EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup starts next week

Wednesday 8th May sees the first races taking place in the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, the new European series for Olympic and Paralympic Classes.

Riva del Garda in Italy is the venue for the Garda Trentino Olympic Week, the first in a series of five regattas, for Olympic and Paralympic classes, being held in Europe this year. This series is designed to complement the ISAF Sailing World Cup series, which finished recently in Hyères, France.

Organised by the European Sailing Federation (EUROSAF), in association with five of the major regatta organisers in Europe, the new series offers Olympic, aspiring Olympic and Paralympic sailors, an opportunity to compete against the best sailors from around the world. Entries have been brisk for a new series, in a post-Olympic year, and include several Olympic medallists and a good number of world champions.

So far, approaching 1,000 sailors have entered across the first four regattas, including some famous names, so the standard of competition will be high.

As with the ISAF SWC events, the format for each of the regattas will test some new ideas, which are described below. A single format has been adopted for each of the five regattas, to introduce consistency and a thorough evaluation. Sailor feedback and comment will be sought and welcomed.

Regatta Format

• Each regatta will consist of a Qualifying Series (two days with 3 or 4 races per day), a Fleet Racing Series (two days with 3 or 4 races per day) and a Final Race or Races.
• If an event has a large number of entries, the Qualifying Series fleet and the Fleet Racing Series fleet may be divided into groups.
• There will be ONE race on the final day in ALL events except for Men's Skiff and Women's Skiff for which there will be THREE final races.

Olympic Classes, excluding 49er and 49erFX

49er and 49erFX

In order to gain as much experience as possible with different formats in 2013, the structure of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup regattas was discussed with representatives from the Olympic Classes prior to reaching a decision. Pleasingly, there was a positive response from all those involved.

All feedback received concerning the new format will be analysed and made available to ISAF as part of their continuing deliberations concerning the format of the Olympic Regatta. A final decision on the format for Olympic Classes in 2016 is expected to be made at the ISAF Annual Meeting in Oman, this coming November.

All EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup regattas qualify for ISAF 100 ranking points, being classified as "other major international events using Olympic equipment".

Sailors, teams, classes, MNAs and the media will find more information on EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup at championscup.eurosaf.org which also provides a direct link to all the events.

Entries remain open for all regattas, excepting Garda Trentino Olympic Week.