Clearwater Sailing Event Serves as Warm Up for World Championship

140 skiff sailors from 19 different countries and 5 continents will descend on Clearwater Beach's Pier 60 for the Clearwater North American Sailing Event on Thursday February 5th, which will serve as a warm up for the Clearwater 2016 World Championship beginning on the following Saturday.  

 

Participating classes include 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17. Looking to continue their climb up the 49er rankings will be recent ISAF Sailing World Cup Final Champions Tomasz Januszevski and Jacob Nowak from Poland.  Challenging the Poles will be Germany’s Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel, winners of the World Cup of Sailing in Palma in 2014. This will be their first time racing since Ploessel returned from his recent injury.

 

Local fans can cheer for Brad Funk and Trevor Burd, winners of a Bronze medal at last year's World Cup of Sailing in Miami. Locals will also be cheering on Robbie Daniels of Red Gear Racing, sailing a Nacra 17. American and Canadian squads are likely to feature in the top 10, as the majority of those teams spent December training in Clearwater.

 

In the women’s 49erFX there is a strong Danish contingent, including two time European Champions Ida Nielsen and Marie Olsen. Griselda Khng and Sara Tan from Singapore, who broke into the skiff sailing scene as light air specialists, are also likely to be contenders after demonstrating significant improvements in heavy air skills at recent events.