After 23 days and 64 races in Gran Canaria at the SSL Gold Cup the Hungarian ‘Shamans’ won the SSL Gold Cup, the inaugural World Champions of Sailing Nations.
It all started with 56 nations, qualifying at Lake Neuchâtel to make the final 40 at the Gran Canaria Final Series with five rounds of competition to reach this stage.
It all came to the final four, and the Grand Final.
The winners of the start were Spain and The Netherlands, crossing the line at speed with clear air, while Hungary were shut out at the committee boat end by The Netherlands, and Italy.
Recovering from their poor start, the Hungarian ‘Shamans’ team chose a perfect track on the first upwind leg and, outmanoeuvred the Spanish ‘La Armada’ on the final approach to the windward mark, switching a 10 second deficit into a 20 second lead.
Downwind the ‘Shamans’ risked it all by going left while the rest of the fleet went right – a brave move by the charismatic Hungarian Captain and Tactician Zsombor Berecz.
The ‘Shamans’ conjured a stunning spinnaker drop, while the ‘Dutch Lions’ rounded just 25 seconds behind having bitten 30 seconds off their windward mark deficit, overtaking the ‘Gladiators’ and ‘La Armada’ in the process.
As the wind continued to drop, the ‘Gladiators’ charged, but the ‘Shamans’ wove their magic to fend off their opponents.
Behind them the Italian ‘Gladiators’ sealed silver, while The Netherlands’ ‘Dutch Gladiators’ took bronze. Agony for the home team, the Spanish ‘La Armada’ who finished fourth.
The Hungarian heroes had won the SSL Gold Cup. Zsombor Berecz, Robert Bakoczy, Marcell Goszleth, Csaba Adorjan, Kos Lillik, Levente Takacsy, Balazs Tomai, Zsombor Gyapjas and Aron Nemeth have written their names in the history books as the inaugural World Champions of Sailing Nations.
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