NEWS FROM THE TWINNED CLUBS (N°24)

Yacht Class n°24 (march-april-may 2021)

In each issue, discover the latest news of all the yacht clubs around the world twinned with the Monegasque club.

YACHT CLUB PUNTA DEL ESTE (YCPE)

South Atlantic Circuit 2021

Taking into consideration the pandemic and the current sanitary situation, both co-organizers of the event, Yacht Club Argentino and Yacht Club Punta del Este, decided to host the races each in its waters. Therefore, this January our Club hosted a racing week for IRC, ORC and PHRF formula sailing boats, followed by a J 70 Racing Week. Yacht Club Argentino hosted the same event in parallel, in Buenos Aires. In Punta del Este, from January 7 to 16, the weather could not have been better for sailing and the three regattas took place: Punta Ballena, Mansa Beach and Gorriti Island. The J70 fleet encountered some strong winds resulting in intense and very even races. It was a truly magnificent display in the Bay of Maldonado, with a numerous amount of competitors proving their passion for sailing in spite of these difficult times. ClassementsIRC et PHRF1. Mucho Sol IV (YCPE) Harry GiuraClasicos1. Cippino (YCPE) Daniel SieleckiPHRF “M”1. Dona Hilda (YCPE) Thomas Wallace.

REAL CLUB NAUTICO DE BARCELONA (RCNB)

ORC Double Handed European Championship

The Real Club Náutico de Barcelona is pleased to announce that the Offshore Classes and Events Committee of the ORC has assigned us the organization of the 2023 ORC Double Handed European Championship. The Double Handed class is a strategic cruise class that is having a very significant growth worldwide in recent years, and the reality of having a large and consolidated fleet of small sea vessels has encouraged us to request the organisation of this event. The ORC in its November 2020 and January 2021 sessions has established the formats of the DH championships and assigned the headquarters of the next three events of this mode. The year 2021 will be the first ORC Double Handed European Championship at the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club in Athens (Greece), between 4 and 10 July, and the year 2022 the headquarters will be the Royal Swedish Yacht Club in Stockholm (Sweden). The celebration of the third edition of ORC Double Handed European Championship will take place in Barcelona waters in September 2023, and the exact dates will be announced The recognised experience of our yacht club in international level events of this type, such as the 2015 World OCC, the multiple editions of the Trofeo de vela Conde de Godó and the Puig Vela Clàssica Barcelona regatta, has been a determining factor in being elected to organise this high-level championship. The Real Club Náutico de Barcelona is in close collaboration with the National Committee of Crossers of the RFEV, the FCV, the various associations of reduced crew regathers and the Offshore Classes and Events Committee of the ORC, and from now on, we are operating for the organization of this exciting championship. We’ll keep you informed !

CLUBE NAVAL DE CASCAIS (CNC)

1st SB20 Cascais Winter Series (07-08 November 2020)

Cascais SB20 Winter Series are Back! The 28 SB20 fleet took to the sea to make her debut in the Cascais Winter Series of the 2020-2021 season. Heading the fleet, there was “PussPuss / SailCascais” of Vasco Serpa with Joaquim Moreira and Pedro Costa Alemão, who just blasted off at the beginning of the race. In second ”Keep Clear / SailCascais / Kubo” team by Bernardo Loureiro, Guilherme Gomes, Mafalda Gonçalves and Manuel Fortunato. Closing the podium was “Yess Tooenty” with Francisca Barros, Tiago Morais, Nuno Barreto and Teresa Borges Coutinho.

2e SB20 Cascais Winter Series (12-13 December 2020)

