“What a race!” was the most common remark among the thousands of spectators at the dock side of Trieste, after a dramatic finish of the 46th edition of the Barcolana regatta, as Esimit Europa 2 crossed the finish line first, struggling in conditions of calm and very light breeze up to only 2 knots of speed.

At the famous Barcolana, the sailing festival in Trieste, 1,878 yachts gathered at the starting line, which was the highest number of yachts in the last five years, since Esimit Europa 2 has been competing at this regatta. This year, this largest single-start regatta in the Mediterranean was marked with extreme conditions of calm and light breeze, in which the crews had to navigate in no more than two knots of wind speed throughout the course of the race. The organizers had to shorten the original course of about 13 nautical miles to end at the first water mark.

In a dramatic finish with sailboats Jena No Borders Team (Maxi Jena), Tempus fugit (Tutta Trieste) and Illyteca, the crew of Esimit Europa 2, which is composed of the best sailors from 11 different European countries, led by the German sailing legend in the role of skipper and helmsman, Jochen Schumann, managed to cross the finish line as the first in the fleet. After 2 hours, 38 minutes and 38 seconds of sailing on only about four nautical miles long course of today's race, the Esimit Europa 2 achieved its fifth consecutive victory at the Barcolana regatta, and its 34 consecutive victory since its christening in 2010. The second and third place went to the sailing boats Illyteca and Jena No Borders Team.
 
Igor Simčič, founder of the Esimit Europa project: "To win today, we really had to do our best. Sailing with a 24-ton yacht in the Gulf of Trieste in such a calm was not easy. Today, our crew proved that they can be the best also in such extreme conditions. We really had to concentrate during the race, and we really made the best of what the nature offered us today."

In very different conditions of this race in the year 2010, the Esimit Europa 2 established the record of 56 minutes and 13 seconds on the 16.8-mile course.