From November 10 to December 3, teams representing 40 countries will compete in SSL47 One-Designs for the 2023 SSL Gold Cup in the Canary Islands.
After promoting itself as the ‘FOOTBALL WORLD CUP’ of sailing, the build-up came to a crashing halt in October 2022 when “logistical and technical challenges, amplified by the current world environment, made it impossible to host the event in the manner which the event deserves.”
But the wheels are back on the bus, and the field has 27 Olympic medalists and America’s Cup sailors, world champions in different classes, winners of The Ocean Race along with other legendary sailors that will compete in teams of 11 off the coast of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The Canarian Luis Doreste, double Olympic medalist, is the captain of the Spanish team. Among the other countries competing for the title, there will also be sailors such as the Brazilian Robert Scheidt, the British skipper Ian Williams, and the Italian ace Vasco Vascotto.
There will be a total of 25 days of competition in which the teams from five continents will compete in groups of four until the final. Another 16 countries were knocked out of the competition in the qualifying series that took place between May and July 2022 at Lake Neuchatel (Grandson, Switzerland), and 24 of the 40 that reach the finals do so directly by their position in the overall ranking of the SSL.
Eight countries advance directly to the quarter-finals: Spain, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Italy.
The competition program foresees a total of 66 races. For details, click here.
Source: SSL Gold Cup
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