Meet world's best match racing skippers | ​Eric Monnin

Editor’s note:

The 2023 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) Shenzhen•Bao'an Final and World Bay Area Regatta is in full swing. Twelve of the world’s best match racing skippers from nine countries are competing in the final through Sunday. The winner of the event will be crowned 2023 Match Racing World Champion and take home a share of the US$200,000 purse. Between intense training and matches, the skippers are giving us interviews, talking about their training, their goals and their observations during their visit to Shenzhen.

编者按：

2023世界帆船对抗巡回赛深圳•宝安总决赛暨世界湾区帆船赛如火如荼。来自九个国家的12位世界顶级水平的帆船赛事船长和船队，在宝安区大铲湾、欢乐港湾等水域，展开对全球总冠军荣誉、20万美元总决赛奖金的激烈竞争，给本地居民呈现一场近距离、高竞技、强对抗，观赏性极强的顶级帆船比赛。在紧张的训练和比赛间隙，12位船长们接受了我们的采访，畅谈赛前训练，比赛目标以及他们在深圳的所见所闻。

Video by Liu Xudong

Eric Monnin (埃里克·蒙宁)

World Sailing Ranking 世界帆联排名：NO.3

Leaderboard of World Match Racing Tour 世界帆船对抗巡回赛排名: NO.3

Nationality 国籍: Switzerland 瑞士

Team 队名: Capvis Swiss Match Race Team

Crew 队员: Simon Brügger, Marc Monnin, Jean-Claude Monnin, Hugo Feydit

A video message from Eric Monnin before arriving in Shenzhen.

Eric Monnin (born Sept. 13, 1975) learned sailing at the age of six on his  family's Surprise yacht, similar to a J24, but also tried his hand in the Optimist, Laser and 470 dinghy classes. For Monnin, match racing has always been a family affair with his father, two brothers and, more recently, his wife. Eric has a PhD in physics and works as an engineer when he isn’t sailing, however, his focus for the past decade has been on match racing. Eric is considered among the best monohull match racing sailors, and a familiar face on the World Match Racing Tour with his regular Swiss Match Racing Team. Since joining the tour in 2006, he has always finished in the top 20. Other notable wins include the Championnat de France Élite (2016), Thompson Cup (2018), CER Match Race Cup (2018), Match Race Germany and the European Match Racing Championship (2018, 19, 22). Eric and the team finished fifth at the 2023 57th Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA and 5th at the 71st edition of the Bermuda Gold Cup, qualifying him to the WMRT Final in Shenzhen, China.

埃里克·蒙宁（Eric Monnin）六岁时就在家里的Suprise号（类似于 J24）上学习操纵帆船，除此之外，他也参与过Optimist、Laser 和 470 小艇级别的比赛。由于蒙宁经常与父亲、两个兄弟以及他的妻子组队，对他来说，帆船比赛一直也是一种家庭活动。

埃里克拥有物理学博士学位，不参赛时，他也是一名出色的工程师。但在过去十年中，他一直专注于帆船比赛。埃里克是公认的单体帆船对抗赛中最优秀的水手之一。他率领的瑞士船队已经是世界对抗赛巡回赛中的熟悉面孔。自 2006 年参加巡回赛以来，他的成绩一直保持在前 20 名。除此之外，他还在许多赛事中获得冠军， 汤普森杯（Thompson Cup）（2018 年）、欧洲核子研究中心对抗赛杯（CER Match Race Cup）（2018 年）、德国对抗赛（Match Race Germany）和欧洲对抗赛锦标赛（European Match Racing Championship）（2018, 19, 22 年）。Eric在2023年于加利福尼亚州长滩举行的第57届国会杯上获得第五名，在第71届百慕大金杯赛上获得第5名，使他有资格进入在中国深圳举行的WMRT决赛。