This morning at 4:52:00, Esimit Europa 2 crossed the finish line in front of the historic port of Saint-Tropez as first of a fleet of around 90 yachts that set sail with the first start at the stroke of midnight from Sanremo on the 60 nautical mile offshore race. With downwind sailing all the way, Esimit Europa 2 completed the course in the remarkable time of 4 hours 51 minutes to win its 37th consecutive line honours victory.
After a spectacular fireworks display in the bay of Sanremo last night, at 12:01:00 for the IRC class and 0:31:00 for the ORC class the fleet headed downwind in a north-easterly wind with a speed of 10-15 knots towards Saint-Tropez. The wind speed later decreased to 10 knots along the course and became very light in the gulf of Saint-Tropez.
The skipper of Esimit Europa 2, Jochen Schümann, said that the night-time start was also something new for him, which made it an exciting race, especially with so many boats on the starting line. In this race, one of the world's leading navigators and weather routers Adrienne Cahalan joined the Esimit Sailing Team, making her also the first woman to be part of the crew of Esimit Europa 2. “This was a good race in terms of a very good start on a crowded start line, and in terms of a night start which can be quite hard, as you have to rely mostly on the electronics. Speed never really dropped during the race, we did not get parked, but it was also a tricky race – we had to do a lot of manoeuvres, a lot of jibes and we had a lot of sail changes to make the maximum of the conditions we had. All in all this was a very good race, without rest, we were just a bit too fast for the sunrise finish in the beautiful port of Saint-Tropez,” she said after the victorious finish.
Esimit Europa 2 took the lead soon after the start and thanks to the right tactical decisions the team managed to stay with the wind all the way, which enabled them to cross the finish line in an elapsed time of 4 hours and 51 minutes.
This young offshore race was organised for the sixth time as a kick off to the Giraglia Rolex Cup to enhance the spirit of friendship between the neighbouring states, Italy and France, and the co-organising of yachts clubs on both sides: Yacht Club Sanremo, Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, Yacht Club Italiano and Yacht Club de France. The participating yachts are now looking forward to three days of inshore racing before the start of the offshore Giraglia Rolex Cup Race next Wednesday, 17 June in the 63rd edition of this Mediterranean classic, where 248 yachts are expected at the start.
