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More than just an Outstanding Sailing Project

Esimit Europa 2 improves her record time in the Palermo-Montecarlo Race

Photo by: Andrea Carloni/CVS

By crossing the finish line at 11:46:48 Esimit Europa 2 managed to improve by more than one hour the previous best finishing time in the Palermo-Montecarlo Race set in 2010. As Esimit sailing Team celebrated their triumph the nearest following rival was still sailing through the Strait of Bonifacio. The record time made the victory in front of the home yacht club even more exciting, all the more so since they arrived here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Esimit Europa project in the Yacht Club de Monaco at the end of next week.

With an elapsed time of 47 hours 46 minutes and 48 seconds Esimit Europa 2 set the new record to enter the hall of fame of line honours victories in the 11th edition of the Palermo - Montecarlo Race. Esimit Europa 2 has been competing in this race in consecutive years from 2010 to 2012 and set the previous record in 2010, when the crew completed the 500 nautical mile course in 48 hours, 52 minutes and 21 seconds. This is already the 39th consecutive line honours victory for Esimit Europa 2 and her 4th at this race.

The founder of the project Igor Simčič was proud of his team and most satisfied with the performance of the yacht: “This is really a great result for the last race of this season, and crowned with a record. Now it is time to celebrate, but not only this record, we are also celebrating 20 years of the project here in the Yacht Club de Monaco next Saturday.”

On Friday August 21 at exactly midday amid a fleet of 37 yachts from 7 countries, Esimit Europa 2 set sail from the starting line in Palermo to embark on the 500 nautical mile long course from the Gulf of Mondello towards Port Hercules in Monte Carlo, where her home yacht club is based. The course took competing yachts through the gateway in front of Porto Cervo in mid-race, leaving Sardinia on port side, while after the gateway, yachts could choose whether to sail Corsica on port or starboard side.

Sailing in light sea breeze conditions, especially during the night time, the Esimit Sailing Team reached the midpoint gate in front of Porto Cervo in the afternoon of the second day and continued in the lee of Corsica during the second night before the crew caught some nice breeze in the morning bringing them home in a new record time for the race.

After this victorious finish, Jochen Schümann, the skipper of Esimit Europa 2 said: "It is a very surprising result that we finished in a record time on top of the line honours victory. The result is based on the very good start that we had, also on very good up and down sailing at the beginning that already enabled us to open up good lead, so that throughout the race we felt free to make our own racing decisions. I must say that our navigator Tom Addis did a great job and made very good decisions at some of the very crucial points during the race, around the Strait of Bonifacio and later on, so that we never stopped, which is very important in this race. This result is a great compliment to the team and the yacht just a few days before the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the project which will take place here in Monte Carlo.”

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Article details

Title : Esimit Europa 2 improves her record time in the Palermo-Montecarlo Race
Date : Aug 23, 2015
Location : Monte Carlo, Monaco

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