EFG Bank Pan American Sport Boat Championship UK qualifier

A new feature of this year's Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week

Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week has been selected as the new qualifying event for Sportsboats interested in participating in the 2014 EFG Bank Pan American Sport Boat Championship to be held in March in Miami.

This championship event is held in conjunction with the Bacardi Cup and Miami Sailing Week which brings together American and international sailors for a week of racing in Biscayne Bay. Sportsboats were added to the regatta four years ago when EFG International and the Viper 640 Class created the Pan American Championship as a feeder series for a final in Miami. Last year over 70 teams participated in qualifying events and over 40 came to the final event from Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, USA, South America, Caribbean, UK, Netherlands, and Canada.

In celebration of the Championship’s fifth anniversary, the Pan American organisers wanted to make it easier for international participants to qualify by adding regattas in Europe and Australia as qualifying events. The winner of the Pan American Trophy last year was the British Team, Fer De Lance skippered by Glyn Locke from Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, so it is fitting that the UK qualifying event should be hosted at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week.

Commenting on the news, Glyn Locke said: “The EFG Pan American Sport Boat Championship series is a fantastic event. March on Biscayne Bay in Miami, is a sailing experience that's hard to beat. After a cold UK winter, it really does not get much better than racing Vipers on an azure sea, under clear blue Florida skies. I think it is great that Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week have offered to host an EFG qualifying event, and I hope it encourages more British crews to come to Miami next year.”

Teams that participate in the qualifying round in the Sportsboat class this August in Cowes will carry their finishing score to the final in Miami and the Cowes Week winning team (with amateur driver) will be offered the free use of a brand new charter Viper 640 with sails at the final event in Miami.

Stuart Quarrie, CEO of Cowes Week Limited said: “We’re delighted to have established this new relationship with the 2014 EFG Pan American Sport Boat Championship. We are always keen to collaborate with other events around the world where there is synergy, and this is a perfect example of that.”

There are already 15 eligible boats within the Sportsboat class signed up to race in Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week.