the top deck of a megayacht. 

Watch this blue space, though—this sport has fins.