The UIM Pleasure Navigation Commission have announced a new format for their 2022 World Championship. It will see three rounds held this year with each round having two races giving the competitors six opportunities to secure maximum points in this highly competitive series.
‘We hope this format will encourage new teams from as many countries as possible to take part’ said the Commission’s Chairman Denis Dillion.
He went on to say that 2022 will not be without its challenges as Covid is still with us, plus the classes will see the start of the changeover to using only EPA compliant engines by the start of the 2023 season.
Last season saw the three classes – P150, B300, and S450 – compete for the world titles at two different venues. The first took the teams to the Italian town of Rodi Garganico located on the South-Eastern Adriatic coastline.
In the P150 class the Spanish crew of Plazuelo Garcia and Herrera Pardo put their Envirude powered CBS hull to good use winning the first heat and then securing third place in the second to finish the weekend in the top spot.
Overall honours for the B300 class was a closely fought battle between two Bernico entries. In the end it was the Belgian crew of Buby Bertels and Nico de Stoop who just managed to hold off the Dutch pairing of Jan Cees Korteland and Paul Korteland in the second heat to secure maximum points.
In the S450 category it was a strong performance by the Italian crew of Rosario Longo and Enrico Marani in their Power Marine hull that secured victory in both heats each time finishing a lap ahead of the Belgian crew of Nico Bertels and Francis Notschaele.
After a break of four months the race teams then headed to Spain’s Atlantic coast for Round Two. The tourist town of Baiona with its medieval historical centre situated by the outlet of the Vigo Bay played host to the concluding rounds of both UIM Pleasure Navigation World and European Championships.
The race circuit, laid out in the beautiful Baiona Cove just in front of the Ladeira Beach front, would see the teams race a total of thirty-eight (short race) and forty-five (long race) nautical miles in each heat.
Continuing where they left off in the P150 class were Garcia and Pardo. A second and third place finish would give the Spanish team enough points to secure the 2021 world title.
In the B300 class Buby Bertels and Nico de Stoop faced a new challenge for the title in the shape of Ahmad Abul and Mustafa Al Dashti. The Kuwaiti team drove a strong race securing a second place in Saturday’s heat and won the long race on Sunday. This result would see Abdul and Al Dashti collect a UIM Bronze medal. Taking the Silver would be the Belgian crew of Benjamin Van Riet alongside Robbe Van Riet, who, following their third place in Italy would once again finish third in Spain. It would be their fellow countryman of Bertels and de Stoop finishing the season with three heat wins out of a possible four who would collect the Gold medal.
When Longo and Marani suffered a head gasket failure during the first heat any hopes that the Italians had of repeating their Round One victories literally went up in smoke. When they were unable to fix the issue before Sundays heat the S450 title was duly collected by Nico Bertels and Francis Notschaele who won both heats in Spain. The Italians had gained enough points to finish second overall which meant that Christian Cesati and Matteo Berardi would collect the Bronze.
UIM Pleasure Navigation 2022 World Championship.
April 22-24 Benalmadena – Malaga Spain
June 10-12 Blankenberge Belgium
October 07-09 Como Italy
