International stars to test Bermuda's Opti sailors

'2008 Junior Gold Cup - Bermuda'

Bermuda's best youth sailors will once again have the enviable pleasure and ultimate challenge of competing against the world's best Optimist dinghy sailors in the 2008 Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup, October 9-12, sailed on Bermuda's Great Sound and in Hamilton Harbour adjacent to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

This year, invitations were sent out to the Optimist Dinghy associations of 16 countries on 5 continents in an attempt to lure their best 'Opti' sailors to our shores during the second week of October.

This international regatta in Bermuda is a unique opportunity for local sailors to compete against the best Optimist sailors in the world in our own waters. It is the 6th year that Renaissance Reinsurance has sponsored this event, providing the financial support to fly the guest sailors to Bermuda at no cost to themselves and providing them with charter boats and equipment required to compete. The international youth sailors, ages 13 to 15, are selected by national Optimist associations. Once in Bermuda they are hosted by local families and gain an insight to Bermuda culture by spending a day in school with their hosts.

The backdrop of the King Edward VII Gold Cup match-racing event running concurrently with the youth event provides the real bonus for all the kids entered in the regatta. they are surrounded by their sailing heroes when not on the water. The young sailors attend the daily Gold Cup press conferences and mix and mingle among the teams competing in the main event. World-renowned sailors and Americas Cup veterans such as Ed Baird, Torben Grael, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts and others have given freely of their time by participating in youth sailing clinics, explaining the finer points of sailing and sportsmanship.

In 2008 the young sailors will meet Ben Ainslie (GB), winner of multiple gold medals in the Olympics and the eight of the top ten skippers on the World Match Racing Tour including Mathieu Richard (FRA) and Ian Williams (UK), ranked as the #1 and #2 ISAF Open match racer in the world and currently ranked #3 and #1 respectively on the World Match Racing Tour. Sebastian Col is #3 on the WMRT. There are twenty-four sailors representing thirteen countries in the King Edward VII Gold Cup presented by Argo Group.

Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) past president Ron Stan summed up the Ren Re Junior Gold Cup saying, 'It's a fantastic opportunity for Bermudian and invited international sailors to compete against one another on the water, and after the racing, have the chance to meet with the best match racers in the world. The senior sailors are always happy to hold informal discussions with our Opti sailors about rules, racing tactics and their sailing experiences.

'Staying with the locals is a great cultural and life skills experience for all parties. We had five Japanese Opti sailors stay with us during another event, and I can tell you that we all learned a lot from that week,' Stan said. 'This regatta kicks off our racing season here in Bermuda,' said Stan. 'It involves various qualifying series for the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) championships, such as the Worlds, North Americans, South Americans and Europeans.'

The Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup plans for four fleet races per day on Great Sound starting on Thursday, October 9th. The final day, Sunday, Oct. 12, will see the championship sailed on Hamilton Harbour during the final rounds of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, if time and conditions allow. The Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association thanks Renaissance Reinsurance for sponsoring the Junior Gold Cup for the sixth consecutive year and thanks the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for their support of junior sailing in Bermuda.

200 Junior Gold Cup Bermuda -

The Optimist Dinghy is a 7' 9' square bowed, sprit-rigged boat designed by Clark Mills of Clearwater Florida in 1947 for children under 16 years of age. After a number of modifications over the years it became a strictly controlled one-design class in 1995.

Today 'Optis' are sailed in over 110 countries by over 150,000 young people and is the only dinghy approved by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) exclusively for sailors under 16 years of age. At the Athens Olympics over 60% of the skippers and 70% of the medal-winning skippers were former Optimist sailors.

The story of the Opti in Bermuda

The story of the Opti in Bermuda started in the early 1970's when Carlos Bosch introduced home-made wooden kit Opti's to families at the Spanish Point Boat Club. Bermuda's first Optimist Worlds team participated in the World Championships in Sweden in 1972 and then again in Switzerland in 1974. In 1998 the parents of Bermuda's Opti sailors officially agreed to form an organization to be called the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA).

Since those early days the Association has become a registered Bermuda Charity. Soon after BODA was formed, a team traveled to the Worlds in Portugal in 1998. Bermuda has entered a Worlds team every year since then with results in the top twenty in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Today Bermuda also sends teams to IODA regattas in North and South America and often Europe.

Other non IODA events such as the US and Canadian National Championships, New England Championships and Orange Bowl events have seen Bermudians winning or placing very high on the leader board. Some of Bermuda's best adult sailors today such as Stevie Dickinson, Zander Kirkland, Katrina Williams, James Doughty, Jesse Kirkand, Gareth Willaims and Rudy Bailey learned the world-class skills necessary to enable them to represent Bermuda in other classes from their start in the 'Opti'.

Club and WaterWise programmes train future Opti stars

Future Bermuda Opti stars will come out of the local club programmes and also the WaterWise programme. Three hundred eleven year olds in Government Middle Schools learn to sail as part of their academic curriculum each year.

The WaterWise educational tool is for all Bermuda's Middle School children who would never otherwise have a chance to learn water skills. Everything they study in their classes is related to the WaterWwise theme. They calculate, experiment, write, draw, sing, study and play the culture of seamanship. Swimming, paddling, rescues, CPR and the fundamentals of being under sail are practiced at school before they ever go on the water.

When they do hit the water, they are supervised closely but go solo, completely on their own. For everything they either do or don't do, there is an immediate response that they have to deal with. Experience shows that after completing WaterWise, their academics and deportment show substantial improvement. It is an educational experience they will never forget.

Bermuda WaterWise started in 1999 as collaboration between the Bermuda Sailing Association, the Bermuda Ministry of Education, the Bermuda Ministry of Youth Development, Sport and Recreation and the US/NZL based WaterWise Educational Foundation (WEF). In the spring of 2000 came the pilot group of 20 children. It has been growing ever since.

WaterWise founder Gus Miller has used the Bermuda model for other programmes around the world. Miller says, 'With Bermuda's children will regain their great maritime heritage. A portion of each student group develops a gift for sailing, and from them will come Bermuda's future.' Three of Bermudas top Optimist sailors in 2008 were introduced to sailing via the WaterWise Programme.

by Talbot Wilson