The History of the Sailing World Cup Series

Launched in 2008, the ISAF Sailing World Cup is the annual circuit of Olympic sailing for elite and professional sailors, its centre piece is the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.Ten Olympic events will be contested at each ISAF Sailing World Cup with the addition of Kiteboarding and Paralympic events where possible.

Over 2,000 of the world's leading sailors representing 75 nations have competed in the ISAF Sailing World Cup which offers a definitive guide to the best-of-the-best in the Olympic sailing world.

2008-2012

The original series, that took place between 2008 and 2012 kicked off with Sail Melbourne, Australia, followed by the Rolex Miami OCR in the USA. Five European regattas complete the cirucit, they are; the Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE, Palma, Spain; Semaine Olympique Francaise, Hyeres, France; the Delta Lloyd Regatta, Medemblik, The Netherlands; Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, Weymouth, Great Britain; and Kieler Woche, Germany.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Standings were calculated based on the position that sailors finished at the regattas. First overall was awarded 20 points down to 1 point for the 20th placed finisher. The winner at the end of the series was named the ISAF Sailing World Cup Champion.

Competition at each World Cup regatta was open to the sailing classes chosen for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions.

2013-2016

The ISAF Sailing World Cup for the new Olympic quadrennium kicked off in Melbourne, Australia in December 2012. A shorter series for 2012-2013 saw athletes travel to Miami, USA, Mallorca, Spain and Hyeres, France.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Final Introduction

The introduction of an ISAF Sailing World Cup Final was made in July 2014. The inaugural edition of the regatta took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 26-30 November.

All ten Olympic events were contested in Abu Dhabi from 26-30 November, with an open kiteboarding event in the fray around Lulu Island off the UAE capital's stunning Corniche.

With just 20 boats in each event the competition was fierce. The ten Olympic events contested an opening series and a Medal Race with the kiteboard fleet using a short track format. Prize money was awarded to the top three overall finishers in each of the Olympic events from a total prize purse of US$200,000.

2015 ISAF SAILING WORLD CUP

Melbourne, Australia will begin the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup journey mid December 2014. Miami, Florida, USA will host the next stop on the circuit in January 2015 before a double European stopover. Sailors will head to Hyères, France in April before returning to the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition venue of Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain in June. The final stopover on the 2015 circuit will be Qingdao, China in September before the top sailors head to Abu Dhabi for the Final.

Qualification places for the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final are up for grabs at each event. The Final will bring together the top 20 boats in each Olympic event and an Open Kiteboarding event and the ISAF Sailing World Cup Champions will be crowned.

Use the links below to read about the past editions and view the overall ISAF Sailing World Cup Standings.

About Sailing as an Olympic Sport

Sailing was first contested at the 1900 Olympic Games, made its next Olympic appearance in 1908 and has been on every Olympic programme since that year. It is one of the oldest sports on the Olympic programme and its Olympic history is littered with many heroes including some of the sporting world's great figures.

In effect, sailing made its Olympic debut in Sydney, as it became the first Olympic sport to make a name change. The sport had always been called yachting in the past.