Twelve crews will be competing, two of which are Portuguese, and eight catamarans, in the Tagus river for the Match Racing World Championship before the final in Shenzhen, China, from 8 to 12 November.

The first Regata Portugal (free admission) brings the best sailors in the world to Lisbon, such as Britain’s Ian Williams, six-time world champion, and Australia’s Torvar Mirsky, winner of the World Match Racing Tour in 2017.

Portugal is represented by two teams that have little experience in this class. One team is composed of Bernardo Freitas (skipper), Frederico Melo, Gil Conde and João Matos Rosa, in a boat that is does not exist yet, according to the team’s skipper, and the other includes António Fontes (skipper), Hugo Rocha, Mariana Lobato, Jorge Lima and Hélder Basílio.

The competition is going to be held in two formats – with the qualifying phase being played by the 12 teams in fleet racing (the catamarans sail at the same time), on Wednesday and Thursday to qualify the final eight.

On Friday, after the starting pistol is fired at 12.10 p.m. by Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, from the training ship of the Portuguese Navy (NRP Sagres), the knockout phase begins with a final and a ‘petit’ final on Sunday.