First event and victory of the season for Viola
For Viola of Yacht Club de Monaco her first regatta of the season was a winner as Kostia Belkin and crew clinched 1st place in the La Mise en Bouche regatta at La Rochelle. Seven classic boats were competing including the gaff cutter which made top step of the podium in her category in the overall ranking and also won the Ostréo Trophy. Conditions were good with four races completed during the event.
Victory for G Spot
Swan- The Nation League 2024 – Swan Tuscany Challenge
18-21 April
The Swan family headed to Scarlino in Italy for the first stage of The Nation League 2024. A successful appetiser for crews and owners like Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio (G-Spot) who clinched victory in the Swan 36 after winning three of the seven races. Leonardo Ferragamo (Cuordileone) and Graeme Peterson (Moonlight) in the Swan 50 came 4th and 7th respectively.
Canard à l’Orange wins the day
After the Primo Cup-Trophée UBS then Trofeo Luigi Carpaneda in Alassio, the Smeralda 888 fleet were out racing again in Saint-Tropez for this keynote event in their calendar. For the 17th Hippocampe Cup, light wind conditions were enough for the eight teams to enjoy another tight contest with Achille Onorato (Canard à l’Orange) in 1st place just ahead of Morten Kielland (Mathilde) followed by Luigi Guarnaccia (Capocaccia).
Timofey Sukhotin (Beda) completed the ranking in 4th, with Germano Scarpa (Giada) and Marco Favale (Millenium Falcon) 6th and 7th. The gentleman racing helmsmen will be back out on the water 28th June in Italy at Yacht Club Costa Smeralda for the 4th stage in their season’s calendar.
5th for YCM
After the Hansa North Cup held in Berk end of March, Yacht Club de Monaco was on the start lines of another regatta for sailors with a disability (Handivoile) as part of its proactive policy to promote sailing for all. The duo Alexandre Richard-Nicolas Lelu were in Saint-Raphaël to compete in a Handivoile League Championship event. After five races in two days the Monegasque team came in 5th. A great start.
Catalan port of call for YCM’s gaff cutter
Yacht Club de Monaco’s flagship, Tuiga, has just cast off from the Real Club Nautica in Barcelona, a club twinned with YCM, for the Ocean Decade Conference 10-12 April 2024.
This Tuesday 9th April, Monaco Explorations in partnership with MedPAN, The MedFund, SPA/RAC, Monk Seal Alliance and Yacht Club de Monaco has organised a satellite event unveiling its latest Mediterranean expedition. On the programme: networking, round tables in Barcelona’s World Trade Centre, inauguration of an exhibition on Marine Protected Areas supported by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, and a guided tour of Tuiga for Catalan pupils, attended by the Sovereign.
World Cup ambitions
Traditionally the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca kick starts the season. But this being Olympic year several classes had already taken advantage of the early months of 2024 to get their World and European Championships in. Yet it was this Spanish meeting where ten Olympic classes turned out to race on one race area for a dress rehearsal before the summer’s big event.
Second stage of season for the Smeraldas
For the second stage of the season the Smeralda 888 fleet were to be found in Alassio for the Trofeo Luigi Carpaneda (non-championship regatta), with seven teams completing nine races in a 5-10 knot breeze. As always it was a hotly contested regatta for these highly experienced sailors, won by YCCS’s Germano Scarpa and his team on Giada followed by Luigi Guarnaccia (Capocaccia) with Yacht Club de Monaco’s Timofey Sukhotin completing the podium on Beda. Another YCM member, Roberto Tamburelli (Botta Dritta) came in 5th ahead of Andrea Startari (Gorilla Gang) 5th and Matteo Noferi (Kzi Mo d’Eau) 7th. Next up for the Smeralda 888 fleet is Saint Tropez from 19-21 April for the Hippocampe Cup.
Hansa North Cup – Berck
Sixty teams from different nationalities were on the start of this regatta for sailors with a disability, including two teams from Yacht Club de Monaco. The round robin phases held on the Saturday served to separate the fleet into Gold, Silver and Bronze groups.
Three days of friendly but fierce competition, passion and motivation followed, with the two Monegasque teams coming 11th in the Gold and 9th in the Silver.
YCM represented in the Caribbean
The Bucket Regatta took place 21-24 March in Saint-Barthélemy where Yacht Club de Monaco’s flag was flying high on Caribbean waters. Nearly a thousand sailors had converged on this tiny island for three days of competition. Thirty boats were competing in seven categories in ideal weather conditions with sunny skies and a steady wind. Yacht Club de Monaco was well represented on the start and even better at the finish where member Joerg Wolfgang Wolle clinched a superb 2nd place on Vijonara in the D category. Frayda Lindemann’s Adela also did well coming 5th in the E group.
Giesbeek Girls race to victory
Yacht Club de Monaco concluded a winning 2nd Woman Leading & Sailing Trophy. The all-female J/70 regatta was a resounding success with teams from all over the world here to celebrate women’s passion for sailing. Under the aegis of its collective ‘Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting’ approach, in partnership with French and Monegasque Sailing Federations and support of FxPro and Slam, the event attracted 90 sailors determined to leave their mark on the race area in Monaco. “It’s a real pleasure to see these women sailing with such enthusiasm. It’s why this meeting is such a success,” says YCM General Secretary Bernard d’Alessandri. Twenty teams representing 13 nations went head to head, proof of the diversity and growth of this remarkable event that’s all down to the dynamism of Pink Wave, a large group of YCM female sailors.