Indigo ISAF World Team Racing Championship Starts
by David Branigan 27 Jul 1999 15:10 BST
The first race of the Indigo ISAF World Team Racing Championship started in Dun Laoghaire Harbour (Dublin, Ireland) this morning at 0900 (local) in bright sunshine and a fresh easterly breeze. The opening race saw USA1 beat
GBR2 though with 30 (at time of writing) out of 153 races scheduled for round one, team form will only become apparent later this afternoon.
A total of 18 teams from 13 nations are competing at the event with two squads each from Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa and USA. Also competing are Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Spain, Sri Lanka and Canada. India had been expected until
last Friday when the entry was withdrawn. An international team had been planned to even out the fleet to 20 teams but was dropped from the event as a result.
This is the third time the ISAF Team Racing Worlds has been held. 1999 is the 50th anniversary of this area of sailing and the Royal St. George YC at Dun Laoghaire joined with West Kirby SC in the UK for the first event. A budget of IR£250,000 (US$320,000 approx) has been raised from Internet Service Provider Indigo plus Dublin Port, BMW, Barlo Plastics, Anglo Irish Bank, National Toll Roads, The Irish Times and Oce Ireland.
Event Website: www.rsgyc.ie/teamracing/