EuroGay regatta comes to Brighton
The Gay UK Sailing Team has announced that Barclays will be sponsoring the seventh annual EuroGay Cup Regatta, to be held in Brighton on the 9th and 10th of June.
This is the second time GUST will be hosting the event in the UK. The regatta is expected to attract up to 60 competitors in teams of four or five crew.
Alex Diez, President of GUST, said, “We’re looking forward to welcoming teams from around the world to what we are sure will be a very competitive event in a very friendly atmosphere.”
The Gay UK sailing team was set up in 2000 to provide a competitive team for the 2002 Sydney Gay Games, where sailing was included for the first time.
GUST won the Team Silver medal in Sydney and teams have won the EuroGay Cup twice previously.
The group caters for gay and lesbian people who enjoy competitive sailing and is affiliated to the Sailing and Cruising Association, the UK’s recreational gay sailing club with over 380 members.
The EuroGay Cup is one of a trio of annual gay sailing regattas held in Europe, the USA and Australia endorsed by the international gay sailing organisation, GLORY.
The annual event was started in 2001 and has previously been held in Vinkeveen, (Netherlands), Paris and Berlin.
In past years sailing teams from the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany the USA and Australia have taken part.
GUST will also be organising a social event for other LGBT sailors to coincide with the regatta, which is being hosted by SailNetUK, who operate from Brighton Marina.
Jo Fraser, Chair of LGBT Network ‘Spectrum’ at Barclays said: “Barclays is very active in encouraging diversity and inclusion across communities in the UK and is proud to be sponsoring this event.”