Monday, September 11, 2017

SC Mattsee Wins J/70 SAILING Champions League- St Moritz

J/70 Austrian team winning St Moritz (St Moritz, Switzerland)- This year the best European Clubs sailed the SAILING Champions League in two different events (Act 1 - St. Petersburg (August) and Act 2 - St. Moritz (September)) to snatch one of the much sought-after starts for the grand finale in Porto Cervo (September) where Europe´s best sailing club will be crowned. The races take place in fleet-race-mode on one-design-J/70 class sailboats.

24 sailing teams from 12 nations defied freezing temperatures and weak wind conditions in 24 exciting races in front of the fabulous alpine backdrop of St Moritz and the Engadin valley. On the third and last day of the SAILING Champions League Act 2, Segelclub Mattsee from Austria defended its lead to finish at top of the regatta. Second was Hellerup Sejlklub of Denmark, followed by the Seglerhaus am Wannsee from Germany in third place.

In light and shifty winds, the team from Mattsee upheld good rankings over the entire weekend on the Lake of St. Moritz. In particular, the relatively low weight of this crew of four (Stefan Scharnagl, Anna Scharnagl, Lisa Leimgruber and Hanna Ziegler) paid off under such wind conditions.

"We are overjoyed to have defended our lead from yesterday. We certainly didn't expect this victory, and are, of course, very happy about it“, says helmsman Stefan Scharnagl. The coveted trophy from the presenting partner JUVIA was handed over by Judith Dommermuth, founder and proprietor of the renowned fashion brand.

J/70 Segelclub Matsee sailing team at St Moritz, SwitzerlandWith this overall win in Act 2 of the SAILING Champions League in St. Moritz, Red Bull Youth-America’s Cup helmsman Stefan Scharnagl and his team demonstrated their potential. At the Grand Finale in Porto Cervo on September 22-24, they aim to confirm it by winning the "Best Sailing Club“ trophy.

Hellerup Sejlklub from Denmark again put pressure on the club from Mattsee on the last day with three wins out of four races. But, that was still not enough to overtake the Austrians. In the end, this team had to make do with second place. Runner-up in third place after a wonderful third day of racing was the German team, Seglerhaus am Wannsee, who won two of the last three races to gain a place on the podium.

In these short close-to-the-shore “stadium races”, held in front of the fabulous alpine backdrop on the St. Moritzersee, the 24 teams rotated into eight J/70 one-design class keelboats over the three days.  It was classic “mountain lake sailing”, with very streaky, shifty winds- putting a premium on boat-handling and acceleration in the fickle breezes.

As a result of the completion of this event in St Moritz, the top sixteen teams are qualified to sail in the SAILING Champions League finale hosted by YC Costa Smeralda, in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy. They include two German teams (Seglerhaus am Wannsee and Lindauer Segelclub) and a Swiss team (Societe Nautique de Geneve).  The SAP Sailing results can be found here   For more SAILING Champions League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.