Navicap Challenge – Elena Sivoldaeva Trophy 

1-3 December 2023

 

Sunday 3^rd December 2023. All the right conditions were there to ensure a successful event. Organised by Yacht Club de Monaco, the 1^st Navicap Challenge –  Elena Sivoldaeva Trophy ended in brilliant sunshine on Sunday, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, ahead of the announcement of a national inclusion of people with a disability policy due to be announced Tuesday 5^th December in Monaco.

Above all, the aim was to ensure each and every participant enjoyed ideal conditions. “We want to offer everyone the opportunity to experience the freedom one feels when at sea,” says Bernard d’Alessandri, Yacht Club de Monaco General Secretary. “This was an important event and prime example of actions taken by the Club to make sailing accessible to all”. An integral part of the collective ‘Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting’ approach, the regatta attracted 60 sailors from all over Europe including Spain, England, Italy, France, Switzerland and Monaco.

 

United round a shared approach

It was on Hansa 303s, a boat designed to accommodate all types of sailors, including those with disabilities, that some 30 teams gathered at the foot of the Rocher. Thanks to a lovely southwesterly then an easterly, they had plenty of time to enjoy the Monaco race area. Amateurs and seasoned sailors, able bodied or with a disability, the teams of two racked up nine races. Suspense was high on the Sunday as the fleet met for the finals, with victory in the gold group finally going to Anne Marteau and Gaspard Laguibaut from Régates de Royan, ahead of the Rory McKinna and Lucien Bermont pair from the Clyde Cruising Club and CEV Berk followed by the Italians Cristina Maria Atzori and Alessandra Cappellu from a.s.d. Valiamoci. In the silver, Virginie Lavigne sailing with Tobias Thuiller from CEV Berk clinched 1^st place. The prize-giving ceremony concluded with an exchange of flags between the Hansa class and Yacht Club de Monaco crest to much applause by everyone who attended.

 

 

Shared values

“It was truly a victory for everyone. Thank you to the YCM for hosting it so well,” said Elena Sivoldaeva, a member of the Yacht Club de Monaco, “you are all an excellent source of motivation”. The event began to take shape when she generously donated two Hansa 303 boats to the Club and just recently an Echo 90. Rigged as a ketch, the 9m twin rudder catamaran sailing boat, open at the stern and unsinkable, officially made its entry into the Monaco fleet on Saturday when the boat was christened in a ceremony attended by Bernard d’Alessandri, Elena Sivoldaeva and Jacques Pastor, responsible for sport at Monaco’s City Hall.

 

A date has already been set for the second edition which will take place 20^th November to 1^st December 2024. Meanwhile, there is no let up for the YCM as it prepares for Act 2 of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series next weekend (7-10 December), currently led by Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio (G-Spot) from YCM.