eSailing World Championships open for 2022 in Bay of Cadiz

18th February 2022

2022 marks the fifth year of World Sailing’s partnership with Virtual Regatta

The 2022 eSailing World Championships have kicked off with players around the world battling it out in the season opener in the Bay of Cádiz, Spain.

Thousands of eSailors have competed to get a head start in this prestigious event, which will see weekly regattas on the world’s most popular boats as well as a number of new high profile events to be launched this year, on the back of last year’s success with the Olympic Virtual Series, eAmerica’s Cup, eSailGP and the Hempel World Cup Series regattas.

A host of brand new venues will also be revealed, as well as the possibility of national rankings via the World Sailing Member National Associations - and there will be multiple opportunities to advance to the later stages of the Championships at the end of September.

A total of forty sailors will make the grade for the semi-final at the end of October, with just ten sailors heading into the Grand Final in early November competing for a USD $10,000 prize pool.

2022 marks the fifth year of World Sailing’s partnership with Virtual Regatta, the world-leading digital sailing platform, and the fourth anniversary of the highly popular eSailing World Championships.

“The eSailing World Championships have become a huge successful strategic tool to promote our sport since launching in 2018,” explained Scott Over, World Sailing’s Commercial Director.

“We’re looking to engage even more eSailors this year by introducing new events, classes and rankings via our Member National Associations.

“Our 2022 season is also providing more structured competition and opportunities to race, regardless of whether you are new to the game or a veteran looking to climb up the rankings and win trophies.”

Last year’s eSailing World Championships Grand Final was won by 19-year-old Carlos Parejo (UOL Carlos Parejo) of Seville, Spain, who crossed the finish line surrounded by his family. This year he is back: “I really hope to qualify for the Grand Final again this year - I know we’ll have tough competition!” he said.

“eSailing has been such an important part of supporting our loyal global sailing community,” said Raphaël Grisoni, Managing Director of Mount Gay Rum, World Sailing’s Official Partner of eSailing.

“This all started when physical regattas were no longer possible due to the pandemic. eSailing has helped us to stay connected to sailors all over the world and we are very excited about our partnership with World Sailing into the future.”

The 2022 eSailing World Championships is available to play on Virtual Regatta Inshore and available on Desktop, iOS or Android.

Published in Esailing, World Sailing

Published in Esailing

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esailing

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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.