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Month: September 2021

Prince celebrates great-grandfather’s ties with German city

by: Stephanie Horsman
13/09/2021

Prince Albert II has made an official visit to Kiel where he took part in celebrations of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert I, who had deep connections with the northern German city.
Prince Albert II just wrapped up an action-packed two-day trip to the German city of Kiel in the Schleswig-Holstein region of the country on the 8th and 9th of September. There, he was met by the President of the region Daniel Günther and Kiel’s Mayor Ulf Kämpfer.
On Wednesday 8th, Prince Albert II was welcomed to the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (GEOMAR) where they introduced their newest marine drone. The facility christened it the Albert I in a touching tribute to the Monegasque ruler who had carried out projects with GEOMAR near the turn of the 20th century.
In the late afternoon, the Sovereign visited the city’s former Yacht Club to unveil a plaque commemorating Prince Albert I’s trips to Kiel and his peace efforts between Germany and France as well as the 100-year anniversary of the death of Albert I, which is officially in 2022.

The marine drone christened the ‘Albert I’ and signed by Prince Albert II of Monaco. Photo by G. Luci / Prince’s Palace

From 1898 until 1914, Albert I was a regular guest of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who invited him to attend the regattas held annually in Kiel. In those years, Albert I attended the event 11 times.
Albert I, always a defender of the seas, parlayed his first visit to the city to speak about a proposed project for creating a network of meteorological observatories for Europe in the Azores, but he also managed to help diffuse a particularly thorny diplomatic issue between France and Germany, namely the notorious Dreyfus Affair.
Dreyfus had been accused of falsely communicating French military secrets to the Germans. The entire affair put a huge strain on relations between the two countries. Albert I was able to get the Kaiser to assure him that Dreyfus was indeed innocent.
This small gesture led to an idea that the regatta could become a time when diplomats from both countries could come together for informal discussions to avoid future misunderstandings.
Prince Albert’s trip continued on Thursday 9th September with a visit to Kiel’s marina where the Keiler Woche (Keil Week) sailing races were about to kick off on the 12th. There, he was able to meet up with crew members of Team Malizia, the Monaco Yacht Club-based team founded by the Prince’s nephew, Pierre Casiraghi, and German super-sailor Boris Hermann.
 
 
 
Top photo of Prince Albert by G. Luci / Prince’s Palace
 
 
 

Leclerc rewarded for gritty drive in thrilling Italian GP

by: Luke Entwistle
13/09/2021

Charles Leclerc ground out an impressive fourth place finish in a topsy-turvy race in Monza, Italy, which produced some enthralling wheel-to-wheel racing. McLaren were the major benefactors of the race which was blown wide-open by a spectacular collision involving title rivals Verstappen and Hamilton.
Ferrari, although undoubtedly disappointed with their overall pace over the course of the race weekend, will be buoyed by a positive result and an impressive points haul, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz securing P4 and P6 respectively. The performance becomes ever-more impressive when considering the major setbacks which dogged Ferrari over the course of their home Grand Prix weekend, with Sainz suffering a major crash on Friday, and Leclerc suffering from illness.
Leclerc, in the knowledge that his Ferrari lacked the pace of his rivals, was particularly cautious pre-race, and sought to play down his chances of recreating his iconic 2019 Monza victory. “Winning is going to be difficult realistically, but we are never giving up, and today if there’s an opportunity, we’ll try to take it.” Leclerc’s pessimism, though understandable, was ultimately misplaced, as a chaotic race played into the hands of Ferrari, who were primed to take advantage.

