Olympic Classes in Santander, Big Boats, Swans and more

by Dan Ibsen, Sail-World UK Editor on 9 Sep 2014 Welcome to Sail-World.com's UK e-magazine for September 9th, 2014. ISAF Worlds in Santander, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Swan Cup, and much more.

This week sailing’s international stage marks the start of 'Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships' (September 8-21), taking place in Santander, Spain.

Here, the world's best Olympic class sailors are speed checking against their expected rivals for the 2016 Rio Olympics, while also evaluating their own training programs and levels of preparation. Many sailors have been in Santander already since the beginning of June, and the last couple of weeks have been intense.

Everybody is ready and prepared to fight for the World titles and medals, but for many sailors one of the most important goals during the next two weeks will be, if their country gains one of the Nation qualification places for the Olympics in Rio in their class – 50% of the places will be allocated this year.

Further the top sailors will qualify for the first ever ISAF World Cup Grand Finals in Abu Dhabi in December, where only the world's top 20 sailors-teams will participate.

Inside you will find articles covering all the classes and evaluating the possible medal winners in all the Olympic Classes in Santander. Including an interview with our hottest streak Giles Click here for the latest article – and in the bottom you will find links to all the other classes under 'Related stories'.

Last week the largest racing boats in the world participated in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup – this is always a meeting of elegance, power, speed and prowess. The large powerful yachts engaged in direct competition in the spectacular and challenging environment in Porto Cervo. The race has been the jewel of Rolex’s international yachting portfolio since 1985, and this year the event and sailors celebrated its 25th edition.

If you missed it – you can of course read all the exiting articles and enjoy the many amazing pictures of all the magnificent yachts at Sail-World-com.

This week Porto Cervo hosts ninety-three yachts from Finland’s Nautor’s Swan shipyard, and racing for the 21st Rolex Swan Cup started Tuesday. The event marks the 30th anniversary of the enduring partnership between Rolex, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Nautor and racing. The fleet represents over forty years of Nautor’s Swan history and includes models ranging from classic Sparkman and Stephens designs to sleek Swan 60s and from luxurious cruising yachts to the competitive Swan 42 and Swan 45 one-design fleets.
Follow Rolex Swan Cup inside Sail-World during this week.

Stay tuned with the latest sailing news, as it happens, on our websites www.sail-world.com/uk and www.sail-world.com/europe - Read more about Volvo Ocean Race, The OK Dinghy, Formula Kite Europeans, different UK National Championships and much more.

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Good Sailing,

Dan Ibsen, Sail-World UK Editor
dan.ibsen@sail-world.com