Yevgen Braslavets, Sergey Pugachev, Miguel Horta e Costa, Maria do Ceu Garcia & Aleksandre Mirchuk.
2015 World Champion, Yevgen Braslavets, pulled the Rabbit out of the Hat yesterday to win the 2017 Portuguese National Championships after a superb final day recording a 1st & 3rd in Cascais. Yevgen said “This was totally unexpected as we were standing 10th overall after 4 races, so we were really surprised, but also very happy to know we had won” !
The final 2 races sailed on a lumpy, confused sea with little more than 10kts of south-westerly breeze proved crucial for the overall rankings in this competitive 38 boat fleet. The Principle Race Officer Jose’ Cancella assisted by Goncalo and Thomas Wilton (VHF Voice) set some excellent courses in difficult sailing conditions that would shuffle the final podium positions…
Principle Race Officer Jose’ Cancella set excellent start lines and perfect length courses.
RUS 76, who was leading after 4 races, recorded 16th & 9th. This removed Dmitry Samokhin and his team from the podium this time. Meanwhile, both RUS 27 & GER 1140 managed to scramble a 5th & 10th place to finish 2nd & 3rd overall. So the current European Champions were the runners up.
2nd overall RUS 27 Anatoly Loginov, Vadim Statsenko and Alexander Shalagin.
Nicola Friesen was delighted to keep her 3rd place despite the difficult helming conditions and really enjoyed sailing with Vincie Hoesch and Joost Houweling. It’s plain to see that the sailors who put in the time and effort during the winter series benefit when the going gets tough. As the famous Golfer Lee Travino once said “The more I practice, the luckier I get” 🙂 Great sailing out there today Nicola, you thoroughly deserved this fantastic result. Well done.
3rd Overall GER 1140 “Smaug” Joost Houweling, Nicola Friesen & Vincie Hoesch.
Top Corinthian boat was POR 47 “Catarina III” helmed by Vasco Serpa, who just squeezed into the top 20 overall. I spoke with his crew Pedro Costa Alemao after who said its a pity there were only 7 Corinthian Teams but we know many more will be arriving in a few weeks time. Lets see how this new Portuguese team shape up against the top Corinthian sailors from other Nations.
Corinthian Winners Manuel Rocha (crew), with Miguel & Maria, and Pedro Costa Alemao (crew).
The highest placed Portuguese team went to POR 66 “Drago” helmed by Jose’ Matoso, crewed by Gustavo Lima and Frederico Melo. Although they were disappointed with their 15th overall position, I am sure that in 3 weeks time Gustavo will be once again working his magic at the front of the fleet…
Top Portuguese Team & National Champions for 2017.. Team “Drago” POR 66.
Finally, everything is now ready for the coming World Championships in June. With a fleet size of between 70 to 80 boats and a well practiced Race Committee all we need now is the great weather that Cascais is renowned for to make this a truly memorable event..
Higher, Faster, Longer………….. Stavros. IDA Sailing Co-ordinator.