(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- The final stage of the five-event European 2K
Team Race Tour was held at the Yacht Club de Monaco, ending a season
that started in May. The format is 2 x 2 team-racing on J/70s provided
by YC Monaco.For the three-day weekend the circuit’s top teams showed up in Monaco for the grand finale. Many of them are young sailors aged 20-30 from northern Europe, all delighted to qualify and take advantage of the mild Mediterranean winter, including the English from the Royal Thames Yacht Club and Germans from the Bayerischer Yacht Club.
The first day of competition on the Friday saw 18 races completed in the first Round Robin, allowing the favorites to establish their positions in the lead. The second day produced a steady easterly with light chop and confirmed the rankings with 19 more races held.
The
two-on-two format is exciting. “Last place loses.” 2x2 pits a team on
two boats from one club against a team on two boats from another club on
short match race style courses with no spinnakers. It’s not about
speed, but mastering tactics, techniques and team race rules to out-wit
one’s opponents, working as a team and not as an individual boat.“It’s exciting to watch! Like a scrum in a rugby match. With the first of a group making a U-turn to help their team-mates on the other boat so they don’t come last, by making life awkward for their opponent team,” commented Jean Lorenzi, one of the YCM’s Judges more used to the classic fleet race format.
Finally, the young team from DMTRA (Dutch Match & Team Racing Association) won this third edition with seven wins out of nine, ahead of young members from the Rome Racing Team (Reale Circolo Canottieri Tevere Remo) and the Sardinians from the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.
It has to be said that the highly motivated Italian teams did not go down without a fight from the start to finish of each race, but it was the Dutch who triumphed, thanks to a steady hand at the helm and exceptional tactical expertise worthy of the best America’s Cup skippers. For more YC Monaco Team Race series sailing information
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