Finn Portuguese National Championship and Portuguese ILCA National Qualifying Event at Cascais
by Maria José Cardoso 28 Nov 2022 17:05 AEDT
26-27 November 2022
Finn Portuguese National Championship 2022 © Luís Fráguas
This weekend took place in Cascais the Finn Portuguese National Championship, which hadn't been officially disputed for 15 years - since 2007. Simultaneously, it was also disputed the first Portuguese National Qualifying Event (PAN) of the 2022/2023 season for ILCA 4, 6 and 7.
Although Sunday it wasn't possible to hold any races due to no wind, on Saturday the wind blowing from the east quadrant, with an intensity between 12 and 6 knots, allowed 3 races for the approximately 100 sailors competing this weekend: 20 in Finn; 42 in ILCA 4; 32 in ILCA 6; 7 in the ILCA 7.
In the Finns, the Spanish Miguel Fernandez Vasco, European Champion, dominated the first two races, but a technical problem made him withdraw from the third, so he ended up finishing in 7th place. The victory went to Peter Peet, from Netherland, with 7 points, immediately followed by Nuno Espírito Santo Silva, who became National Champion of the class, and the Australian Paul Mckenzie, tied with 11 points.
In the ILCA 7, José Mendes won two of the disputed regattas and finished second in the other, thus finishing in 1st place, with 4 points. Eduardo Marques, with 6 points, was 2nd, and Lourenço Mateus, with 8, was 3rd.
In ILCA 6, the fight for the first place was fierce between the Olympic sailor Vasileia Karachaliou and João Pontes, with both sharing the first two places in the three races disputed. With two first places and one second, Vasileia ended up securing the highest place on the podium, with 4 points, immediately followed by the young sailor João Pontes, who finished with 5 points (2nd, 1st, 2nd) and won the junior category. Closing the podium was Pablo Astiazaran, who had three third places.
Finally, in the ILCA 4, the dispute for the first places was very similar to the ILCA 6: Carlos Charabati finished in 1st place with two firsts and a second and João Ferreira followed him in 2nd place, with two seconds and a first. The 3rd place went to Francisco Martins, with 16 points.
Next weekend, the already traditional Christmas Regatta will also take place, bringing together more than 300 sailors in Cascais for its 38th edition.
Overall Results: