Opening Ceremony Launches 2009 ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final

Seventy-six athletes from 13 countries gathered at the Veleiros do Sul sailing club in Porto Alegre, Brazil for the Opening Ceremony of the 2009 ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final.

Along with the competing teams, representatives from the organizers and local authorities were also present along with top sailors like 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 470 bronze medal Fernanda OLIVEIRA.

“There will be plenty of activities throughout the week”, said. Cesar STREPPEL, Veleiros do Sul’s commodore. “Many challenges have been overcome during the last few months, but our dreams have come to fruition and we will have a week with both competition and shared experiences.”

The sailors studied the course and also took advantage of the scheduled practice day on Monday, followed by the Opening Ceremony and a cocktail evening. The round robin series starts at 08:30 on Tuesday and continues throughout the day on Guaiba River. Racing in the Women’s division will be held in the morning, followed by competition in the Open division in the afternoon.

All the skippers in each division will compete against one another during the round robin, with the top three qualifying for the semi-finals. Skippers finishing in fourth to seventh will move forward to the repechage, where they will sail a second, smaller round-robin series to determine the fourth and final qualifier for the semi-finals.

The semi-finals and final revert to a simple knockout formula, with the first skippers to score three points declared the winner.

The round robin and repechage stages are scheduled for the first four days of racing (24-27 March), with the semi-final and finals to take place on Saturday 28 March followed by the Prize Giving and Closing Ceremony.

The ISAF Nations Cup Trophy will be presented to the winners in the Open and Women’s divisions. In addition, ISAF Medals in gold, silver and bronze will be presented to the first, second and third place finishers in each division.

The competing nations and skippers are: 

Open Entries
(Nation – Skipper – ISAF World Match Race Ranking)

Host Nation, Brazil – Henrique HADDAD – 80
Defending Nation, France – Damien IEHL – 7

Denmark – Mads EBLER – 11
Spain – Manuel WEILLER VIDAL – 23
Portugal – Alvaro MARINHO – 30
India – Mahesh RAMCHANDRAN – 35
Finland – Jon ERIKSSON – 36
USA – Dave PERRY – 37
Argentina – Juan FIGUEROA – 52
New Zealand – Adrian SHORT – 67

Women’s Entries
(Nation – Skipper – ISAF World Match Race Ranking)

Host Nation, Brazil – Juliana SENFFT – 58
Defending Nation, France – Claire LEROY – 1

Great Britain – Lucy MACGREGOR   – 3
Denmark – Lotte Meldgaard PEDERSEN – 4
Australia – Nicky SOUTER – 10
Italy – Giulia CONTI – 36
Portugal – Rita GONCALVES – 18
USA – Anna TUNNICLIFFE – 37
Argentina – Cecilia RUIZ BARLETT – 235

India – entry withdrawn

Click here to find out more about the competing skippers.

Find out more about the ISAF Nations Cup at www.sailing.org/nationscup.