NO SEA FOR SO MANY SAILS IN VILAMOURA
The 5th Portugal Grand Prix, a World Sailing Ranking event, will have in its Round 2, big
fleets in all classes.
The 49er Fleet with 30 teams from 12 countries and the FX with 20 teams from 10
countries shows how strong the 9er’s are around the world.
The NACRA 17 fleet, as moved to Vilamoura. The preparations for Paris 2024 are full on.
The past 3 months, with fabulous sailing conditions in Vilamoura have allowed the elite
of the NACRA17, to test and prepare for an intense racing reason ahead.
The Portugal Grand Prix will started on 20th February with 4 days of
intense competition. This edition is spiced up by a PRIZE MONEY of 5 000€ for the overall
winner of the event.
Vilamoura Sailing Center has reached its maximum capacity with the presence of about Four
hundred sailors who are part of the most important Olympic classes in the world.
There are 70 countries that chose Vilamoura to do their winter preparation, before
starting the European and World Championships of their respective classes.
If it is no longer new the preference for Vilamoura of the best Olympic sailing teams – classes
Nacra 17, 49er, 49er FX, 470, Ilca 4 and Ilca 6 – their stay in Portugal has never been longer. The
teams began arriving in early October and should only leave in time to compete in the
prestigious Queen Sofia Trophy in Spain, sailing 6 months in Algarve waters. Also, the number
of sailors arriving in Vilamoura has not stop growing. Now, close to 400 athletes enjoy daily the
good infrastructure of Vilamoura Marina and the logistics and support services provided by
Vilamoura Sailing.
Since 2018 Vilamoura Sailing with the presence of so many Olympic class sailors Vilamoura
Sailing decided to hold the Portugal Grand Prix regatta, a World Sailing ranking event for the
49er, 49er Fx and Nacra 17 classes.
From Sunday, February 20th and until until February 23rd, training days become competition,
with hundreds of Olympic sailors giving a showoff Vilamoura. Many of these athletes are true
icons of world sailing.
On Racecourse “C” the Nacra 17 and the 49er sailed 3 races with the wind reaching the
17knts.
The Nacra 17 top 3 is French, with Tim MOURNIAC/ Lou BERTHOMIEU leading with just1
point advantage over Margaux BILLY/ Léo MAURIN. Closing the top 3 Quentin
DELAPIERRE/ Audinet MANON.
29 teams in the 49er Class, sailed 3 races. The Belgium Yannick LEFÈBVRE/ Tom PELSMAEKERS scored a bullet in race 1 and a second place in race number 2, a 9th in the third race of the day, (discarded), allow them to secure the first position on the leaderboard of the day.
Not far behind the French sailors Erwan FISCHER/ Clement PEQUIN after 2 excellent
results in race 1 and 2, had a difficult race number 3 (23rd- discarded). Polish team
Dominik BUKSAK/ Szymon WIERZBICKI closed the top 3 of the day.
The FX with 20 team on the start line, saw a massive fight between the Swedish 77 and
Denmark 370 Vilma BOBECK / Rebecca NETZLER and Johanne Isaksen SCHMIDT / Andrea
SCHMIDT respectively. The very young Danish sailor Malthe EBDRUP sailing with the
Portuguese class veteran José COSTA managed to hold their piece and seat in3rd not far
behind the top 2 teams.
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