(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- Since 1985, top European one-design sailors are
often found in Monaco at the beginning of February to compete in the
first event on the Mediterranean circuit.As the Yacht Club Monaco continues to ramp-up its sailing programs, bringing life to the Principality’s harbor, the Club is set to host an armada of one-design elites for the 34th Primo Cup– Trophée Credit Suisse, February 8th to 11th. This year, the weather looks promising, with partly to mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-50s F, and winds SSW 6-9 kts Friday, 12-16 kts northeast on Saturday, and 7-12 kt westerlies on Sunday.
With 400+ sailors from 12 countries participating, the event brings together top European teams and enthusiastic amateurs. It is always a great spectacle on the water off the grand and picturesque waterfront of Monte Carlo and the après-racing ambiance and experience ashore are simply world-class.
Without a doubt, the YC Monaco has established its positioning as a winter base for one-designs, particularly for the J/70 class that has been competing in the monthly Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series of regattas since October.
With
thirty-eight teams (54% of the regatta), the J/70 is the biggest fleet
with highly experienced teams from across Europe (Russia, France,
Switzerland, Monaco, Germany, Poland, Italy, Great Britain) and South
America (Brazil).The headliners for this event should be last year’s 2017 Primo Cup- Trophee Suisse J/70 class winners- Mario Sorensen Garcia’s MANDACHUVA crew from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the current runaway leader of the YC Monaco J/70 Winter Sportboat series- Valerya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE team from Moscow, Russia.
Challenging that formidable duo will be YC Monaco’s 2017 Yachtsman of the Year- Vincenzo Onorato sailing his famous MASCALZONE LATINO. In addition, past regatta contenders should also see other teams at the top of the leaderboard, such as Germany’s Gerd Knospe skippering SANNA R and Michael Grau helming PAINT IT BLACK; Italy’s Germano Scarpa on SPORTCUBE; YC Monaco’s own Stefano Roberti on PICCININA; Poland’s Pawel Tarnowski on APOTEX; and the fast Swiss crews- Nelson Mettraux’s CER APROTEC- VILLE DE GENEVE and Bruno Zeltner’s QUARTER2ELEVEN.
Meeting the professionals
The regatta kick-starts the Mediterranean racing season and is also a platform for meeting people and exchanging ideas. In this spirit, on Thursday at 5.30pm, the celebrated French sailor from Nice- Jean-Pierre Dick- will be presenting his new project, “Easy2Fly”- a one-design foiling catamaran. Of note for J/Sailors, “JP” was a long-time ferociously competitive J/24, then J/80 sailor, on the French and European racing circuits. That background and experience led to his equally tenacious “one-design” sailing style in the French and European multihull and Open 60 circuits- he’s famous for “not giving an inch” to his single and doublehanded rivals offshore!! A lesson well-learned in J/one-design racing!
The whole team recognized at prize-giving
Another special feature of the Primo Cup– Trophée Credit Suisse is that it rewards team-work. All crew members in the first three boats in each class receive clothing from SLAM’s Advanced Technology Sportswear!! For more Primo Cup- Trophee Credit Suisse sailing information
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