European Course Racing Championships to be held in Sopot, Poland

The 2011 European Course Racing Championships will be held during Ergo Hestia Cup in Sopot, Poland from 26.07. - 30.07.2011. 7000 Euros (still counting) are up for grabs as well as 407 points for the Course Racing World Ranking.

PRESS RELEASE

Ergo Hestia Cup will bring to Sopot top class kiteboarders and windsurfers from around the world. The event will take place between the 26th and the 30th of July 2011 and will consist of Kite Race Course European Championship and Formula Windsurfing Polish Open. The regatta will be a collaboration between windsurfing and kiteboarding, two candidates for a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. This kind of collaboration could be more frequent in the future as the two are probably the most attractive in sailing course racing and could well both be a part of the Olympic Games in the future.

The host of the event is Sopot Sailing Club Ergo Hestia, one of the biggest windsurfing clubs in Europe. The club was established in 1983 and now counts as many as 300 members, both amateurs and professional sailors. The club’s competitors are the winners of European and World Junior, Youth, Senior and Master Championships. Przemysław Miarczyński has for many years been on top of Olympic Windsurfing, being both European and World Champion. He competed three times in the Olympic Games and has been top ranked in ISAF Sailor ranking for a large part of his career.

Sopot Sailing Club Ergo Hestia Sopot is a very good place for sport and for recreation. Situated on the beach of Sopot , but in the middle of Tri City agglomeration (Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot) it offers many possibilities – beach, wind, sun and sea.

During the regatta itself we can expect a lot of excitement. The competitors will not only compete for world ranking points and European and Polish Championship titles but also for prize money which in total will sum up to 14 000 Euro. One of the competitors who is eager to take part in the event is 3 time Formula Windsurfing World Champion – Marta Hlavaty.

“This season I’m coming back to windsurfing after a year break. Now I have two beautiful sons and a great husband. I can’t really judge what my chances are. The Polish Open which will be joined with the Kiteboarding European Championships will be a great and exciting event. I think the crowd will have a good time with attractive sailing on the water. I would like to invite everybody to the event and hope to be in good form and finish in the top 3.”

Sopot Sailing Club Ergo Hestia is planning to make the event as attractive to spectators as possible with fan zones near Sopot pier and on Sopot’s beach. We will have numerous accompanying events including kiteboarders vs. windsurfers  volleyball tournaments. There will also be a large screen with footage from the racecourse and live results.

More info on www.ergohestiacup.pl