INCLUSION GAMES FLOURISH WITH AMERICA’S CUP SUPPORT
Portimão on the Algarve coast of southern Portugal has been playing host to the World Sailing Inclusion Championship, attracting some 222 para-athletes from a total of 40 nations. It’s the last World Championships before the International Paralympic Committee make its decision on whether sailing will be re-included as a sport on the roster for the Brisbane 2032 Paralympics, and the America’s Cup has been a vital support to World Sailing’s impressive bid.
Just before the first World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Oman last year, the America’s Cup pledged financial support to enhance the Paralympic re-inclusion bid and the impact has been significant allowing World Sailing to initiate an International Development Programme that has brought new nations into the fold with elite coaching, grants and support.
David Graham, the impressive Chief Executive of World Sailing, speaking in Portimão was unequivocal in his praise for what the America’s Cup funding has meant for what is an impressive bid for re-inclusion, saying: “In essence, what we agreed with the America’s Cup is that the World Sailing sanction fee is going to be used for social impact. Grant Dalton is passionate about para, and offered to do whatever he could to help, so we diverted those funds and had a global international development program where we were coaching para sailors around the world. That has had a positive impact on the amount of countries that we’ve got here. We have to hit 32 countries across the continents, and we’ve got 40 countries sailing here in Portimao.”
“Without the Cup’s funding we wouldn’t have got that number, so it was very generous, and it was critical to our success. Tomorrow, Leila Marquez Mota, the First Vice President in the IPC and number two after Andrew Parsons (IPC President) is coming here. For us, not only have we ticked all of the boxes, but we have ticked all of the boxes and some, from classification and us embracing the new IPC code, to writing our own code and working with them, plus the number of competing nations. The top of our sport is the America’s Cup and to have the Cup shoulder to shoulder with us, is really, really helpful. It’s not a given we’re getting back into the Paralympic Games, but we’ve ticked all of the boxes, and now it’s over to the decision-makers.”
In response, Grant Dalton CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand and Chairman of the America’s Cup Partnership added: “Seeing so many para-athletes and new nations competing in Portugal is exactly the positive impact that we had wished for. Certainly, everyone involved in the America’s Cup, and across the broader sailing and racing community, want to see sailing back in the Paralympics to light the pathways for para-athletes around the world. We are delighted with what David Graham and his excellent team at World Sailing have achieved to date and we will await the decision of the IPC with much interest.”
On the water, the racing has been tight and of the highest quality with some superb boat-handling and racecraft displayed across the fleets from the RS21 fleet through the Hansa 303, RS Venture Connect, Challenger trimarans and 2.4 Metre classes. Wing foiling demonstration has also proved popular and the buzz around Portimão is electric with plenty of knowledge-sharing as well as cut-throat racing and big fleet tactics set within a framework that is the blueprint for regatta management.
World Sailing, take a bow. Superb.
Magnus Wheatley
(All Photos: Tim Jeffreys Photography)
