Six British Tornado teams competed in the International Carnival Regatta in Vilamoura over the weekend of the 10-12 February, along with a host of other classes including 470s, 420s, Flying Dutchmen and Snipes.

Vilamoura is the venue for the Tornado Europeans from the 6-12 May, so the British team decided to get some practice in the conditions that they may face at the Europeans. Four races took place over three days, in light breezes of 5-8 knots.

RYA team GBR sailors, Hugh Styles and Adam May, sailed the most consistently in the fluky winds to finish in first place overall, clocking up three second place finishes and discarding their worst result, a fourth, to win the regatta with six points. In second place by just one point were fellow Olympians Hugo Rocha of Portugal. GBR teammates Rob Wilson and crew Will Howden finished in third place, just two points behind Rocha.

Chatting after the racing, Styles commented: “It was an ideal training opportunity for us as our Europeans are here in May and it was good to have a practice run in the conditions that we might expect. We were going well in the light breeze and led round every windward mark, so I am really pleased with that.”

Other British sailors also competing in the Carnival Regatta were Sydney Olympians, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, in the 470 class. Although not finishing any worse than a fourth place throughout the regatta, it was not enough to beat the home pairing of Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes who came through to win the regatta by three points. Teammates Mark Plummer and Oliver Hawkley finished in fifth place.

An impressive fleet of 420s also competed in the regatta, again the British sailors got the better of the home players, with Nic Asher and Elliot Willis winning the class by five points from Ines Gamito and Rita Guerra of Portugal. British teammates, Gemma Farrell and Jo Allen, finished in third place and were first girl’s team in this highly competitive class.

Overall Results

Tornado (4 races, 1 discard)

1, Hugh Styles/Adam May GBR (2,2,2,(4)) 6 pts

2, Hugo Rocha/Luis Brito POR ((3),3,1,3) 7 pts

3, Rob Wilson/Will Howden GBR (1,(6),6,2) 9 pts

Other British Results

4, Steven Lovegrove/Martin Sellars ((6),1,3,5) 9 pts

5, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkley (4,4,(5),1) 9 pts

7, Aaron Sault/Gavin Luxton (5,(7),7,7) 19 pts

8, Leo Farrow/Tris Lamb ((8),8,4,8) 20 pts

470 (5 races, 1 discard)

1, Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes POR (1,(2),2,2,1) 6 pts

2, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield GBR (2,3,(4),1,3) 9 pts

3, Gustavo Martinez/Tunte Cantero ESP (2,3,(4),1,3) 9 pts

Other British Results

5, Mark Plummer/Oliver Hawkley (3,4,5,6,(7)) 18 pts

420 (4 races, 1 discard)

1, Nic Asher/Elliot Willis GBR (2,(3),1,1) 4 pts

2, Ines Gamito/Rita Guerra POR (4,1,(15),4) 9 pts

3, Gemma Farrell/Jo Allen GBR ((5),2,4,3) 9 pts

Other British results

18, Sam Carter/Paul Davis (10,25,12,BFD) 47 pts