GAZI – Yesterday July 6th, at the General Meeting, several questions were raised concerning food, drinks, sailing instructions, transportation and the Organising Committee will do its best to solve all those issues.
The day of July 6th ended with the Opening Ceremony celebrated at the Port of Heraklion with the march parade of the 9 participating countries, a welcome from FISU representative Claude-Louis Gallien and Rector of the University Prof. Ioannis Palikaris and Mr. Ioannis Mpra, Representative of the Harbour. Mr. Ioannis Manzapetaki, Representative of the Mayor of Heraklion, also made a speech and officially declared the 5th World University Match Racing Championship 2010 open. After the FISU flag was hoisted, all participants and the public of Heraklion could enjoy with traditional Cretian dances and life traditional music, to recall boats dancing on the sea.
FISU 1st Vice-President Claude-Louis GallienToday, July 7th, after a welcome and last instructions from Prof. Theodoros Katsaounis, University of Crete Technical Director, and Roland Galliot, FISU Technical Chair, the draw for the boats was made.
Now we are at the point of the first race taking place.
But … what is match racing exactly? In sailing, match racing is a really particular format of competition. Indeed, the competitors play a match in dual on identical boats. Firstly, those competitors are competing in a “round robin”, where every team meets the totality of its competitors. With each victory one point is gained. The competition evolves in quarter-finals, semi-finals and then finals.
As told already, 9 countries and 13 teams are participating: Italy, Singapore, Australia (2 teams), Denmark, France, United-Kingdom of Great Britain (2 teams), Ireland, Poland (2 teams), and Greece (2 teams).
The race zone is located 500m East from the Port, in order to find a regular wind. With sea depth of 15-20m, it is well protected from the waves of the North West. The number of competitions by day will be rhythmed by successive non-stop departures. A series of 4 matches (flight) is lasting approximately 45 minutes. The competition will last 5 days.
(Source: Nicole Mangelschots, FISU Asst. WUC)
Mr. Ioannis Manzapetaki, Representative of the Mayor of Heraklion
Rector of the University Prof. Ioannis Palikaris
Traditional dances