Platu 25 World Championship gets underway

September 28, 2006 0 comments

The inaugural Estrella Galicia Platu 25 World Championship, organized by the Real Club Nautico de Vigo and Triente, gets underway in Vigo, Spain today, with over 400 sailors and 84 boats from 13 nations lined up.

The Spanish fleet includes crews from Galicia, Valencia, Andalucia, Balearic Islands and Basque Country. There are also crews from Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Croatia, Brazil, Finland, France, Switzerland, and Thailand ready to do battle for the Platu 25 World title.

Amongst the Spanish helmsmen there are a host of famous names including, Gonzalo Araujo on Balearia, Roberto Bermudez on Iberconsa and 2005 ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz (ESP) sailing on Movistar – Vilagarcia.

Portuguese Olympic helmsman Diogo Cayolla features on Alpha Ropes, whilst number two skipper in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings Paolo CIAN (ITA) sails on Bonaventura. Another big name to look out for is 1980 Olympic gold medallist Marcos Soares (BRA) sailing on Brasil.

Racing starts today and continues through to Saturday 30 September, with a maximum of three races per day and twelve scheduled for the championship. One discard will count after four races, with a second discard after race eight.

The fleet will be split in two groups of 42 boats. During the first two days a qualifying series will determine the gold fleet who will fight for the World Championship title on Friday and Saturday.