Cadet World Championship at Fragla Vela Riva, Lake Garda, Italy Overall
by Elena Giolai 7 Aug 2021 12:14 BST
30 July - 6 August 2021
Argentine team of Finstebusch & Barone win the title
With two wonderful days of sun and wind, the Cadet Youth Double World Championship (already organised in 2015) ended in Riva del Garda with the overall victory of Argentina and the rest of the podium conquered by Poland.
It was an intense week at Fraglia Vela Riva, the club organising the event, with the Race Committee struggling in the first few days to hold races due to unstable weather and consequently little wind. However, it was a great end to the Championship with clear and perfect days for the wind, especially from the north, which allowed the last two days to recover well, with 6 exciting and spectacular races.
After the heavy storms on Wednesday evening, the following morning Lake Garda was magnificent, with a light that made the whole landscape even more incredible. And for the 60 crews from 8 nations it was wonderful to be able to race in such conditions, although on Thursday morning it was necessary to weave a bit due to the numerous logs that flowed into the lake from the mouth of the River Sarca between Riva and Torbole.
The presence of the buoys and the electric start/finish boats with virtual GPS anchorage, facilitated the work of the Race Committee, which, based on the areas obstructed by trunks and trees (in some cases real floating islets), moved the race course so that the fleet did not have dangerous obstacles to avoid, especially at crucial points such as the finish line.
The final ranking confirmed the trend of the last 2-3 days with Finstebusch & Barone from Argentina crowned as Cadet World Champions after 11 races, winning the last race. Second and third place went to Poland with silver to the female crew Ostrowska & Labanowska and bronze to their compatriots Krysiak & Sienkiewicz.
For the whole fleet of Cadets and their parents and carers it was a week to remember: sport combined with tourism, in this case especially from Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland), which trains new sailors with Cadet class in which the crew is often very young and the helmsman is at most 17 years old, is a winning formula for sport and for the local economy.
For Fraglia Vela Riva this was a regatta in which it was possible to express at its best its vocation for hospitality combined with tourism, together with an organisational capacity that is recognised throughout the world.
More photos can be found here.
Full results can be found here (PDF format).