Photo source: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

A dramatic start saw McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo snatch the lead off drivers’ championship leader Max Verstappen at the opening corner, and a collision between Antonio Giovanazzi and Carlos Sainz, the latter luckily escaping unscathed. The race quickly settled down, and Ferrari’s poor pace, relative to their rivals, was exposed as both McLarens, Verstappen, and Hamilton opened up a healthy gap to the Ferraris behind.
By the time of the pit window, only a matter of seconds separated the top four, and the ever-jubilant Italian tifosi were seemingly in store for a tight, nail-biting modern classic between the two championship rivals and a rejuvenated McLaren team. Two poor pit-stops, firstly from Red Bull and then from Mercedes, created a thrilling scenario, which saw Hamilton and Verstappen contesting the tight Variante del Rettifilo chicane just as the former was leaving the pit lane exit. Verstappen attempted an audacious move around the outside of the first corner of the chicane, but as the gap left by Hamilton tightened, Verstappen was left with little room. At this point, with Verstappen committed to the move, and Hamilton committed to defending his position, the subsequent collision was an inevitable outcome, and it led to both drivers retiring from the race. This type of racing incident is symptomatic of two drivers racing to the absolute limit, in what is one the most entertaining and hotly-contested drivers’ championships in recent years.
The collision brought out the safety car, and it was at this point that the opportunistic Ferrari team struck – pitting Charles Leclerc and releasing him into an improbable second place. As soon as the safety car period ended, Ferrari’s lack of pace was brutally exposed, with McLaren’s Lando Norris making short work of getting past the laboured Ferrari. The Ferrari was then a sitting duck for the Red Bull of Segio Perez and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, who fought valiantly from the back of the grid to claim the final spot on the podium. In passing Leclerc however, Perez incurred a five-second time penalty which ultimately promoted Leclerc to fourth place – an impressive result in testing circumstances.
Post-race, Leclerc revealed that he was pleased with his personal performance, but alluded to the Ferrari’s general lack of pace stating that, “I put my whole heart into it today. In terms of my personal performance, I would rate this as one of my top drives since joining F1.” He added, “Of course we want more than a fourth place, but taking all things into consideration I think this is a result we can be pleased with today.”
The day, however, belonged to Daniel Ricciardo and the McLaren team, who took full advantage of a chaotic race to claim McLaren’s first victory since 2012, and their first one-two since 2010.
 
 
Photo source: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
 
 
 

Disappointing weekend in Istanbul for Roca team

by: Stephanie Horsman
13/09/2021

AS Monaco Basketball saw back-to-back losses as they took on Partizan Belgrade on Saturday and Kazan Unics on Sunday at the semi-finals of the Istanbul Cup in Turkey.

AS Monaco Basketball saw a lot of action over the weekend, but sadly this didn’t translate into wins.

The Partizan game was absolutely thrilling. The cat-and-mouse went on the entire game with both teams sitting at 84 points apiece when the final buzzer went. This led them into overtime, but even then nothing could be decided. In the end, the match stretched into extra time an unheard of three times, and the final score was 114 to 120.

The second game was a rematch of the Eurocup finals with Monaco playing Kazan. The Unics were out to vindicate themselves after their defeat in the finals. The first half of the game saw them out-playing the Roca team at every turn.

It was in the second half that Monaco turned up, and they poured it on from that point. After being behind the whole match, they came back and evened up the score with three minutes on the clock. Both teams scrambled to take a definitive lead, but it wasn’t until the last seconds that the game was decided. In the end, Monaco lost by a single heart-breaking point with a final score of 84 to 85.

 
 

Monaco Life with AS Monaco Basketball press release, photo source AS Monaco Basketball 

 
 

What’s up with AS Monaco?