The second Cascais Winter Series of the SB20 class started with 29 participating boats which completed the three races scheduled for the first day with wind between 7 and 8 knots and ranging between West and Northwest. Leading the fleet and with a bullet in the opening race was “PussPuss / SailCascais” by Vasco Serpa with Joaquim Moreira and Pedro Costa Alemão who just blasted off. In second place was the “Lusíadas Saúde” team, led by Vasco Antunes Pereira and assisted by Diogo Barros and Tiago Morais. In the lowest place on the podium was The “Roff becomes Inetum” team, composed of Manuel Marques, Hugo Mastbaum and Gonçalo Ribeiro, came third on the podium.
Water sports activities awaiting new instructionsThe dynamic Portuguese Yacht Club informs its members and yachtsmen wishing to visit its facilities that it applies the sanitary measures recommended by the Government of the Portuguese Republic. These measures are applied with immediate effect. The Club House, the bar and the gym are therefore closed. Regarding the nautical activities, the sailing school and the crews, the Clube Naval de Cascais is waiting for the recommendations of the Portuguese Sailing Federation. These will be communicated to the members at the first opportunity, respecting, of course, the sanitary conditions of the moment. Whenever justified, the Executive Committee of the Clube Naval de Cascais will update the disclosure of all actions, competitions, measures and initiatives in progress, or to be implemented, within the framework of the measures that public health requires.

Trophée de Voile de la Fondation Mirpuri (03-06 June 2021)

The second edition of what aims to be one of the main sailing events in the world is guaranteed, the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy, which will take place from 3rd to 6th of June 2021, in Cascais, where the fleet of 100 sailing boats are expected, including conventional and high-performance cruisers. The race is organized by Mirpuri Foundation in partnership with Clube Naval de Cascais. The Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy will be a plastic-free sustainable regatta. SB20 World Championship (29 August-04 September)After five years, the SB20 World Championship will be back to Cascais. The SB20 World Championship was postponed from 2020 to this year due to the Covid-19.

Championnat du monde Rolex TP52 (12-17 July 2021)

In July, the third event of the year sees a welcome return to Cascais, where the Rolex TP52 World Championship will take place from 12-17th July. It will be the second time that the Rolex TP52 World Championship has been hosted there and memories remain fresh of the fantastic, breezy, wavy conditions over the corresponding, same week in 2017, when Quantum Racing won by three points ahead of Azzurra. Rob Weiland, TP52 class manager, comments: “Measuring to any standard at all you cannot fault a circuit that offers Saint-Tropez – Baiona – Cascais – Puerto Portals – in terms of the sailing and the social mix when we try to restrict ourselves to the Western Mediterranean and Iberian Atlantic coast. I do hope we will be able in 2021 to have another go at the TP52 Class 20th Anniversary Invitational. Many were looking forward to this regatta and the opportunity to see twenty TP52s racing together, and we will do all we can to make it happen!”

Women’s Sailing Champions League 2021

The second edition of the women’s sailing league championship will be held from October 15 to 17, 2021, at the Clube Naval de Cascais, Portugal. With the first edition of the Women’s Sailing Champions League, in 2018, an international competition reserved for women has been created and the conditions have been studied to engage more women in this interclub competition. For the Women’s Sailing Champions League 2021, each of the national sailing leagues has the opportunity to send a team to the regatta. The International Sailing League Association (ISLA) leaves it up to the national leagues to decide which club to propose to participate in this event.

YACHT CLUB COSTA SMERALDA (YCCS)

The Young Azurra boosts her preparation!

Young Azzurra, the sports project launched in 2020 by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda dedicated to talented young Italian sailors, is set to take part in international regattas in 2021 including the Youth Foiling World Cup and several legs of the Persico 69F Cup circuit.The team, composed of skipper Ettore Botticini, Federico Colaninno (flight controller), Francesca Bergamo and Erica Ratti – the two mainsail trimmers who alternate on board, along with coach Enrico Zennaro, has recently resumed training aboard the Persico 69F in the waters off Gaeta. The town in southern Lazio region will also be the location for the first event of the year for the team: the opening leg of the Youth Foiling World Cup, which will take place from 24 February to 12 March. Created to replace the Youth America’s Cup, which had been scheduled for February-March 2021 in Auckland and was later cancelled due to the global pandemic, the schedule for the event includes the opening ceremony on 26 February, followed by a warm-up regatta, qualifying rounds from 3 to 8 March, and the final from 10 to 12 March. The event is dedicated to under-25 crews from all over the world representing their respective yacht clubs, and will be held across three legs over the course of 12 months. The first two appointments will be in Italy while the final will take place in Hong Kong in 2022.

