Sailors arrive at Circolo Vela Gargnano on Lake Garda for 2011 European Access Class Championship
The sailors from around the world are now arriving at the Circolo Vela Gargnano on Lake Garda, Italy to take part in the upcoming 2011 European Access Class Championship running from Thursday, May
26 to Sunday, May 29.
The competition will feature races in four categories; Liberty, SKUD 18, Access 2.3 single person and Access 303 single and two-person. The single and two-person categories will be grouped into two
fleets and each fleet will sail in two races each day for four days. Participants from ten countries are taking part in the race that includes three current World Champions.
World Champion, Magali Moraines of France will defend her European title in the Liberty division. She defeated Barry Coates from Australia in last year’s European Championships at Port Camargue in
France.
The Australian sailor, Coates, must be looking forward to pull level in the championship against Moraines. Besides Moraines and Coates, there are a couple of Dutch sailors, Vera Voorbach and Wilma
van den Broek, who are also determined to grab the title this time, as both have the capability to sail their Liberties in total servo-electric mode.
In the Access 303 division, Hungary’s pair, Eva Mircsev and Zoltan Pegan are the current European and the World Champions in the two-person category, while Pegan is World Champion in the single-person
category of Access 303. They can be challenged by the contenders from Great Britain, France, Switzerland and the hosts, Italy.
Bruno Pereira from Cascais, Portugal is the reigning Access 2.3 single-person Champion and has a good on-water record. He also grabbed the third place at the World Championship held in the UK last
year. The 2011 European Access Class Championships will definitely be a test of his sailing skills.
The SKUD 18 division’s competitions will be interesting too as they have some experienced sailing teams from the UK that have some new crew members along with two from Italy. The racing in the 2011
European Access Class Championships will commence from Thursday, May 26 at the Lake Garda in Circolo Vela Gargnano, Italy.
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