Sailors expect tough races at Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta: ISAF World Sailing World Cup Regattas
Sailors from around the world will gather at the Weymouth and Portland waters as they expect tough competitions at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, the penultimate leg of the International Sailing
Federation (ISAF) World Sailing Cup Regattas, on Monday, June 6.
The event is being hosted by Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, which registered 735 boats with 1,050 individual sailors from around the world on Sunday, June 5. The sailors will be representing
62 countries from all over the globe.
The sailors include 13 gold medalists in the line-up, who grabbed the gold in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta is the sixth leg of ISAF World Sailing World Cup circuit
that ends on Saturday, June 11.
The Australian Sailing Team will enter the event with 57 athletes that will sail in nine Olympic and three Paralympic classes. Australia has already grabbed gold medals in Laser, 49er, Skud 18 and
Women’s Match Racing categories in 2010 regatta at Weymouth.
While speaking to the local media, the 2010 Laser gold medallist, Tom Slingsby said, “I’m feeling quite good heading into the event. I’ve got a new boat for the regatta so I’ve spent the last couple
of days out on the water adapting to it and am ready to get into racing now.”
The British sailing team is also expecting some tough competitors this year and they also hope to make their best out of the event.
Stephen Park spoke to the reporters, “Skandia Sail for Gold is one that we’re going to be looking at very closely at. Most of the sailors are pretty keen to get into that team for the Pre-Olympics
so that will therefore increase the pressure here, and the sailors all know that getting decent results here on the Olympic waters in Weymouth and Portland is actually going to be crucial to ultimate success in 2012.”
The teams participating at the regatta are ready to test their skills in the water. It will help them prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games of London Olympics in 2012, which will commence at the
same venue exactly 417 days later.
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