The Nacra 17 World Championship was held in the south of France about a month ago, and for the first time the whole fleet was actually ‘flying’ on the foils. It was a fiery competition among the top teams and in the end it was won on the final day in the Medal Race by British Team Ben Saxton and Katie Dabson. Saxton and Dabson are also European Champions 2017 and are number one in the Nacra 17 ranking. A great year for the team that represented Great Britain at the Olympics in Rio and couldn’t go higher than 9th position, but started strong the new campaign to Tokyo 2020.
Ben Saxton will leave for once the fast, foiling catamaran to challenge himself on a boat designed in 1911, a monhull keel boat with only white sails that is far from ‘flying’..Ben accepter the invitation to race at the SSL Finals 2017 in Nassau, Bahamas.
“I’m honored and excited to race at the SSL Finals – says Saxton – it’s going to be fantastic racing against great athletes, and I can’t wait to get out on the course to race hard and have a great time in these awesome boats.”
Before jumping on the Nacra 17, Saxton had a few successful years on a more traditional boat, he was second at the 470 Europeans, was third at the SB20 Worlds and was third at the Etchells Europeans in 2015.
We hope to see great things from this 27 years old sailor who never actually raced the Star before..
The SSL Finals will take place in Nassau, Bahamas, from December 4th to 9th at Nassau Yacht Club. It will be streamed live and free on www.starsailors.com with the finest television technology and with the commentary of sailing super stars.
SSL Press Officer since 2015