The three-day regatta, organised in conjunction with Clube Naval de Cascais, will see more than six hundred sailors descend on Portugal’s “Riviera” this weekend as they compete across six classes.

Cascais, well known for its reliable summer breeze that feeds in from the northwest, attracts world-class events to its shores every year and on Friday the wind did not disappoint.

The Snipe dingy class, who are participating in the first of three days in the Snipe South European Championship completed two races in the bay of Cascais.

In a fifteen-knot northwesterly, racing in the championship kicked off at 12:00 local time with the first of the two races planned for the day.

Leading from start to finish in race one, BEL 31274, with Manu Hens and Alexandre Tinoco, took an easy win in race one. In race two the pair repeated their performance taking a convincing lead overnight with two points.

In second place lies BRA31472 of Mário Junior and Matheus Gonçalves, after a third and second, finishing the day with five points.

And closing the provisional overnight podium with six points sits GER 31481, sailed by Miguel Graça and João Lopes, who secured a second and a fourth place.

Racing will re-commence at 12:00 on Saturday when all six classes in the regatta line up, including the popular cruising class which will include superyachts as well as the local professional sailing team the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team onboard their VO65 “Racing for the Planet”.