THE GC32 RACING TOUR VISITS VENUES MOST LIKELY TO OFFER THE WIND AND FLAT WATER CONDITIONS ENABLING THE NIMBLE GC32S TO FLY AT 30+ KNOT SPEEDS.

Venues on the GC32 Racing Tour are chosen to provide optimum conditions to go foiling for the maximum amount of time, and to ensure teams have an enjoyable experience both on and off the water.

At each event, the GC32 Racing Tour brings in its own professional race management team led by PRO Stuart Childerley, plus race officials, international umpires and safety personnel. Typically up to five races/day are sailed on windward-leeward courses with either reaching or windward starts according to wind conditions. GC32 Racing Tour courses are designed to be fair, enjoyable and to provide the best racing while being large enough for GC32s to reach their maximum speed. For 2023, the Tour’s events are based in southern Europe, minimising logistical hassles and making it possible for teams to use their boats between official races.

21-25 June 2023 – Lagos, Algarve, Portugal

The GC32 Racing Tour 2023 starts in Lagos. While this harbour on Portugal’s Algarve coast was not known in yacht racing circles before the GC32 Racing Tour first visited in 2018, since then it has become a firm favourite with the GC32 teams.

Being in southern Portugal, albeit just 20 miles from Cape St Vincent, the southwesternmost tip of Europe, its sailing area is largely protected from Atlantic waves and the brunt of the prevailing northwesterly winds by the land. In optimum conditions, the waters in the bay off Lagos can provide strong winds and flat water but frequently the weather conditions are more irregular so teams must be prepared for anything.

While weather conditions are an attraction, the venue is popular because of the local support the GC32 Racing Tour and its teams receive from the City of Lagos and Tourism Portugal, plus Sopromar, Marina de Lagos and Clube de Vela de Lagos as well as the event’s ‘family atmosphere’ thanks to members of Clube de Vela de Lagos and its enthusiastic youth sailors.