PORTO CERVO. The Costa Smeralda Yacht Club reopens its doors. After the cancellation in 2020 of all the regattas, including the legendary Maxi Rolex Cup, the most famous sailing club in the Mediterranean presents the 2021 sports calendar. “Reviewing the club’s doors after such a difficult year fills me with great joy », Says Princess Zahra Aga Khan, president of the YCCS Board of Directors at the opening of the conference moderated by the journalist Giovanni Bruno.
In addition to the founder’s daughter, there is Edoardo Recchi, in the dual role of director and general secretary. «Canceling the 2020 regattas was hard – he remembers – but we are optimistic and start again with many new features. This year for the first time there will be the Porto Cervo-Montecarlo regatta, a route very popular with our members, we are curious to see who will win ». There is also Commodore Michael Illbruck, human engine of the whole adventure: “This restart is a strong signal for the whole world of sailing”. And above all there is a new idea to be pursued, the protection and conservation of the marine environment and attention to young people. “The lessons we must learn from this crisis are certainly many – says the princess -, among these is the rethinking of a more sustainable way of living our sea”.
«With the One Ocean Foundation we have been involved for years in protecting the sea – recchi recalls -. The Reco project, promoted by the foundation itself, this year provides for the appointment of an on-board ecological manager, whose task will be to enforce a precise set of rules within the team. We must remind everyone that sport is competitive but also attention to sustainability. The sea has been and will always be the background of our history, which is why we must strive to give back to the sea what it gives us every day ».
From sustainability to new generations, the Costa Smeralda Yacht Club project looks far ahead. Last year the club launched the Young Azzurra sports program, dedicated to young talents of Italian sailing with a view to equal opportunities. The young crew coordinated by coach Gabriele Bruni, with Ettore Botticini skipper, Federico Colaninno in the role of flight controller, Francesca Bergamo and Erica Ratti who alternate with the mainsail, fresh winner in Malcesine of the Grand Prix 1.1 of the Persico 69F Cup, the first stage of the circuit , will also be involved in the international regattas of the Youth Foiling Gold Cup 2021. «The Young Azzurra sports program was born in August 2020 to participate in the Youth America’s Cup in Auckland. Unfortunately the event was later canceled but thanks to the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda the project went ahead – explains Bonaccini -. This confidence in the sailors of the future is very important, it is a unique opportunity for growth ». And on the Young Azzura there is a nice novelty: on board there are two women and a man, “proving that we girls can do our part too,” jokes Francesca Bergamo.
In the end, a nod to the sailing of tomorrow. Will we have to get used to seeing only boats with flying arms? «Luna Rossa is the sailing boat of the future – admits Young Azzurra’s coach Gabriele Bruni – and the future cannot be stopped».