Cascais Portuguese Champions Regatta at Clube Naval de Cascais
by Clube Naval de Cascais 18 Jan 04:24 PST
13-14 January 2024
The Melges 15 had their debut in Cascais with the the Portuguese Champions Regatta, an invitational trophy organised by SailCascais and Clube Naval de Cascais, that gathered the Portuguese National Champions from different classes and some local legends.
From Optimist to ORC the Portuguese Champions made it to Cascais this weekend, as well as some World (ORC and 420) and Europen Champions (Dragon and J70) and other sailors with top honors in major events.
After 7 races sailed over two days, Afonso Domingos (3x Olympian, 2x Star Barcardi winner, ORC World Champion) and Diana Neves, from Cascais, were the big winners (3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 7). Despite the impressive scores, Henrique Brites and Luis Pinheiro (SB20 and Snipe Portuguese Champions) kept the pressure until the end (5, 2, 2, 2, 4, 1, 4), as there were no discard and the last race counted double, to eventually tie the winners at the top, only to loose on number of first places. The 1996 420 World Champion Martinho Fortunato sailing with his son Manuel, from Clube de Vela de Lagos, closed the podium (1, 3, 10, 3, 1, 11, 1).
It was a great weekend of sailing in Cascais with wind mostly from South, in between 15 to 4 knots, that brought some swell into the bay. The Melges 15 provided by the organisers, proved to be a great choice for the event as they easy to sail and they love these conditions. The event had a solid representation with op sailors from the most active classes in Portuguese sailing, ranging from 14 to 59 years old, coming from the North to the South of Portugal and from the Azores and Madeira Islands.
The championship had the support of Cascais Municipality, Visit Cascais, Cascais Marina, Cerveja Sagres, SailCascais and Vista Alegre
Full results here.