News

A PACKED SPORTING CALENDAR AND A NEW COMMITMENT
TO THE ENVIRONMENT ANNOUNCED

21st February 2017, Milan. Founded in 1967, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) this year celebrates its first 50 years of existence. This morning during a press conference held in Milan at the Riccardo Catella Foundation, an association dedicated to the research and promotion of sustainable local development since 2007, the YCCS presented a programme of social and sporting events to mark the occasion. No less than 20 regattas will take place at the Club’s Mediterranean base in Porto Cervo and its Caribbean home in Virgin Gorda, while members will enjoy a series of special celebrative appointments.

As part of a project aimed at highlighting marine conservation issues, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda will organise a forum on the question at the end of September. Presented during today’s conference by Princess Zahra Aga Khan, the project boasts Milan’s SDA Bocconi School of Management as scientific partner.

Special activities organised to mark the Club’s 50^th birthday commence in March with a members’ cruise aboard the historic sailing yacht Sea Cloud around the British Virgin Islands with destination Virgin Gorda. On 12^th May - 50 years exactly from the Club’s creation by current President H.H. the Aga Khan together with founder members André Ardoin, Giuseppe Kerry Mentasti and Luigi Vietti - a photographic exhibition will be inaugurated in Piazza Azzurra, Porto Cervo, gathering images of the boats that have written the Club’s history over the past half-century. The same images are included in a commemorative book presented during this morning’s conference by YCCS Commodore Riccardo Bonadeo. The social festivities will culminate in a special event to be held in Porto Cervo on 5^th August.

An exceptional sporting season

The 2017 sporting season gets underway in just a few days at the newly relaunched YCCS Marina and Clubhouse in the BVI. From 1^st to 5^th March the Rolex Swan Cup Caribbean will animate the Club’s Caribbean waters followed by the YCCS 50th Anniversary Regatta (7 March) and the Loro Piana Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous from 10^th to 13^th March.

International events in Porto Cervo kick off in June with the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, followed by events for the newly created Melges 40 class and the Formula 1s of the sea, the TP52 class, in the form of the Audi 52 Super Series Sailing Week. In addition to the Rolex Maxi 72 Worlds taking place during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup at the beginning of September, the YCCS will host two more World Championships during the Mediterranean season: the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds in mid-July and the Audi J/70 World Championship in September. The sailing year will conclude with the Audi Sailing Champions League at the end of September and the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta, organised in collaboration with the Royal Offshore Racing Club and Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, which departs from Lanzarote in late November headed for Virgin Gorda. Full Calendar

The TP52 Azzurra, which proudly flies the YCCS burgee, completed the first leg of the 52 Super Series in Key West in January. Combative as ever, Azzurra will face five more events this year: in Miami in March before returning to the Mediterranean for the World Championship in Scarlino, Tuscany. The Audi 52 Super Series Sailing Week will follow in June and the final two series legs will be held in the Spanish waters of Majorca and Menorca.

“This will be a year full of celebrations and new challenges,” declared YCS Commodore Riccardo Bonadeo; “a year of new partners and initiatives. It is an occasion in which to talk about the history, the values and the impetus for change that have brought the YCCS to the forefront of the international yachting scene and kept it there. I would like to thank the staff, members and partners who, thanks to a shared passion, make all of this possible.”

During his speech, the Commodore also presented renderings of the new base for the Sailing School which the Club has been working on for several years. The school will have the objective of creating a meeting point for young people and sailing enthusiasts from around the world which will be open year-round.

During the conference thanks went to the Club’s longstanding partners Rolex and Audi.

For further information, photos, press releases, visit the websites www.yccs.com, www.azzurra.com e www.oneoceanforum.org.

Contacts
YCCS Press Office
Marialisa Panu/Giuliano Luzzatto
Tel +39 0789 902200
Email pressoffice@yccs.it
 

Communication and Sponsorship Director
Alessia Crivelli
alessiacrivelli@yccs.it