RS Aero Youth Team Race European Championships - Day 1
by Elena Giolai 28 Oct 2023 18:04 BST
26-29 October 2023
The Second European RS Aero Team Racing Youth Championships began in Cagliari, which were preceded this morning by a press conference at Canottieri Ichnusa.
The event, organised by the Lega Navale del Sulcis and Canottieri Ichnusa itself, in collaboration with the Italian Sailing Federation and the RS Aero class, sees ten teams at the start in a unique setting that is particularly suited to team racing: from the seafront promenade of Cagliari's tourist port, also known as 'Susiccu', it is in fact possible to follow the '2 versus 2' races, with the race course located between Luna Rossa's base and the seafront itself.
For the youngsters, it is certainly a special experience with the evocative backdrop of the city of Cagliari and the Basilica of Nostra Signora di Bonaria, not to mention the presence of dolphins as well as the Luna Rossa base, which for a young sailor represents, with the America's Cup, the highest expression of sailing, together with the Olympic one.
Ten teams entered with Lithuania, Estonia 1 and 2, Germany, Great Britain, Portugal, Italy 1 and 2; Sardinia 1 and 2. The team regatta formula, which pits two boats against two other boats (male and female for each team) for each match, is quite complex and requires not only skill and mastery in the boat, but also an excellent knowledge of the regatta rules: "Team regattas are different from fleet regattas: you do not race to win individually, but to make your team win, so that if you end up with a tie on points, the winner is the one who does NOT finish first, because the compactness of the team counts more," explained the President of the FIV Race Committee Roberta Righetti. The team regattas are also refereed by two teams of "umpires", who, during the individual matches on board a dinghy, closely judge any protests by the racers themselves and at the same time observe any infringements of the regatta rules.
On Friday, the first 'flights' began in a medium-strong mistral wind: 35 matches were sailed in all with 7 races for each team; 10 matches were left to finish the round robin. Lithuania (blue lycra) started well with 7 victories, followed by Sardinia 2 (black lycra) with 6 wins and Estonia 1 (yellow lycra) and Italy 1 (orange lycra) with 5 wins each.
Quotes:
Eng. Sergio Lai, Vice-President Società Canottieri Ichnusa: "I extend my personal greetings and those of the Board of Directors of the Canottieri Ichnusa, a historical society with many years of history in Sardinia, to all the participants for this second European Youth Team Racing Championship. The Lega Navale del Sulcis, in partnership with the Canonttieri Ichnusa and by delegation of the Italian Vera Federation and the RS Aero class, organised this three-day sports festival, with the participation of young sailors under 22. Cagliari and its marina confirmed itself as a city of sun, wind, and sea. and is increasingly a destination for sailing disciplines and a fantastic place for team regattas. I would like to thank Tore Turco, the FIV federal councillor, the untiring war machine of the Southern Naval League, and Avvocato Fara, President of the third FIV zone, and the President of the regional CONI, who welcomed all participants. I would also like to thank engineer Alessandro Cherchi who, until very recently, was our sports director and who did so much for this and the previous edition of the event".
Avv. Corrado Fara, President Italia SAILING Federation Sardinia Region: "Organising this event in Sardinia is certainly an opportunity to be very proud of what we are able to do in favour of young people: it is an event dedicated to the under-22s, so it is an opportunity to increase youth activity to which the III Zone FIV dedicates a lot of attention. We also have an "Academy" project for young people and we will most probably do it with RS21 boats, the same ones that were the protagonists two months ago at the World Championship in Porto Rotondo, certainly not the only event of a world nature, which we held in 2023. We also have a pretty intense programme for 2024. Youth sailing, inclusive sailing, Paralympic sailing, offshore sailing, kite sailing, basically a 360 degrees panorama of all the specialities that we can think of and imagine in the world of sailing and which will also be the protagonists of the next 2024 Olympics. In Cagliari we have the Federation's Olympic Preparation Centre, the jewel in the crown of what can be the preparatory activity in Italy, we have Luna Rossa, we have a whole series of activities taking place all around the coast of Sardinia: we can only be satisfied! On the subject of this event: we race with RS Aero 5s, extremely manoeuvrable boats that are well suited to this type of team race event, where each team is made up of a sailor and a female sailor competing against two other under-22s: It's basically a two-on-two match race. It is extremely fun and educational, because it requires mastery of the regatta rules and all the rules of engagement".
Tore Turco, LNI del Sulcis President: "I would like to thank the hosts of Canottieri Ichnusa, who allow us to host this event for the second time, in a location that is the port of Cagliari, which lends itself to this type of activity. However, the idea is to make this event grow in future years too, always with the collaboration of the Sardinian Region, which allows us to organise this event. I would like to thank Corrado Fara, President of FIV Sardegna, who is always present at our events and promotes initiatives of this kind. I thank everyone for coming: next year there is talk of making this event a world championship, with previous selections, so it is an event that is growing over the years".
Event website here