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More than just an Outstanding Sailing Project

Esimit Europa 2 continues the winning streak into jubilee racing season at the Volcano race

Photo by: IMA-Gianluca Di Fazio

Esimit Europa 2 was the first yacht to cross the finish line of the scenic Volcano race at 10:37:24 CEST this morning. With an elapsed time of 1 day, 21 hours and 2 minutes to navigate the 391 nautical miles of this renowned offshore race, Esimit Europa 2 returned across the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Aeolian Islands to Gaeta to take its 36th consecutive line honours win.

The fleet consisting of nine Maxis, ranging in size from 60ft to 100ft, set sail at 13:35 CEST on 20 May from the waters of Gaeta, located about half-way between Rome and Naples. Esimit Europa 2 led all the way from the starting point, reaching the waypoint at the island of Alicudi in the early hours of the following morning. This gave the crew the opportunity to sail around the famous volcanic archipelago during daylight, rounding the active volcano of Stromboli and Strombolicchio before tea time. In a stretch of along upwind sailing, the team headed back north towards the island of Capri, which they passed before dawn to reach the finish line at Gaeta in the morning of 22 May at 10:37:24 CEST.

The skipper of Esimit Europa 2, Jochen Schümann, said: “This was a beautiful season opener for us. We had a really good start but then we were a little bit too fast for the front, so we had to keep moving west to catch it again, that slowed us down a little bit compared to others. At the first volcano we got parked for some time, but the rest of them went really smoothly. We changed a lot of sails during this race, we had about 20 to 30 changes. The boat performed good, we also have some new crew members that were integrated into the team and performed very well. The race is very well organized, great hospitality from the yacht club and I must say that Gaeta is a great starting and finishing point for the Volcano race.”

This is already the second time that Esimit Europa 2 has taken part in this spectacular race where she took the line honours already in last year’s edition. With this year’s win the Esimit Sailing Team is also celebrating the opening of a jubilee season of racing as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Esimit Europa project. The occasion will be celebrated on 29 August in Monte Carlo, at the home yacht club of Esimit Europa 2, Yacht Club de Monaco.

The Volcano race is organized by the International Maxi Association, in collaboration with the Yacht Club Gaeta E.V.S. and the Base Nautica Flavio Gioia.

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Article details

Title : Esimit Europa 2 continues the winning streak into jubilee racing season at the Volcano race
Date : May 22, 2015
Location : Gaeta; Italy

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