Two more regattas ‘til Santa!
Written by RYA | 16 December 2014
Olympic hopefuls set to close 2014 with Rio and Palamos events
The holiday season may be upon us, but there are still two more regattas to go this year before the British Sailing Team can enjoy a bit of downtime over the festive period.
The Copa Brasil de Vela gets underway on the Olympic waters of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday 16 December, with British sailors set to compete across seven of the Olympic Classes. With a strong international entry expected, RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park says the five-day regatta “will be sure to provide both challenge and opportunity for our guys to further their experience of Guanabara Bay.�
Competing for the British Sailing Team will be Laser Radial sailor Alison Young, who hot-footed it to South America straight from her ISAF Sailing World Cup-winning feats in Melbourne this weekend, and will be joined by Chloe Martin in the women’s single-handed event.
The 2014 world bronze medallist Nick Thompson, plus Podium Potential squad teammates Lorenzo Chiavarini and Elliot Hanson will be on the Laser startline, while World Champion Giles Scott will be aiming to extend his unbeaten run in the heavyweight Finn class, in which Ben Cornish will also be competing.
Nick Dempsey, Bryony Shaw and Izzy Hamilton will contest their respective RS:X men’s and women’s windsurfing events, while Luke Patience-Elliot Willis and Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark and Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre will be in action in the 470 men’s and women’s divisions.
The regatta comprises of four days of fleet racing with medal races scheduled for Saturday 20 December.Â
Results will be available at
www.copabrasildevela.com.br
Meanwhile, 15 of the British Sailing Team’s Podium Potential cohort are preparing to compete in the Palamos Christmas Race in Spain, which kicks off on Thursday 18 December.
The team will be represented across five of the Olympic Classes – the Laser, Laser Radial, 470 Women, 49er and Finn – in this 39th edition of the event in the Catalan venue, which also includes the Laser Radial (Men), 420 (Boys and Girls) and 29er as invited classes.
Georgina Povall will contest the women’s Laser Radial event, with Michael Beckett, Jack Wetherell, Alex Mills Barton, Henry Wetherell, Martin Evans ready to do battle in the Laser event.
James Hadden, Peter McCoy and Hector Simpson will line up against 27 others in the Finn, with two British Sailing Team crews of Chris Taylor-Sam Batten and Jack Hawkins-Christopher Thomas in the 49er and Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter in the 470 Women.
Racing concludes on Monday 22 December – results will be available at www.christmasrace.org and we’ll bring you updates from both events via Twitter @BritishSailing and the
British Sailing Team Facebook page.