On Wednesday (22) the Brazilian sailing team begins training for the SSL Gold Cup Test event which is the sport’s World Cup. The quarrels will take place in Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, between the next Monday (27) and October 3. The national delegation includes ten athletes, including two-time Olympic champion Robert Scheidt (the captain of the national ship), Martin Grill and Kahina Konzi.
“We have a good team on paper, it needs to sail well together. Brazil has a good chance to have this team. With the help of the Brazilian Sailing Confederation (CBVela), we have put together a good crew and now we need to mingle,” said Scheidt, the country’s top medalist at the Olympics. .
“We collect talents from different fields, but putting together a team is always a challenge. The most important thing now is getting the team together, splitting the tasks on the boat. Creating the crew yourself. It will be a learning experience, as not everyone has sailed on this boat,” the two-time Olympic champion continued, Who will be the team leader.
In addition to Scheidt, Martine and Kahena, the crew will have two other sailors who have defended the country at the Tokyo Olympics (Japan): Gabriel Borges and Henrik Haddad. The team was completed by Andre “Boccha” Fonseca (Brazil representative in three editions of the Games), Juca Signorini (champion of the ocean race, the oldest regatta in the world), Henry Boeing Maguila, Alfredo Roveri and Juninho de Jesus.
The test event with the participation of Brazil will be the second in the SSL Gold Cup and will feature boats from Argentina, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Oman and Switzerland. The first started on the 13th and ended on Sunday (19) with the victory of South Africa, and a third spat will take place between October 11-17, with ships from Spain, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Slovenia, Peru and Serbia.
The Sailing World Cup will take place between May and June next year in Switzerland as well. The tournament will bring together 56 teams (one from each country), which will compete in 47-foot (14.30-meter) sailboats, provided by the organization. The idea is for each boat to have the top ten sailors from the country in question.
“The tournament between countries is really great. The sail will finally have the equivalent of the FIFA World Cup. The goal is to make the boat as simple as possible. If you use a lot of technology, it will make it difficult to sail. But it is not an easy boat, as it will have a lot of details What will count is the ability of the crew to handle the cables and adjust the sails,” explained Bruno Prada, Brazil team manager and Olympic medalist at the Beijing (China) and London (UK) games.
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