The Nations Cup Grand Final for 2018 is to be hosted in San Francisco by St. Francis Yacht Club. The event will be held from October 10th to 14th.
This is a tournament that is an international level championship, which is organized by World Sailing. At this event there are top competitors who come to participate from around the world. There is a Women’s division as well as an Open series. The edition of 2018 will have mainly J/22s as the sailing vessels.
The Open Division will have skippers who have finished at the top of the 2017 event of US Match Racing Championship. This Open Division will have a Nations Cup Regional qualifier round as well whose location and date need to be determined. There would be ten teams who would be pre qualified and would be competing for the 2017 US Match Racing Championship which would be held from 13th to 15th of October. The races would be held at the Oyster Bay area of New York at Match 40s venue. Women skippers have been asked to apply and indeed, most applications are in. The teams would have the chance to represent their country as Nations Cup qualifiers.
The candidates who would be shortlisted would be selected on the basis of their match racing expertise. Among those who would be eligible to compete are US citizens, permanent residents and members who belong to the US Sailing organization. The deadline being the end of this month, most applications are already in by now.
This tournament was first started in 1991. This competition comprises of a number of regional finals. The top crews who emerge from the regional finals make it to the Grand Final. Match racing and scope of international competition for sailors is what this competition aims at. There are incentives given to the sailors as well as a reasonable cost of participating in the events. The World Sailing Nations Cup that was held in 2015 and had about 37 teams compete in the regional finals saw a total of 14 shortlisted teams emerging at the Grand Finals.