The colourful national flags arrived at the Opening Ceremony being waved vigorously onboard an open-top double-decker bus, and teams representing the 22 competing nations then took part in a parade of nations before spectators and watching dignitaries.

Pandelis Pavledis, President of the Nautical Club of Tzitzifies Kallithea, host venue for the Championships, welcomed all teams, officials and volunteers. Speeches of welcome were also given by Konstantinos Efstathiou - respresentative of the Mayor of Kallithea, George Agouridis - Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Antonios Dimitrakopoulos - President of Hellenic Sailing, Nino Shmueli - President International 420 Class Association and Julio Synatinos - Representative of the Prime Minister of Greece. Other attendees included ambassadors and the Minister of Athletes - Giorgos Vasillisdis. Olympian, long-time sailor and former Vice-President of World Sailing, George Andreadis also gave his support.

The Sailors’ Oath and Race Officials Oath declaring that all will compete in the spirit of fair play and respect were made, before the flag of the International 420 Class Association was raised to signal the official opening of the 2017 420 Open European Championships.

Following the Opening Ceremony a reception was held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center Lighthouse, which resembles a giant ship ready to sail off into the Aegean. 

All six continents are represented amongst the 22 nations competing at the 2017 420 Open European Championships: Australia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, USA.

Take a look through the Opening Ceremony Facebook Gallery ...

ABOUT THE 2017 420 OPEN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2017 420 Open European Championships is the first of four 420 Championships taking place in 2017, and will be followed by the 2017 420 Junior European Championships at Fraglia Vela Riva, Italy from 6-13 August 2017, the 2017 420 Team Racing World Championships also on Lake Garda from 23-26 August, and the year wraps up in Australia for the 2017 420 World Championships hosted at Fremantle Sailing Club from 26 December 2017-3 January 2018.

In the 420 Open, fleets will be seeded for the six race Qualification Series into yellow and blue fleets, before being split into gold and silver for the six race Final Series. The Ladies and U17 fleets will sail a single series of 12 races.  Races will take place over two race courses.

The schedule is:
22-24 July 2017 - Measurement/Registration
24 July 2017 – Practice Race, Opening Ceremony
25-27 July 2017 - Qualification Series (Open) and Single Series (Ladies and U17) - 6 races
28-30 July 2017 - Final Series (Open) and Single Series (Ladies and U17) - 6 races, Closing Ceremony/Prize Giving

The 2017 420 Open European Championships is organized by the Nautical Club of Tzitzifies Kallithea in the iconic Olympic sailing city of Athens, Greece, in co-operation with the International 420 Class Association, Hellenic Sailing Federation and Greek 420 Class Association.

All six continents are represented amongst the 22 nations competing at the 2017 420 Open European Championships: Australia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, USA.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Championship APP - download the official APP for the 2017 420 European Championships and keep up to date with all the racing action from your favourite sailors wherever you are.

Social – you can follow the 420 European Championship on:
Championship website - 2017europeans.420sailing.org
Facebook - www.facebook.com/International420ClassAssociation
Twitter - twitter.com/420class
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/Int420Dinghy
Get social using #420Euros #420Class

Results - from 25 July 2017 results will be published at: http://2017europeans.420sailing.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall

Photo Service – Nikos Alevromytis will provide daily photo galleries in high and low resolution and provided on a daily basis free of rights for editorial use only. Team photo requests for editorial use should be made to: alen@alen.gr

All images used should include the official photograph credit as per the photo. You can find photos at the following links:
Championship Website - 2017europeans.420sailing.org
Facebook - www.facebook.com/International420ClassAssociation

Video Highlights – ICARUS Sports is the official production company for the Championships. They will produce videos for social media and websites, selection of raw footage, sailor interviews for TV on request. Please send requests to jason@icarus-sports.com and office@420sailing.org

Press Releases – daily press releases will be published on the Championship website and distributed.

For further information please contact 420 Class Communications, Luissa Smith, on office@420sailing.org

Greek Media enquires should be sent to Kely Pavlidou on kelypavlidou@gmail.com