Cascais Vela crowns victors amidst strong winds and festive farewell to Summer
by Maria José Cardoso 29 Aug 00:08 PDT
25-27 August 2023
Xeqmatt - Cascais Vela © Luís Fráguas
Another edition of Cascais Vela came to an end this Sunday, the 27th. For over two decades, this championship has filled Cascais with boats at the end of August.
Friday marked the first day of races, exclusively for the ORC class. With a moderate northwest wind ranging between 8 and 12 knots, two windward-leeward races were completed. Xekmatt, skippered by Hugo Barrier Henrique, took the lead by winning one race and finishing second in the other. Bamak, sailed by Rodrigo Vargas Zuniga, and Eagle I, skippered by António Domingues, secured the remaining podium spots, both tied with 6 points.
Saturday saw the Finns, SB20s, and the NHC class joining the competition, with a north wind blowing at around 17 knots. In the SB20 category - Desafio Mitsubishi, the BBDouro team of Francisca Barros, Tiago Morais, Diogo Pontes, and Teresa Borges Coutinho dominated, winning all three races.
In the Finns category, the competition was more intense, with Jorge Pinheiro de Melo leading with six points, tied for second place and only one point ahead of the third.
For the cruiser classes, Saturday featured a coastal race - the Pedro Mendonça Trophy for the ORC and the Marina de Cascais Challenge for the NHC - with a weighting of x1.5 in the final standings. In the ORC class, Xekmatt secured the first place after finishing second and Syone Panther, from Luís Charola, took the trophy, while in the NHC Metralha, skippered by José Vozone, emerged as the winner.
Later in the night, the iconic Bye Bye Summer party took the stage, gathering hundreds of people at the Clube Naval de Cascais until almost dawn. This traditional "farewell to summer" celebration marked its 22nd anniversary this year.
Due to strong winds on Sunday, this edition of Cascais Vela concluded without races, making the Saturday leaders the ultimate winners.
The championship received support from the Cascais Municipal Council and Visit Cascais, Mitsubishi Motors Portugal, Marina de Cascais, Cerveja Sagres, and Vista Alegre. It was also awarded the gold certificate in the Sailors for the Sea - Portugal clean regattas program, and the winners were rewarded with Veneziani checks.
Full results available here.