Wind Brasil 2009 starts this week on Ilhabela, Sao Paulo State…
The Sao Paulo Formula Windsurfing Grand Prix this week heralds the start of Wind Brasil 2009. The penultimate leg of the 2009 formula world tour will be take place on the waters off Ilhabela – or “Beautiful Island”.
Within easy reach of Sao Paulo, the islands economy is based on tourism, development is restricted, and is a renowned sailing destination.
The winds can range from the traditional warm easterly, to the strong southerly that comes with the cold front. Wind range can be anything from 10 to 35 knots depending on the day. During the weekend, the island gets a lot of people from Sao Paulo city, who have weekend houses at the island or just come and stay at the many Pousadas (hotel/guesthouse) that the island has to offer.
Top ranked brasilian racer, Wilhelm Schurmann, will be hoping to finish one place better than his last visit to Ilhabela, for the 2005 Nationals, when he finished a very close second to Paulo Dos Reis. However, Brasil has a wealth of talented formula sailors including Gabriel Browne, Fabio and Victor Melo, Leonardo Rebello and Matthias Pinheiro … to name but a few!
There will be added pressure on the local stars – as the Grand Prix status of this years event attracts the worlds top ranked racers.
This years line up includes – Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Agentina), Alberto Menagatti (Italy), Ross Williams (United Kingdom), Jesper Vesterstrom (Denmark), Arnon Dagan (Israel).
The racing starts on wednesday 21st through to sunday 25th. You can follow all the action as it happens on the “live ticker ” via –
https://www.formulawindsurfing.org/
where you will also find daily reports, results and photo gallery.
Wind Brasil 2009 – organised by Arrow Marketing, in co-opreration with Associacao Brasileira de Windsurf (ABWS) and Confederacao Brasileira de Vela e Motor (CBVM).
