30th 2.4mR World Championship at Yacht Club Italiano starts tomorrow

30th 2.4mR World Championship © Yacht Club Italiano

From tomorrow the waters of Genoa will host the 30th 2.4 mR Class World Championship. A day of training before the start for the 91 participants coming from 15 different countries. Heavy weather is forecast for the first day of races that will last until Friday the 18th.

With the final rating formalities and registration of the participants the 30th 2.4 mR Class World Championship has officially started. Monday saw the final formalities on land in a practice race in the early afternoon, with boats and helmsman on the water to get the feel of the course.

Tomorrow at 11 o'clock the first gun will mark the official start of the championship. Up to three races a day are planned with a minimum of six needed to assign the title, which is open without distinction to both sexes and those both with and without disabilities. "In this sailing, in this case the 2.4 mR, is something unique among the Olympic sports," says Fabio Giuseppe Colella, council member of the Federazione Italiana Vela with responsibility for parasailing, "something that has made this little boat famous in the sailing sector is that we can see skippers with and without disabilities racing on equal terms, without special rankings to highlight this "difference" because, thanks to the peculiarities of the 2.4, people with motor disabilities can access the sport with the same chances as those without problems."

The event

The weekend of October 12 and 13th saw the arrival of the boats and the welcoming of the cruise. On Monday 14th the first training race was scheduled for 2 PM. From Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th, there will be up to 3 races a day to reach the number needed to assign the title. An early autumnal Genoa welcomed athletes, trainers and supporters who had a support base the extraordinary infrastructure of the Fair to get to know the city. The forecast was looking good, with a week of moderate winds and choppy seas. This evening there will be a welcome dinner in the headquarters of the Yacht Club Italiano, and on Wednesday the 16th the 2.4 circus will be guests in an exclusive visit to the Genoa Aquarium, sponsor of the championship.

The boat

The 2.4 was created in Stockholm in 1983 by local designers who used the "R Metre" rule to create a small keelboat, the 2.4 mR. It was a thoroughbred boat with the complicated and sophisticated nature of keelboat but with the costs and the sensitivity of a simple dinghy. It was a younger sister, in terms of size but not style of sailing, of the bigger international 6m, 8m and 12m (these latter used for the America's Cup in the Azzurra generation). In 1992 the class obtained the status of an International Class and since then world Championships have been sailed every year with between 60 and 100 boats taking part.

Since the 2.4mR is suitable for disabled helmsmen it was chosen as a single-handed class for the Paralympics in Sydney in 2000. The biggest fleets are in the Scandinavian countries, in Italy, England, Germany, Australia and the USA.

The organisation

Beyond the cooperation and commitment of the organisers: Yacht Club Italiano, the International 2.4 mR Association and the Federazione Italiana Vela, a fundamental contribution came from the main institutions: the Liguria Region and the municipality of Genoa.

Title Sponsor of this edition of the World Championships is Guldmann, a Danish company that produces and develops technologies for the well-being of people - and sportsmen - with reduced motor abilities, SLAM which will provide the T-shirts, Costa Edutainment, which will host participants in the championships in a visit to the Genoa aquarium on Wednesday evening, and the official supplier is Acqua Sangemini. Important partners in the complex organisation of events of this size are: CBG Convention Bureau Genova for the welcome and reception and Croce Rossa Italiana for health services and first-aid on sea and land.