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National Yacht Club's Will Byrne Becomes Cape 31 European Champion on 'La Pericolosa'

11th November 2024
Dun Laoghaire's Will Byrne (third from left) was part of Germany's La Pericolosa, skippered by Christian Schwoerer, that won the Cape 31 European Championships in San Remo
Dun Laoghaire's Will Byrne (third from left) was part of Germany's La Pericolosa, skippered by Christian Schwoerer, that won the Cape 31 European Championships in San Remo Credit: Cape 31 Class

Germany's La Pericolosa, skippered by Christian Schwoerer and with Irish top crew Will Byrne on the strength, were the overall winners of the Cape31 Europeans in Sanremo, Italy.

The second Cape 31 European Championship event brought together an impressive fleet of 22 Cape 31 teams across Europe and beyond. 

Howth's entry, Adrenaline, represented Ireland. 

Germany's La Pericolosa has performed great in large UK fleets over the last two seasons and capitalised on the hard work in San Remo to win the second Cape 31 European crown. Schwoerer has a 12.8 winning margin after 11 races over Italy's Stig (Alessandro Rombelli) on 31.8, with Shotgunn third on 44.

As regular Afloat readers know, this was not Byrne's first successful foray with Shwoerer, having also won the blustery opening event of the 2024 UK Cape 31 Class Race Circuit at the Royal Southern Yacht Club back in April.

Germany's Cape 31 La Pericolosa, skippered by Christian Schwoerer, at full tilt at the San Remo European Championships Photo: Cape 31 classGermany's Cape 31 La Pericolosa, skippered by Christian Schwoerer, at full tilt at the San Remo European Championships Photo: Cape 31 class

The full line up included 22 teams from 12 nations; Hurakan (Marco Serafini, Italy), Adrenaline (Darren Wright, Ireland), The Bodfather (Charlie Whelan, Great Britain), Katabatic (Lance Adams, Great Britain), Eker Süzme (Ahmet Eker, Turkey), Bellini Racing Team (Stefan Scherf), Akheilos (Ben Pritchard, Great Britain), Aspire (Przemysław Gacek and Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Poland), Essentia (Catalin Trandafir, Romania), Solano (Pascal Feryn, France), Black Seal(Richard Thomson, Great Britain), Black Battalion (Hungary), Stella Maris (August Schram, Austria), halbtrocken 3.1(Michael Berghorn, Germany), MeerBlick (Gaby Pohlmann, Germany).

Published in Cape 31, National YC
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At A Glance – Cape 31

LOA 9.56 m
Draft 2.45m
Beam 3.1 m
IRC Rating 1.15

Yacht Builder Mills Design
Model Cape 31
Performance Level Performance Racer

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