Hippocampus Nº46

REGATTAS
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN CASCAIS IN 2026
Renowned for its regatta courses, considered
to be among the best in the world, Cascais will
host the 2026 J70 World Championship, as determined
by the Executive Committee of the class,
which awarded the organisation of the event to
Clube Naval de Cascais. The CNC’s extensive
experience in this field, having already organised
numerous major international championships,
as diverse as the 52 Super Series, the TP52
World Championship, the RC44 Championship
Tour, the Extreme Sailing Series and the ISAF
World Championships, among many others,
played a part in this decision.
Vittorio Di Mauro, President of the Class, stated:
“Cascais is a reference point for sailing,
and CNC is an experienced organiser of top
events. Its sailing conditions are recognised
and appreciated all over the world!” Gonçalo
Esteves, President of CNCascais, said: “Our job
has been to bring major sailing events to Cascais.
Last year alone, we had the TP52s, M32 and
Snipe World Championships, the 6M European
Championship, a round of the RC44 circuit - all
this in addition to our normal national calendar.
The J/70s are the class of the moment, and
this is the event that everyone wants. We’re
very happy, and we’re going to make sure it’s
excellent.”
On its way to the World Championship, and
confirming the words of its president, there
will be several initiatives dedicated to the J70
class that the CNC will be carrying out in the
near future, so that all participants can have the
opportunity to prepare for the event and make
contact with the waters and winds of Cascais.
This will be the case with the Winter Series,
the class’s winter championship, and also the
Invitational Cup, held between September 29th
and October 1st, to which all the members of
the ICOYC (International Council of Yacht Clubs)
have been invited, and of which the CNC has
been a member since August 2016, and was
the organiser of its annual European meeting in
2018. An event that already has a second edition
scheduled for October 4th-6th 2024.
CONFIRMED VICTORIES
In the inaugural edition of this Invitational
Cup, Vasco Serpa, the recently crowned J70
European Champion, didn’t let his credit go
to waste and was the best of the eight crews
from five countries who competed in the league
racing format, in which all the teams had an
initial round robin qualification, followed by the
semi-finals and the final - all the boats being
supplied by the organisation. On the first day
of competition, the Clube Naval de Cascais
crew, skippered by Vasco Serpa, with Diogo
Machado Pinto, Pedro Costa Alemão and Tomás
Barreto, was already leading the standings after
a practically perfect day, ahead of the Swedish
team from the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club
(GKSS), formed by Per Croner, in the company
of Henrique Brites, Francisco Pinheiro de Melo,
Luis Pinheiro and Manuel Macedo, with third
place going to the Turkish team representing the
Turkish Offshore Racing Club (TORC), made up
of Alp Doguoglu, Paulo Manso, Gonçalo Lopes
and Bernardo Plantier.
The second day of racing saw very similar weather
conditions to the day before, which led to a late
start that allowed no more than the qualifying
round to be completed. With the wind blowing
from the north-west at 9-13 knots, the top three
maintained their positions. The CNC representatives
came out on top in five of the seven races,
won the Round Robin and were automatically
through to the final, as was the GKSS crew; the
TORC crew would have to compete in another
qualifying round in order to reach the final.
34
Hippocampus