by: Stephanie Horsman
13/09/2021

AS Monaco is having a rough start to the season with only a single win in five matches, made worse by the latest loss to Olympique de Marseille at home on Saturday night, going down nil to two.
Despite having a two-week break, several opportunities to score, a solid line-up, and ample possession, AS Monaco just couldn’t seem to make anything happen on Saturday night in their home game against Olympique de Marseille.
Both teams came out swinging and there was some pretty exciting football from the start. The two teams wasted no time putting pressure on the goalkeepers who were both excellent at keeping the wolves at bay.
It took 37 minutes for a ball to find the inside of a goal, but sadly for Monaco it was between their posts. Alexander Nübel lost his battle against Bamba Dieng, opening the scoring and putting Marseille one up.
After the halftime break, things weren’t looking much better when at the one-hour mark, Dieng scored a second goal. Coach Niko Kovac leapt into action, shuffling the players around, and whilst playing impressively, even fresh legs weren’t able to save the slowly sinking ship.
In the end, Marseille won the night with two points to Monaco’s zero. A disappointing end and a continuation of a slow start to the season for Monaco.
“We are not happy tonight,” said Coach Kovac after the match. “Four points from five games is not what we expected but it is the truth of the moment. We have to show the same attitude and the same passion as last season. We have a good team, good players, but the other teams are playing us more directly now and we have to respond in a compact, aggressive way; that’s how we’ll have our chances.”
The team have a shot at redemption next Sunday when they play crosstown rivals Nice, but before that they take on SK Sturm Graz on Thursday in Europa League play at Stade Louis II.
 
 
 
Monaco Life with AS Monaco press release, photo by AS Monaco
 
 
 
 

Prince sets the record straight

by: Stephanie Horsman
12/09/2021

Prince Albert II has gone on the record to dispel rumours that there is a rift in his marriage, telling the international press that Princess Charlene did “not go into exile” nor did she “leave in a huff”, but has simply been detained in South Africa due to medical complications.

The Prince and Princess of Monaco have been all over the news this summer, for reasons both good and bad, but the most persistent reason for all the coverage on the discreet couple has been due to concerns about the state of their marriage.

The talk started when the Princess did not return from a 10-day scheduled trip to her native South Africa, where she went to work on rhino conservation efforts on behalf of her foundation. It was revealed soon after that she had stayed on due to complications from a previous surgery that led to an ear, nose and throat infection which prevented her from flying. Despite the disclosure, the stories persisted.

Even the commemoration of their 10th wedding anniversary, celebrated very publicly with a series of videos highlighting their lives together, wasn’t enough to stop the rumour mill from speculating on the Princess’s long-term absence from the Principality.

Now the Prince has gone public to set the record straight once and for all.

“She did not leave Monaco in a rush. She didn’t leave because she was mad at me or anyone else,” Prince Albert revealed recently to People. “She was going to South Africa to reassess the work of her foundation and take some free time with her brother and some friends (…) She did not go into exile. It was simply a medical problem that needed to be treated.”

He went on to admit he “probably should have addressed them (the rumours) earlier”, but he was preoccupied, “concentrating on caring for the children. And I thought it was probably going to go away. You know, if you try to answer everything that comes out, you just waste your time.” He also acknowledged that the talk had an impact on the couple, saying, “Of course it affects her, of course it affects me. Misreading events is always detrimental. We are an easy target, easily hit, because we are often in the public eye.”

The Prince went on to share his happiness in knowing that Princess Charlene’s return is imminent, crediting her part in the success of their relationship.

“The children are going back to school. I can’t wait for her to come back because she is part of my life, of our life, of the life of Monaco. I also look forward to her helping me with the kids and with different things like she has done in the past because it’s a team effort. When a member of the team is not there, it is much more difficult.”

Amongst some of the events and moments the Princess has missed, beside her anniversary, were the Grand Prix, the Red Cross Gala and her children’s first day of school.

Barring further complications, the Princess is expected to fly home by the end of October.

 
 
Photo from Princess Charlene’s Instagram page
 
 

MYS Series: The Monaco Yacht Club Director

by:
12/09/2021

If the Monaco Yacht Show were a fleet, then the Yacht Club of Monaco (YCM) would be its flagship, and the Commanding Officer at the helm would be YCM General Secretary and Managing Director Bernard d’Alessandri.

‘Helmsman’ d’Alessandri has worked at the Club for close to 50 years and one of the best and unforgettable moments that he can remember was the inauguration of the new club designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster on 20th June 2014.

