The atmosphere is heating up as we are just a few weeks away from the second stage of the SSL Gold Cup qualifiers. The SSL Team Tahiti is ready to fight for a golden ticket to Rio and repeat their success from 2023.
SSL Team Tahiti is racing against African teams: Mozambique, Morocco, and the Seychelles.
Tahiti, an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by vast waters, is part of French Polynesia. Although this picturesque place is mainly associated with surfing (it even hosted part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games), sailing there is also at a very high level.
The SSL Team Tahiti is led by Teva Plichart, who serves as both captain and helmsman. “The Black Pearls” exited the SSL Gold Cup 2023 in the Round of 16, but they did so with their heads held high and gained many new admirers along the way.
Teva Plichart began his sailing career racing Hobie Catamarans in Tahiti before joining the French Youth Match Racing team. He later sailed with Paolo Cian, winning the European Championship. In 2007, he skippered Tahiti Tourisme to a second-place finish in the Tour de France à la Voile. He repeated this achievement ten years later with Trésors de Tahiti. From 2016 to 2019, he sailed with Yliam Comptoir Immobilier, winning the prestigious Bol d’Or in the D35 category in 2019. He continues to compete with the same team in the TF35 class.
Among his achievements, Teva won a gold medal at the 470 World Championship and another gold at the Championnat de Méditerranée in 2003. He is also a silver medalist at the European Match Racing Championship.
“The mana” is a unique Tahitian spirit and energy, something the SSL Team Tahiti clearly embodies. The team’s emblem features five figures in a canoe, symbolizing the five archipelagos of French Polynesia. The canoe represents connection, just as it once allowed Polynesian people to navigate across the Pacific Ocean. According to Tahitian history, their ancestors came from the Philippines, making the canoe a powerful symbol of heritage and exploration.
With experience, determination, and the spirit of “mana” behind them, SSL Team Tahiti is ready to take on the challenge. The road to Rio won’t be easy, but they have already proven they belong among the best.
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The SSL Gold Cup is the Football World Cup in Sailing, organized from 18 November to 13 December in Rio, Brazil. 40 of the best national teams, selected from 66 countries, will compete in the finals for the World Champion title.