Copa Brasil de Vela Ends After Five Days Of Racing On The Olympic Areas

The Copa Brasil de Vela ended ahead on 20 December with the Medal Races of the 10 Olympic classes. The venue for the Medal Races was São Francisco Bay, close to the beach in Niteroi. The wind, however, was light and shifty and the races started more than 2 hours late.  At the end of the day, Brazilian sailors got three gold medals with Robert Scheidt in the Laser Standard, Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Barbachan in the Women's 470 and Marco Grael and Gabriel Borges in the 49er. There were three Brazilian silver medals, with Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze in the 49erFX, Patricia Freitas in the Women's RS:X and Bruno Fontes in the Laser Standard.
Evi Van Acker (BEL) took the honours in the Laser Radial, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) won gold in the Men's 470, Giles Scott (GBR) dominated the Finn whilst fellow Briton Bryony Shaw took the Women's RS:X honours. Billy Besson and Marie Riou (FRA) took a narrow victory in the Nacra 17 whilst Dutch sailors Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz claimed the 49erFX title.
It was a great week, with all the races completed as the schedule. The sun and the wind came up every day, and the 160 sailors, from more than 20 countries left Niteroi with a big smile on their faces.
All the results can be seeing on www.copabrasildevela.com.br.
Copa Brasil de Vela is organized by CBVela, is sponsored by Bradesco, Grupo Águas do Brasil e BG Brasil and supported by Secretaria de Esporte e Lazer de Niterói, Lei de Incentivo ao Esporte and Slam. (www.sailing.org)