This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the competition season for Nautor Swan yachts was limited to two events, which took place in Scarlino, Tuscany (Italy). The second was the world championship for monohulls Swan 36, Swan 45 and Swan 50, which was held from 13 to 18 October. The competition was organised in collaboration with the new Yacht Club Isole Toscana and the Club Nautico Scarlino.
Although the race programme has been considerably reduced in relation to the initial ambitions, in order to ensure the safety of the competitors, the organisers have multiplied their efforts to make this event a great moment of sport despite this difficult context. After a very troubled season, 26 yachts were finally able to compete.
The teams were not lacking in determination for this last event of the year, but to make matters worse, the weather did not make it easy for them. Of the 11 races planned, only four were finally completed.
In the Swan 50 category, former world champions shared the podium:
Dmitri Rybolovlev's team on the yacht Skorpidi (2019 champion, team from Russia) won races one and three.
Stefan Heidenreich's Onegroup (2018 champion, team from Germany) won races two and four.
But Skorpidi finished 13th in the second race, while Onegroup was only 10th and 11th in the events it did not win. In addition, the shortened race programme benefited the Hatari team (also from Germany).
The combination of all these elements will finally have smiled at her. Although she only finished ninth in what turned out to be her last race, she had finished second twice and fourth once in the other three, which allowed her to win the title.
Spanish skipper Fernando Echavarri, Olympic gold medallist, of Dmitry Rybolovlev's Skorpidi crew commented on his performance: "We are happy with the result but must admit to being a little disappointed by the lack of sailing in light winds over the last two days, which is our strong point". A bronze medal at the Worlds nevertheless allowed the Russian crew to finish second in the 2020 series.
Hatari owner Marcus Brennecke reacted to his victory: "We are very happy. We had a lot of fun and were able to rely on great teamwork - but also on excellent individual performances. It's a very competitive event with friendly competitors who show good spirit".
The Russian team was the only one to win in a final ranking of the Championship otherwise dominated by German teams:
- Hatari (All) 17 points
- Niramo (All) 19 pts
- Skorpidi (Rus) 20 pts
- Earlybird (All) 20 pts
- Onegroup (All) 23 pts
In the Swan 36 category, Andrea Lacorte's Cetilar-Vitamina (Italy) team of Andrea Lacorte put in a strong performance by finishing first in three of the four races, which allowed them to win the world championship title.
"It was a great week and we put in a great performance," said Lacorte, whose veteran crew also competed in the ClubSwan 50 class, "We hope to see more quality teams join the competition soon.
Swan 36 final standings:
- Cetilar-Vitamina (Ita) 5 points
- Sease (Ita) 12 pts
- Goddess (Ger) 15 pts
