World Sailing Cup - Big prizemoney and travel grants for Melbourne

by Sail-World.com NZL on 4 May 2016 World Sailing will be providing $200,000 AUD in prize money, together with travel grants for the world's best sailors at the Sailing World Cup Final, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia from 4-11 December 2016.

The Sailing World Cup Final will be held in the aftermath of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Sailors will race out of St Kilda's Sailing Precinct on Port Phillip in the ten Olympic fleets, Open Kiteboarding and the 2.4 Norlin One Design, a Paralympic event, in a bid to be crowned 2016 Sailing World Cup Champion.

Held in Australia's sporting capital, Melbourne, each Olympic and 2.4 Norlin OD Paralympic medallist at the Rio 2016 Games will receive a travel grant to attend as well as logistical support provided by World Sailing. The $200,000 AUD prize fund will be shared across the events, adding an extra spice to what already is set to be a highly charged competition.

The 2016 Sailing World Cup Final will be the climax of a yearlong series. The first event took place in Melbourne before a stop in Miami, USA at the end of January and Hyères, France in April.

Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland follows at the start of June before the penultimate event, Sailing World Cup Qingdao.

In addition to today's announcement, the dates for the 2016 Sailing World Cup Qingdao have been changed from 10-16 October to 19-25 September.

The change comes following a clash with Enoshima Olympic Week, set to be held during the original October dates.

Qingdao, China, venue of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition, will host the fifth regatta of the 2016 Sailing World Cup series for the fourth consecutive year. In its history, Qingdao has welcomed sailors from more than 40 nations, seen sailors qualify for the Olympic Games and delivered some exciting competition for some of the finest athletes in the world.

Racing across the ten Olympic fleets will commence on Wednesday 21 September with the Medal Races drawing the event to a close on Sunday 25 September.

After that, attention turns to Melbourne and the climax of the Sailing World Cup.

Background to Sailing World Cup:
The Sailing World Cup is a World-class, annual series of Olympic sailing for elite and professional sailors. It is open to the sailing classes chosen for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The series moves around the world to be as inclusive as possible to the top 40 boats in each class. Over 2,000 of the World's leading sailors, representing over 75 nations compete in the Sailing World Cup which offers a definitive guide to the best-of-the-best in the Olympic sailing world.

Find out more on the World Cup website

2016 Sailing World Cup
Melbourne - 7-13 December 2015
Miami – 23-30 January 2016
Hyères – 25 April – 1 May 2016
Weymouth and Portland – 6-12 June 2016
Qingdao – 19 - 25 September 2016
Sailing World Cup Final, Melbourne - 4 - 11 December 2016