“The Club is a wonderful ‘device’ that allows us to host exceptional events,” says d’Alessandri. “Twice we have hosted the arrival of the Rolex Giraglia Cup, Mike Horn set off on his around the world sailing trip on board SY Pangaea from here, and we can organise big events such as the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, Monaco Classic Week and next year the J/70 Championships.”

For him, MYS is the Principality’s international showcase, demonstrating that Monaco is the ‘Yachting Capital’ of the world. D’Alessandri reckons that despite the pandemic, the yachting sector has been very active over the last two years and for him the Monaco Yacht Show is a vital market place for yacht owners and shipyards, brokers etc. to meet.

“The Show unites the industry. It gives businesses the opportunity to compare new developments and technologies on the most glamorous of stage sets that Monaco knows how to pull off so well. MYS is all about the ‘Yachting Lifestyle’, not just about the boats,” reflects D’Alessandri.

Yacht Club of Monaco, photo by MC-Clic

D’Alessandri considers the YCM as the yachting industry’s core, but it also has a role in promoting the Principality. With its ‘Monaco, Capital of Yachting’ project, the YCM is there to help attract the global yachting industry to Monaco and provide a platform for communication and promotion. ‘The Cluster Yachting Monaco’ initiative now has 1,561 yacht-owning members, while 252 yachting related businesses are based in Monaco with a turnover of 753 million euros. “I think to a large extent the industry is still sometimes misunderstood and it has much to offer in terms of employment for the young,” he says.  

More generally, d’Alessandri sees his and the Club’s role as promoting and sharing a passion for the sea. “The sea is in our DNA,” he says. “And any Monaco resident who wants to learn or improve their sailing is more than welcome. During the holidays we offer courses for the children, such as our SeAdventures Camps”.

As MYS draws closer, d’Alessandri is in a reflective mood, telling me: “At the Club, we try and work on different levels to give the industry’s reputation a makeover and change its attitude. We’ve introduced initiatives such as Sea Index, a benchmark or frame of reference aimed at owners of yachts over 40m to measure their CO2 emissions and improve their eco-responsible performance.” He also supports the development of ‘new generation’ marinas that will accommodate the ‘green’ yachts of tomorrow. The Club will support the Smart and Sustainable Marina rendezvous, organised by Monaco Marina Management, that takes place on 20th  September. 

He adds, “I am also really pleased at how well the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge is developing. The 9th Challenge will take place next year from 5th to 9th July. It has become the show that gives pride of place to new/future propulsion systems. I love the atmosphere at the Challenge which combines speed boat tests with daily tech talks and the exchange of knowledge, conferences and an exhibitor village to discover the progress of sustainability in the maritime sector.”

 

Close Quarters with Bernard d’Alessandri

If you weren’t MD of the YCM, what would you be? 

I’d most definitely be a captain. My passion for the open waters is a real vocation and I can’t imagine a life without the sea. 

What’s your advice to someone looking to follow in your footsteps?

There’s only one criteria and that’s passion! With it, you can move mountains and love limitlessly. I am so lucky to be passionate about what I do.  

The worst moment in your career?

 That still feels a bit too raw to talk about, so I prefer not to say.

The best moment?

Oh, there are so many! I’m thinking about my Monaco-New York Atlantic crossing in 1985 on board Biotonus–Yacht Club de Monaco. Or the first time I set eyes on the YCM Flagship SY Tuiga (1909), and of course the first time I took the helm.

What are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of the modest contributions we all make day to day for the future of yachting. Now more than ever we need to build an eco-responsible future.

Someone you admire? 

I admire many people, not because of their celebrity but because of their commitment. Dedicated sailors such as Eric Tabarly or the explorer Mike Horn. People of character who are enraptured by a passion for the sea.

 
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Top photo of Bernard d’Alessandri by Francesco Ferri