SB20 SailCascais Trophy at Clube Naval de Cascais

Epic conditions kick-started the SailCascais Trophy. The first day saw bluebird sky, sun, 15 to 25 knots of North wind and as the course was set close to the shore inside the bay, flat seas. The Cascais medicine!

27 SB20s hit the water and Portuguese SB20 Champion Henrique Brites & Co on Portugal Youth team/Radio Marginal picked it up where they left it last time and scored a bullet on the opening race. They were followed by Faith On of Mafalda Pires de Lima from Clube de Vela Atlântico, Porto and Roff of Manuel Marques from Associação Naval de Lisboa.

For the second race of the day the wind kept increasing and a few gusts in the mid 20s were swiping the course. Vasco Passanha built a solid lead on the first upwind while picking a nice left hander and didn't let it go, taking the gun. Brites was second followed by Diogo Mendes in Quinta dos Murças.

With the forecast to keep increasing and the strong breeze here to stay for the weekend the RO called it a day and sent everybody in. The youngsters took over the top of the leaderboard and after two races Henrique Brites lead, followed by Mafalda Pires de Lima and the new team of Bernardo Loureiro sits in third.

The first SB20 SailCascais Trophy - photo © Neuza Aires Pereira / SailCascais Trophy

The second day started with a solid Northerly breeze of 17/18 knots. After the start of the first race locals Youth Team Portugal/Radio Marginal of Henrique Brites and PussPuss of Vasco Serpa looked strong, but a left hander on the last stretch of the first beat brought back a pack of boats led by Bronze Medallist and 2016 SB20 World Champion Hugo Rocha. Rocha took the lead and didn't let go. He was followed by Roff of Manuel Marques of Associaçao Naval de Lisboa and Serpa in third.

For the second race a favoured pin end created some trouble at the start. Hugo Rocha and Mafalda Pires de Lima from Clube de Vela Atlântico, Porto led through the race course but both boats were called UFD. Serpa on PussPuss end up taking top honours, followed by Pedro Nieto on Guto from Clube de Vela Atlântico and Henrique Brites.

To close the day, numeral 2 went up meaning three upwind legs. With the wind in the low 20s and gusts adding another 5 to 8 knots the last race was about all that was left in the crews. Serpa took the first two shifts, built an early lead to sail straight to the gun. Steady Hugo Rocha sailed for second followed by Roff of Marques. So now in the series Serpa and Brites are tied with ten points at the top with Marques in third trailing by 7 points.

The first SB20 SailCascais Trophy - photo © Neuza Aires Pereira / SailCascais Trophy

The last day got under way with a one and a half hour delay, as the wind was not very stable. Eventually the North filled in and the RO was able to set up the course well inside the bay with the top mark less than 200 meters from the beach. The two last races were a bit of a breather for the fleet after two days being beaten in the strong winds off Cascais.

Patris of Vasco Passanha took the first race of the day, followed by Brites and Roff of Manuel Marques. Hugo Rocha on MataUPinto took top honours on the second race with slightly more wind, followed by a close Bravo of Paulo Palha and by Henrique Brites.

Going into the medal race despite Brites leading by five points over Vasco Serpa's Puss Puss everything was open for the he top spot, specially as the wind accelerated again to the 20 knots range. At the start four boats returned back to the line as the X Flag was displayed and was not coming down.

With the fleet split Rocha took the lead and went for the gun. Brites & Co kept their nerve and hold on to second despite some troubles at the end of the second downwind, sealing the deal. Mafalda Pires de Lima on Faith On closed the top three. On the overall trailing the winners were PussPuss of Vasco Serpa from Cascais, that had a disappointing last day and Roff of Manuel Marques from Associação Naval de Lisboa.

The first SB20 SailCascais Trophy - photo © Neuza Aires Pereira / SailCascais Trophy

So Youth Team Portugal/Radio Marginal of Henrique Brites, Bernardo Pego, Rafael Rodrigues and Luis Pinheiro won the first SailCascais Trophy. After winning the Portuguese Nationals last month the young team from Cascais continued to exert their dominance over the fleet and sailed a strong last day scoring a second and a third before going to the medal race where they finished second. Two in a row! Well done boys!

Ladies First, the all female team of Sport Algés e Dafundo with Carolina Joao, Federica Franchi, Joana Azevedo and Zezi Cardoso finished in an impressive fourth place overall. These girls are on fire!

Team Bravo of Paulo Palha was the winner in the Corinthian division.

All that is good comes to an end! So this is it from Cascais for now! Congratulations to all the participants. It was a tough one, but fun! Enjoy your week and we will be back in early October from the Cascais Vela Regatta.

Overall Results:

The first SB20 SailCascais Trophy - photo © Neuza Aires Pereira / SailCascais Trophy