The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today received the skipper of Esimit Europa 2, Jochen Schümann, one of the best sailors of all time, two time America's Cup winner and four time Olympic medalist, whose sporting achievements were just recently crowned in his country with the most important sports award in Germany – the Golden Sports Pyramid, while he was at the same time inducted into the “Hall of Fame of German sport“.
The German sporting legend is connected with Slovenia in a special way, because he is the skipper of the fastest European yacht, Esimit Europa 2, which is competing with its international team of exceptional sailors from ten European countries within the Esimit Europa project, which was founded by the Slovenian visionary and businessman, Igor Simčič. All the victories of the Esimit Europa 2 yacht put the name of Slovenia among the winners, and the next challenge to do so again will be one of the most renowned races in the Mediterranean, the famous Giraglia Rolex Cup, between the 18th and 20th of June, starting in St. Tropez and finishing in Monte Carlo.
About his experience with the Esimit Europa project, Jochen Schümann said: "In the beginning I was excited mainly because of the extremely advanced yacht that inspires every sailor. Later on, as I became familiar with the vision of Esimit Europa project, it took me over even more, because I come from the so-called Eastern bloc. Connecting different worlds and multicultural cooperation played an important role in my life. With Esimit Europa 2 we accomplish all our successes with a team of ten different European nationalities competing with one yacht. This is also how Esimit Europa 2 is perceived in the world.”
Igor Simčič, founder of the Esimit Europa project, stressed that it was the shared vision and similar life experience between him and Jochen Schümann that played an important role in their excellent cooperation. Namely, the idea to start the Esimit Europa project of connecting and cooperation came from his experience of living and working along the border between Gorizia in Italy and Nova Gorica in Slovenia.
The Ambassador of Germany in Slovenia, who was leading the delegation today, Dr. Anna Elisabeth Prinz, later on in the afternoon hosted a special reception for guests from the fields of business, sports and diplomacy at the residence of the German Embassy in Ljubljana. She presented two partners – the Esimit Europa project with Igor Simčič and Jochen Schümann and the BMW Group Slovenia – that are connected with Germany and who have in past decades marked the European space in a unique way. They have also managed to be a thorn in their competitors’ side by relying on European values, technological development, innovation and a long-term vision.
