Cadet World Championships at WPNSA Practice Race & Opening Ceremony
by Peter Collyer 16 Aug 2014 00:47 BST
15-22 August 2014
The Cadet World Championships opened in spectacular fashion at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on Friday. After a day and a half of boat measurement and competitor registration, just over 200 sailors from across the globe took to the water and sailed out into Weymouth Bay for the practice race and their first experience of racing on the 2012 Olympic race-track.
A fickle wind and an anxious fleet meant it took four starts and several postponements before the race got underway and, ultimately, the fleet were so late back to shore that their opening ceremony had to be postponed too. Such was the rush to get things underway ashore that results for the practice race have yet to be posted.
The opening ceremony itself featured a procession of all the National teams, introductions from outgoing UK Chairman Andy Shorrock, incoming Chairman Howard Warrington, International Class Chairman Jan Martin Wilschut and WPNSA's Chief Executive Peter Allam. Cadet sailors Alex Warrington and Seppe Greeve took the sporting oath on behalf of all of the competitors before Olympic gold medalist and former Cadet sailor Pippa Wilson declared the regatta open.
The message from all was that Cadet sailing is all about having fun on the water while learning skills that will last a lifetime. The fun certainly continued into the evening as the dinghy park became an impromptu party zone with a truly international atmosphere.
The racing begins in earnest on Saturday when the national teams begin competing for the World Championships and the promotional fleet have their own regatta over the same course. Keep up to date with the action here, on the GBR Cadet Facebook page www.facebook.com/2012sailor and at the event website www.cadetclass.org.uk/2014-worlds.