‘Sense Of Pride’, ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères Preview

(April 20, 2015) – The ten Olympic and three Paralympic events at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères are flooded with Olympic, Paralympic, World and Continental Champions. Entries are restricted to 40 competitors in each fleet and 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships gold medallists Nicholas Heiner (NED), Mat Belcher (AUS) and Giles Scott (GBR) are excited about the new concept and facing off against the best sailors in their respective disciplines from the off.

With the world’s most athletic, versatile and competitive sailors making up the fleets the competition will be exceptional and there’s a buzz across the boat parks as Belcher explained, “There’s a sense of pride here because it’s the first time entries have been restricted. The Worlds and Europeans are open but it’s a privilege to be here.

“Everyone knows they’ve qualified to be here and they’ve earned their place and they’re looking forward to racing. People are excited and that’s filtered through to the younger sailors and teams who haven’t qualified. They’re going to be training harder and doing the other events and they’ll be proud to get on the start line at future World Cups.

“It’s a pretty cool and exciting time to be in sailing at the moment.”

ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères is the first occasion where fleets are decided based on the ISAF World Sailing Rankings and a qualification regatta. The world’s top 30 sailors from the 2 February 2015 ISAF World Sailing Rankings release were invited to Hyères with the remaining ten receiving their spot at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères qualification regatta, Trofeo Princesa Sofia.

Great Britain’s Scott had his place on the Hyères startline sewn up well in advance of Trofeo Princesa Sofia but put in another strong performance, taking gold to extend his win streak. From four previous appearances in Hyères Scott’s best result is a second behind compatriot Andrew Mills at the 2013 edition with a seventh coming in 2011, a fourth in 2009 and a 39th in the Laser in 2005.

With such strong recent form Scott is buoyant about his chances to take a first Hyères gold but he feels no weight of expectations, “Do I feel the pressure?” asked Scott quietly to himself, “Obviously it’s there and people talk about it a lot but I don’t really feel any pressure. I’m happy with where everything is at. I’m still working on a lot of stuff and as long as I’m still moving forward then I’m content.”

Forty strong Finn sailors will be doing battle on the waters off the French Riviera and Scott knows his rivals will be ready to perform, “Ivan’s [Kljakovic Gaspic] been going well over the past year, Ed [Wright] is always up there as are the French. There’s a big group of 15 guys that are certainly capable of medalling for sure.

“It’s very good to get racing that’s as much like the Games as possible. If you’re on that 40th cusp it’s potentially tricky as they’ll have to work that much harder to compete with the top guys. But once you’re there then the racing is good and it’s the pinnacle of the sport in dinghy racing.”

Competition in the Laser will be wide open. Across a 12 month period there have been multiple regatta victors with the smallest of mistakes punished. Each event at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères is a single fleet competition with no qualification required. The competitors will be battling it out from the off for valuable points and positions and 2014 World Champion Heiner is full of anticipation, “It’s going to be an interesting showcase,” commented Heiner.

“It’s the first event where you get racing against the 40 best guys in the world straight away. There’s no qualification and it’s going to be good racing, for sure.

“Anybody in the top ten can win this event and at the very least be on the podium. You’ve seen it over the past few World Cups. Phillip Buhl is now sailing really well and then there’s World #1 Tom Burton. There are a few guys that are always up there and if we get some offshore stuff it’s going to be really interesting.”

Anticipation is high amongst the 600 Olympic sailors in 400 boats and 39 Paralympic sailors in 25 boats. Final preparations are underway with racing scheduled to commence on April 22.

A four day series will build up to the Medal Races on Sunday, April 26, where Abu Dhabi Final spots will be picked up.

Click here to view the Combined Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions (NoR/SIs).

The combined NoR/SIs will be supported by ‘Round Sailing Instructions’ (RSI) at each event.

Click here to view the Round Sailing Instructions (RSI) for Hyères.

Further documents that govern the ISAF Sailing World Cup including the Equipment Regulations and Support Team Regulations are available on the ISAF Sailing World Cup Online Notice Board

About the ISAF Sailing World Cup
The ISAF Sailing World Cup is a world-class annual series for Olympic sailing. It is open to the sailing events chosen for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Its centre piece is the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup will consist of five regattas for all ten Olympic events and where possible, Formula Kite Racing. Qualification places for the ISAF Sailing World Cup final are up for grabs at each event. The final will bring together the top 20 boats in each Olympic event and an Open Kiteboarding event where the World Cup Champions will be crowned.

2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup
Melbourne – 7-14 December 2014
Miami – 25-31 January 2015
Hyères – 20-26 April 2015
Weymouth and Portland – 8-14 June 2015
Qingdao – 14-20 September 2015
2015 Final Abu Dhabi – 27 October to 1 November 2015

ISAF Sailing World Cup website
ISAF Sailing World Cup Facebook

Report by Event Media, ISAF