“The opportunity to measure ourselves against crews from all over the world.”

Young Azzurra will return to Lake Garda between the end of April and the beginning of May for the first regatta of the Persico 69F Cup circuit. The other events will take the YCCS crew to Porto Cervo in early July, where they will make their racing debut in home waters. “The Young Azzurra project gives us positive motivation for the beginning of this new year, with the team facing an intense sporting programme. We are aware that the health crisis is still ongoing, and as always, we will monitor developments carefully, ensuring maximum safety for our athletes. That said, we hope that all the events on the calendar will be able to take place and that our young sailors can grow professionally and personally through this new sailing adventure”, commented Michael Illbruck, Commodore of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. “We are really happy to be able to get back on the water !” added Ettore Botticini, skipper of Young Azzurra. “During the months of the winter break we had a personal trainer to ensure we could start practising again in the best possible physical shape. Not all the team members have had the opportunity to train on the water, so we will get back into the game focusing on technique and reasoning, optimising the time we have available before the Youth Foiling World Cup. We have very challenging races ahead, this is a great opportunity for us to compete against teams from all over the world. We can’t wait to get started so that we can implement all the new ideas and processes that we’ve been studying ashore recently!”

Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS)

The longing for offshore sail racing has never been greater

Gotland Runt, the world’s largest annual offshore race, filled its 200 spots available for the 2021 race in record time. The desire for ocean racing has never been greater. Following a sailing season that was heavily influenced by the pandemic, many teams are now eager to get back on the water. 2021 will likely be a great year for the sailing sport with the Olympic games in Tokyo, a fully stacked Fastnet Race and Gotland Runt among many, many other regattas… Gotland Runt (1st-7th July 2021), arranged by the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS), is the world’s largest annual offshore race. With the spectacular start in the very city center of Stockholm, tight inshore sailing through the archipelago, the island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea is passed on starboard before finishing at the legendary sailing island of Sandhamn. The course is 352 NM long and is known for its often very challenging weather conditions. In 2019 the fleet was surprised by stormy weather, forcing almost 100 boats to retire. Fortunately, no crew injuries but all boat captains were reminded that the weather in the Baltic in the summer can be tough, even for the most experienced crews. The race has an impressive history ranging back to 1930s when it was sailed for the first time. The Gotland Runt race organization expected the interest to participate in Gotland Runt 2021 would be great since the race in 2020 got cancelled, but the interest has been overwhelming. The 200 spots filled up in a week, quicker than ever and the waiting list is almost 100 boats long from many countries. There will be boats starting from at least 8 countries, full crew as well as shorthanded.

“A race that every team wants to have on its record”

“We are extremely happy to see such profound interest in Gotland Runt” says Håkan Andersson, Race Director. “The level of participation is almost like it was back in the 80’s and now we have added the spectacular inshore part with the start from Stockholm City. Back in the 80’s the boats were much smaller and sailing Gotland Runt was something of a family adventure. Now, many boats are professionally crewed, the safety regulations are stricter, and the level of competition has increased, Gotland Runt has become an important race to win for any crew. The mix of boats, from The Ocean Race boats to local offshore racers and crews marks the very nature of the race”. An important part of the presentation of the race is the shore event organized in the city of Stockholm with a popular Race Village, attracting over 100.000 visitors every year. For 2021, KSSS anticipate moving from Skeppsholmen to the Royal Djurgården, to facilitate a more sustainable harbor and a better event area for all the visitors. The regatta organizers are now looking into expanding the mooring facilities to accept more participants and offer as many as possible on the long waiting list a well-deserved start in the race. “Although the waiting list is long, we still encourage boatowners to sign up, pending the circumstances, we strive to host a big event with as many boats as we possibly can squeeze in”, Håkan says. The message from KSSS is clear, “in 2020 we had to cancel the race due to Covid-19. In 2021 we will race. Naturally we can’t be sure that all restrictions are gone by July, but we have learned a lot from the 2020 season, hence we now know how to make a safe and manageable event”. KSSS welcomes the sailing community to Stockholm in July to experience the pleasant Swedish summer conditions. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that the sailing season in 2021 will be as memorable as it has the potential to become!