After finishing 2nd at the third act of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series, we could hardly believe the result. But heading into the Primo Cup, we felt that this would be the real test. The regatta is a day longer, attracts a much larger fleet, and brings together some of the best sailors around.
The conditions were absolutely mental. There were moments when we genuinely thought the race committee would abandon racing due to the wind and sea state. We saw more than 25 knots and waves of around 4-5 metres.
Normally, these are not conditions in which we expect to excel. We’re a relatively light crew and often struggle with pure boatspeed in heavy air. But once the conditions became more about survival than speed, we came into our own. We were flying downwind while several teams around us capsized.
On the final day, we really pulled everything together and capped off the regatta with a bullet in a light-air race. In the end, we finished 3rd overall and 2nd among the non-professional teams.
This time there was no champagne at the prize-giving, but instead a beautiful silver trophy from Buccellati. Receiving such a prestigious trophy in the Yacht Club de Monaco felt slightly surreal, especially considering that our dress code hadn’t evolved much since the last event.
As impressive as the trophy was, we all knew what was coming next.
After spending every evening of the regatta at our favourite Indian restaurant, we decided to establish a new team tradition: whenever we win a trophy, we drink mango lassi out of it.
So naturally, the Buccellati silverware was immediately put to work.
I’m not entirely sure that’s what it was designed for, but it worked perfectly.
SIMONSAILS 