British crews earn call ups for revamped Sailing World Cup series
Written by RYA | 19 February 2015
Invitations issued for Hyeres stage of the revised world tour
Twenty-seven British boats have earned invitations to the Hyeres edition of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series (20-26 April 2015), as the world tour undergoes a transformation for this 2015 season.
From open entry events to a smaller, more elite series of 40 boats in each of the ten Olympic Classes, invitations were issued to the top 30 crews in the ISAF world ranking lists immediately following the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, at which British Sailing Team crews brought home
three gold and five silver medals to kick-start their 2015 in style.
Miami gold medallists Bryony Shaw, Giles Scott and Luke Patience-Elliot Willis have each earned their berths in their respective RS:X Women’s, Finn and 470 Men’s events, with Shaw also joined in the Hyeres line-up by Izzy Hamilton, and Ed Wright among the 28 names currently confirmed in the heavyweight Finn class.
Olympic silver medallist and world number two windsurfer Nick Dempsey and his Podium Potential Squad teammates Tom Squires and Joe Bennett are confirmed for the RS:X men’s event, with four-time World Championship medallist Nick Thompson, Elliot Hanson and Alex Mills Barton set to compete in the Laser class.
The women’s double-handed events will see Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark, Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre and Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter on the 470 women’s start line, with Charlotte Dobson-Sophie Ainsworth and Kate Macgregor-Kirstie Urwin in the 49erFX skiff event.
Four British boats will race in both the Nacra 17 mixed multihull fleet, with Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves and Lucy Macgregor-Andrew Walsh joined by Podium Potential skippers Tom Phipps and Rupert White.
The 49er class will also see a four-boat British entry through world number two pairing John Pink-Stuart Bithell, Dave Evans-Ed Powys, Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign and Stevie Morrison-Chris Grube, while Chloe Martin, Alison Young and Hannah Snellgrove line up in the women’s single-handed Laser Radial event.
The remaining ten places in each Olympic class for the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres will be up for grabs at the Princess Sofia Trophy, Palma (28 March-4 April), with the event also open to competition in the Paralympic Classes.
The fourth stage of ISAF Sailing World Cup series will be winging its way to UK shores for the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland from 8-14 June.
The top 20 boats from a combination of stage winners, Class World Championship medallists and top world-ranked crews from the 21 September ranking list will earn the right to compete at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi (27 October-1 November).