Marina de Portimão will host, in October, the Adapted Sailing World Championship and the first national qualifying race took place last weekend, 18th and 19th March.
The race was organized by the Yacht Club Marina de Portimão in partnership with Vela Solidária, a project by the Teia D'Impulsos Association.
The competition was attended by nine sailors from all over the country, between Portimão, Cascais, Lisbon and Póvoa de Varzim, competing in the 303 Individual category.
At the end of the six races, sailor João Pinto from Clube Naval de Portimão won 1st place on the podium, followed by Luís Ramalho (2nd) and Guilherme Ribeiro (3rd), both athletes from the Iate Clube Marina de Portimão/Vela Solidária.
The race also had a female athlete, Felismina Gomes representing the Associação Naval de Lisboa (ANL).
The councilor for Sport of the Municipality of Portimão, Teresa Mendes, was present at the awards ceremony, who stressed: «this competition is important for us, the promotion of water sports is essential. We are a city bathed by river and sea, it would make no sense not to promote water sports, besides we have a motto that is sport for everyone and we are keen to support everything that is adapted sport».
The president of the Southern Sailing Association (ARVS) Ricardo José added that adapted sailing is “a sport effectively for everyone. There are no limits and you [athletes] are proof of that, with your resilience and dedication to sailing, the Algarve and, above all, the country».
This year, Portimão will host the Hansa Class World Championship, organized by the Yacht Club Marina de Portimão and Vela Adaptada, between the 12th and 21st of October. About 200 athletes from 20 different countries are expected.
The president of the Hansa Portugal Class and sailor Guilherme Ribeiro invited everyone to be present.
«Remember that, in October, it's the biggest competition, it's the big competition, and I want all the sailors here because the more, the bigger the team and the result obviously too. What we want is to promote sailing as a whole and bring it to Portugal in the splendor of organizing the biggest competition, the World Championship, what some didn't believe was possible will be».
The event had institutional partners Marina de Portimão, Municipality of Portimão, Portuguese Sailing Federation, Regional Sailing Association of the South and Hansa Classe Portugal. In addition to sponsors Pete Keeping, Marlow, Portiate, Dune Sailing, Slick Hull, Prime Digital, Mirachoro Hotels, Auchan, Talho Avenida, Vinhos do Algarve and Delta Cafés.
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