Competitors are gathering in Santander, Spain, at the Real Club Maritimo de Santander, to take part in the EUROSAF Match Racing, Women’s European Championship, which is just about to get underway. Santander is the home of the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championship, which will be the principal qualification regatta for the Olympic Sailing Competition in 2016.

European women match racing sailors have come together at the fantastic Real Club Maritimo de Santander (see attached picture) to compete in the 2012 edition of the Women’s European Match Racing Championship. Now that the Olympic Regatta is behind us and with it the loss of match racing as an Olympic discipline, the very top women match racers are taking a rest, or possibly seeking new avenues for their talents. The entry, therefore, sees some experienced and fairly highly ranked sailors taking part, but also a couple of teams at the other end of the spectrum, one of which has come together for the first time to start building their knowledge and experience of match racing. EUROSAF are pleased to encourage such participation, because it can only be for the long-term benefit of women’s match racing.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, there will be an official opening ceremony attended by the Spanish Minister of Sport, Miguel Cardenal, who will be joined by the Mayor of Santander, Iñigo de la Serna and the President of the host club, Pedro Labat. This ceremony will take place at the Municipal Centre in Santander. The EUROSAF Championship is sponsored by the Government of Cantabria, the town of Santander, Real Federación Española de Vela and Consorcio Conservero Español.

Racing, which will be held in the Elliott 6m, as used for the Olympic Regatta, gets underway on Wednesday morning and it is hoped to complete a double round-robin, where each team sails against all the others, before moving on to semi-finals and finals on Saturday. The teams are competing for the György Wossala Trophy, which is awarded annually to the winner of the championship. The winning teams will also receive EUROSAF championship medals.

Event Director, Rafa Gonzalez, who is also a Vice-President of EUROSAF, said “EUROSAF were delighted when the Real Club Maritimo de Santander agreed to host this event. We in EUROSAF are determined to give as much support and encouragement to the future of women’s match racing as possible, so having such a high profile and well known club as the event organiser was a wonderful boost for everyone involved”. He continued “with such a wide range of experience between the competitors, we expect to see some very interesting races, all of which will be available for everyone to see after racing each day, via the EUROSAF website” www.eurosaf.org

For more information and pictures please contact pressoffice@eurosaf.org

The registrated skippers are:
Silvia Roca Mata (ESP)
Julie Bossard (FRA)
Caroline Sylvan (SWE)
Aleksandra Reshetova (RUS)
Ascension Roca (ESP)
Claire Lasko (GBR)

For more information, please visit:
www.eurosaf.org
or
www.rcmsantander.com