Eric Belda/Rodrigo Dabus (BRA) win 420 South American Championship 2014
The Brazilian team of Eric Belda/Rodrigo Dabus ended the year as the champions of the 420 South American Championship on Monday 22 December in Porto Alegre at Veleiros do Sul Sailing Club. Daniel Lombardi/Gabriel Nad Sequeira took second place and André Fiuza/Stephan Kunath finished in third place.
"Today we started in second place with Fiúza behind our crew. In the second regatta, we passed by Daniel Lombardi, but Fiúza won the race and stayed near to us. But in the last race of the day, we overtook and won the championship. Now, we are foccused on the 420 Brazilian at Ilhabela, in January. We already sail in Porto Alegre, is a great place to sail with warm water, but the wind shift a lot and challenges the sailors," said Belda.
Clara Videla/Sofia Videla from Argentina were undefeated and won the women's South American Championship title having dominated the six women's teams from the opening race.
"We are very happy because we learned and had a lot of fun.This is my first South American Championships racing with my sister. We didn't have any fighting on board, I think it was great," joked Sofia.
After the bad weather that forced a break in the competition on Sunday, the South Americans finished on Monday 22 December on a sunny day with a southerly breeze of 15 knots, perfect conditions to run the last three races. Twenty South American crews from Brazil, Argentina and Chile competed.