Monte Real Club de Yates Baiona wins the 2nd edition of the Clube Naval de Cascais Invitational Cup
by Clube Naval de Cascais 9 Oct 00:56 PDT
4-6 October 2024
2024 Invitational Cup © Neuza Aires Pereira
From October 4th to 6th Clube Naval de Cascais held the second edition of its Invitational Cup was held, featuring nine teams from seven different clubs: Monte Real Club de Yates Baiona from Spain; Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro from Brazil; Gustavia Yacht Club from Saint Barts - France; Yacht Club de Monaco from Monaco; Royal Norwegian Yacht Club from Norway; Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet from Sweden; and three teams from the Clube Naval de Cascais - a main team, a junior team, and a women's team.
The championship took place in the J70 class with boats provided by the organization in partnership with SailCascais. The competition format was a league, where all teams competed in a first qualification round, Round Robin, followed by a final.
After 24 qualification races, where the nine teams rotated among the six available boats and all competed against each other, the top four teams advanced to the final phase: Monte Real Yacht Club of Baiona, Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet, and the main team from Clube Naval de Cascais, composed of José Paulo Ramada, Santiago Sampaio, Diogo Machado Pinto, and Francisco Pinheiro de Melo.
In the final phase, the winner was the first crew to achieve two victories, except for the team that won the qualification round. That team carried their victory into the final, thus only needing to win one race.
The Monte Real Yacht Club of Baiona team, led by Rui Ramada, with Olympian Diogo Costa at the helm and crew members Afonso Leite and Tomás Barreto, secured victory in the qualification phase and gave no chances to the other crews, winning the first final race and thus claiming the Invitational Cup.
The second place was won by the Norwegian family team Klippenberg - Nils Anders, Astrid, Alexander, and Marie - while the Swedish team - Patrik Salén, Jacob Lundqvist, Pedro Costa Alemão, and Philip Schroderheim - secured the last spot on the podium.
According to Gonçalo Esteves, current Commodore of Clube Naval de Cascais and President during the previous term, "the second edition of the Clube Naval de Cascais Invitational Cup has established itself as a prominent event on the club's sporting calendar, attracting an increasing number of high-quality teams." He also highlighted the importance of the event in strengthening relations with corresponding clubs, stating that "the event provided a great atmosphere on land, promoting relationships between clubs and sporting spirit. This growth reflects the Clube Naval de Cascais' commitment to continuously raising the level of this championship, making it a reference in the sailing world."
In addition to the logistical partnership with SailCascais, the championship was supported by the Câmara Municipal de Cascais, Turismo de Portugal, Vista Alegre, Unifhorm, Opção Global - Normas e Sinais, Cerveja Sagres, Clarins and BowMedia, and also received environmental certification from Sailors for the Sea - Portugal.