Top teams from around the globe sailed in Scheveningen for the first World Championship title in this young Olympic boat class. After two days without wind, all teams had to sail five races in a row to finish the Qualifying Round. With an excellent performance (3/5/1/2), Matías Bühler and Nathalie Brugger set the cornerstone for their later win. In the three final races, they fell back to 9^th position, before they finally reached the podium with a brilliant 2^nd place in the last race. Unfortunately the concluding medal race of the best ten boats couldn’t be sailed due to lack of sufficient wind.

“We’re very happy with this result and proud of the bronze medal at this first Nacra 17 World Championship,” says champion Matías Bühler. “We hope to carry this momentum through and win a medal in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.” 

This is an impressive win considering the two GYC members have only trained with coaches Sebastian Godefroid (BEL) and Laurent Voiron (FRA) since November 2012. 

Committed to cultural events of the highest degree, the GYC welcomed a very special star to its clubhouse on August 14^th, 2013 – Spanish pianist Enrique Pérez de Guzmán. Perez de Guzman gave a concert entitled “Celebrating Wagner and Verdi Through Liszt’s Magic” to an appreciative audience of GYC members.

Born in Madrid, Enrique Pérez de Guzmán studied at the Madrid Conservatory of Music before winning several international competitions set him on the path to an international career. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and the National Orchestra of Spain, amongst others. 

The programme of the evening celebrated the bicentenaries of the two greatest opera composers of the 19^th century and the 120^th anniversary of Tschaikovsky’s death. Pérez de Guzmán expressed delight at returning to Gstaad. The concert was followed by a dinner, during which he shared insights from his repertoire and details on the life of his international career as a concert pianist.

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Excellent Conditions for Classic Car Rally & Yachting 

The GYC held its seventh annual Classic Car Rally & Yachting on August 10^th, in a joint venture with the Gstaad Automobile Club (GAC). To maintain the suspense and challenge all co-pilots equally, the road book was given out Saturday morning just ten minutes before the start of the race. 

Among the automobiles dating from 1982 back to the 50’s were numerous Bentleys (Turbo R, S1 Fastback, and Continental Graber), Porsches, Aston Martins (DB 5 and 6) and a selection of other rarer makes.

Perfect weather conditions allowed convertibles to drive topless on some of the Bernese Oberland’s most scenic back roads from Gstaad to the Menigpass. Here, the first two challenges (parking skills and distance-measuring ability) were waiting. All participants continued their journey through the beautiful countryside down to the Diemtigtal. 

Onward to Leissigen, the third challenge checked adherence to speed limits. Next, the route wound down along Lake Thun to Interlaken and then high up to Beatenberg. With incredible views down to the water, the drivers descended to reach their final destination of Hilterfingen, where the restaurant Stella del Lago offered a wonderful lunch right on the lake – its pontoon a perfect location for the sailing portion of the event. 

Wind conditions were superb and allowed participants to complete two quick races in groups of four boats. The final results combined the scores from the driving, check points, photo quiz and sailing portions of the day. 

The trophy went to Caspar Stürm and his co-pilot Dieter Musfeld, who drove a Bentley R Continental Graber. Second place went to Ondrej Müller and his son Tobias who were followed by Jeremy Frampton and his co-pilot Sinem Sentürk.