Byte CII Worlds and YOG Continental Qualifier at Riva del Garda

by Elena Giolai on 23 Apr 2014 No sooner has the Riva club just celebrated the the victory of its own athlete at the 32nd Garda Optimist Meeting than Fraglia Vela Riva is again hard at work preparing for another regatta. Although it is not on par numerically with the Optimist Meeting, it is technically one of the most important events in the racing season as it is the continental qualifier for the Youth Olympics scheduled for August in Nanjing, China. The World Byte Championships for boys and girls aged 15/16 along with the windsurf Techno 293 will represent juvenile Olympic sailing at the second edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games.

As well as awarding the World title and the continental qualifier for Europe and Africa, Riva del Garda will host the coaches affiliated to the numerous federations, among them Alessandra Sensini representing Italy. The first six continental nations will qualify for Europe, the first six boys and the first six girls while Africa will have the first two M and F. Hungary and Croatia boys and Hungary and The Netherlands girls already qualified in the previous World Championships.

Twenty-four countries have already registered with a strong representation from Brazil, The Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Canada and Singapore. Team Singapore has been training on Lake Garda for more than a week with the Optimist team coach. In addition to organising such events as the International Byte Cll class and Nautivela, Fraglia Vela Riva also has its own athletes taking part: Vittorio Gallinaro will be competing not only for an Olympic qualification, but also for a medal place.

The opening ceremony takes place on Tuesday, April 22nd, with the first regattas getting under way at 11.00 am, Wednesday. There will be a total of four races per day, with a maximum of 13 races total.