To celebrate the launch of the European Winter series in Cascais, Melges Ireland is offering a double discount on the purchase of new boats for Irish sailors chartering at the series. With a promotional charter fee of €475, new Melges 15 sailors can expect double this amount as a combined discount off a new boat. The charter includes a Melges 15 for five days, 2 days coaching and the 3 day event. With the never ending winter gales of late there may never be a better time to book in some warm weather sailing in the world’s fastest growing class.

There will be two Winter series events to aim for, March 1st – 3rd and April 12-14th. On the first day of racing the start time is 1pm, subsequent days its 11am with no starts on the last day after 3pm.

The events will be run in a relaxed manner by the highly experienced Sail Cascais team. The racing will take place from Friday to Sunday with optional coaching available on Wednesday and Thursday. Current Irish M15 sailors will attend which should be reassuring to those looking to try the boat for the first time. Sailors from the USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal are also expected.

Vasco Serpa the current J70 European champion and Eddie Cox from Melges will be leading the coaching and looking to pass on both general racing tips as well as Melges15 specific tricks. Between them they have won numerous championships in A-symmetric boats. Sailors can dip in and out of this coaching as they wish.

The events will be run out of Club Navel de Cascais, a venue that in the past has hosted ISAF worlds, Americas Cup events and more recently the Tp52 World championships.

A venue well known to many Irish sailors, Cascais offers easy access to warm weather winter sailing. A 25€ Uber from Lisbon Airport gets sailors to Cascais in 25 minutes. With Lisbon Airport being served by Ryanair and Aer Lingus there are multiple flight options to get there. At the time of writing return flights to Dublin can be booked for less than 100€.

There is no shortage of accommodation options from 5 star hotels to AirBnBs within a short walk to the club. With great golf courses, mountain biking, surfing, historic monuments and of course amazing food, sailors, family and friends can expect great fun and memories on and off the water.

The Melges 15 is a pathway boat for junior sailors and an adult racing platform that brings a deep cockpit, high stability, and an ease of handling. This double hander can be sailed by crews of all ages, sizes and abilities. A gamechanger for dinghy sailing that allows families, friends & partners sail fast & have fun in a stable high performance boat. Awarded world boat of the year in 2022, it’s now the fastest growing class in the world with already 700 boats worldwide.

Ireland has been leading the charge launching the Melges15 into Europe. With 12 boats in the country, 12 due to land in Howth next March, there is still time to place orders for new boats with a potential third container pencilled in to land early May next year in time for the Summer sailing season.

Maybe it’s time to Go to Cascais and see what all the fuss is about !

Try before you buy in Cascais this spring