Mauro Pelaschier: Why I have such special feeling with this regatta

About 50 entries one month before the regatta - Mauro Pelaschier: My special feeling with this regatta - The latest entries: an edition full of prestigious boats and sailors - After the Circolo della Vela Sicilia announces 90 footer Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC, Club Roggero di Lauria reveals the Farr 40 Comanche Sagola Lauria - Who are the sailor girls of Moogli, the first all-female team in the race

The appointment with a very classic Mediterranean summer offshore sailing is approaching: less than a month before the departure of the 18th Palermo-Montecarlo 2023, with its 500 technical and fascinating miles from Sicily to Principality of Monaco, with obligatory passage at the gate in front to Porto Cervo. New entries continue to arrive at the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, actually there are 44 boats but other previously announced yacht are missing, therefore the final number could approach 50.

After all, the Palermo-Montecarlo is now firmly on the calendar of great sailing. It is organized by three major clubs: the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, which is also involved with the challenge of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli at the 37th America's Cup scheduled in Barcelona in 2024, the collaboration of the Yacht Club de Monaco and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, and under the aegis of the Italian Sailing Federation, UVAI (Italian Offshore Sailing Union) and IMA (International Maxi Association).

Included in the official series of the FIV Italian Offshore Sailing Championship, among those with the highest coefficient scoring for the final ranking, the 500 miles of Palermo-Montecarlo race are also part of the following international series: the IMA Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge; the Mediterranean Offshore Trophy; the Mediterranean Trophy for the Class40; and the 2023 edition of the Championnat et Trophées Inshore et Offshore Méditerranée en Équipages-IRC.

The event is directly promoted by Regione Sicilia, Tourist and Sport Department, with the participation of the Metropolitan City of Palermo and the support of the Sicily Foundation. Sponsor partners are Tasca d'Almerita wines and Porsche, Centro Porsche Palermo automotive.

The event is growing both in the number and quality of entries in terms of yachts and sailors, and in the more international nature of the regatta, which again this year has more than half entries coming from 12 nations.

Among the latest entries, Joy, Grand Soleil 48 skippered by Thierry Leret of the Yacht Club de Monaco, organizing partner which has never failed to participate directly. A great return for the Cookson 50 Kuka3 of the Italian-Swiss owner Franco Niggeler, skippered by a great former Olympian, the Australian Mitch Booth.

Among the five Maxis we mention the 100-footer Black Jack owned by Peter Harburg, skippered by Marc Bradford with a super crew of champions (including the New Zealand tactician Brad Butterworth, the helmsman and strategist Joao Signorini, the navigator Alex Nolan), winner of 151 Miglia Trofeo Cetilar and Rolex Giraglia; the other 100-footer ARCA SGR, owned by Furio Benussi's Fast and Furio Sailing Team; the 90-footer Shockwave 3 Prosecco DOC by Claudio Demartis, which will race with the flag of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia together with that of the Monfalcone Yacht Club, helmed by Roberto Ferrarese, with two CVS sailors Max Maneschi and Orazio Fatta della Fratta on board ; then two VO65 veterans from the Ocean Race: Austrian Ocean Team (Team Genova) of skipper Gerwin Jansen, and I Love Poland of Gregor Baranowski.

Given the choice of the maxi Shockwave Prosecco DOC by the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, the "response" came from the cousins of the Circolo Canottieri Roggero di Lauria, their boat is the Farr 40 Comanche Sagola owned by Battistoni, Sorrentino and Fornich.

MOOGLI ALL-FEMALE CREW – It is the first time for the Palermo-Montecarlo and it is due to the little Moogli, the 11-metre Dufour 36. The owner and skipper Caroline Petit, Marseilles member of the Societé Nautique de Saint-Tropez since 25 years, explains the decision: “The Palermo-Montecarlo has been a dream I've had for a long time, and now we're ready to make it come true! Some of us took part in the Giraglia Rolex Cup this year and myself in the Transquadra double in 2022. I have full confidence in the boat, the crew and myself.”

Caroline also explained the reasons for an all-female crew: “Sailing is still a predominantly male sport, but boats can be sailed by both women and men. Female sailors can successfully fill any role on board, including those traditionally reserved for men. I am convinced of this and we want to be an example.”

Fun, motivated, passionate, sporty, ironic. Who are the Moogli girls we will meet in Palermo? With the skipper, expert and oceanic with hundreds of regattas behind her, on board there will be: Emilie Bertrand, headhunter and former Glenans sailing school student, a passion for knots; Helene Duchassin, life insurer studying to be a navigator; Camille Guebels, a Belgian who lives in the Antilles where she discovered sailing; Sandrine Mournic, Breton and project manager for international regattas; Cecilia Rastello, midwife from Cannes, kiter.

MAURO PELASCHIER AND THE PALERMO-MONTECARLO – The iconic face of Italian sailing returns to the Palermo-Montecarlo (he is one of the great sailors to have participated in almost all the editions): “I am very close to Palermo and Mondello because in this place I won my first Italian title in Finn, I remember that among my opponents there was Ubaldo Bruni, the father of Checco, Ganga and Marco, and Agostino Randazzo himself, now president of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, was a friend as 470 sailor and we met often at regattas and training. Then I met his father, Angelo, who was president of the Club at the time, who met me and wanted to talk about the idea of this new regatta, asked me for ideas on how to make it attractive for sailors and owners.

“I remember that the first advice that came to mind was a practical one: I told him that in August the boats are equipped for cruising and to prepare for the race they have to disembark a lot of material. If you organize trucks that take the cargo from the boats and transport it to Monte Carlo, you offer a useful service and encourage people to participate. He organized this service which was a resounding success and still today makes the Palermo-Montecarlo unique.

“Another suggestion concerned the route, which should have foreseen the passage to the Bocche di Bonifacio, because leaving Corsica to the left often means finding yourself downwind of the island and without air. The fact is that in the first edition, we were on the glorious Steinlager II yacht, Agostino was also on board, the boat had rather old sails and finding a strong headwind in the Bocche, we decided to bear away and turn Corsica to the east. We won the same the line honours, but we lost in corrected time, also because this reason.

“I'll be at Palermo-Montecarlo again this year, aboard ELO with the guys from the YCI, a wonderful project that I immediately embraced because a visionary owner donate the boat to the yacht club with the aim of making the dinghy kids grow even on offshore sailing, managing a boat, sailing, learning to crew. See you at Palermo-Montecarlo, don't forget: she's beautiful!"