O'Pen Bic World Championship at Circolo Vela Arco - Day 1
by Leonardo Omezzolli 2 Aug 2017 09:38 PDT
31 July - 5 August 2017
Twelve nations have arrived at Circolo Vela Arco, represented by almost two hundred young sailors. These still-budding athletes, who nonetheless already possess proven sailing skills, facing off in the O'Pen Bic sailboat class World Championship.
Opening Ceremony
Circolo Vela Arco decided to connect this prominent event with the local territory, and to this end it organized a folkloristic parade of the participating nations worthy of any important international-level event. The twelve nations - represented by the athletes, their coaches, technical and executive staff and the families - have crossed Arco's old town centre, colouring via Segantini with their national flags. The parade passed through Tre Novembre Square and Marchetti Plaza - passing in front of the famous Habsburgic Palace with its distinctive chimneys - to reach Segantini Square and the city's gardens, where the athletes saluted the city and presented the world championship programme.
Arco and its lido have officially become the international setting for one of the fastest-growing junior sailing categories, one which also prepares its athletes to make the qualitative leap towards higher sporting level open boats. Among the young racers will also be the son of Russell Coutts, Olympic athlete and several-times winner of the America's Cup, who will also be present at Circolo Vela Arco to follow his son's performance as both father and coach. He is not the only famous attendee either, since this opening day has also seen the return in Italy - fresh of his victory in the Optimist 2017 World Championship held in Thailand - of Marco Gardoni, who will be racing in this O'Pen Bic championship as well.
Circolo Vela Arco obtained the honour of hosting this event thanks to the victories of the Arcense born and bred Federico Zampiccoli, winner of the 2013 O'Pen Bic World Championship and one of today's most prominent helmsmen in the 29er class. These are going to be demanding days for the Circolo, which will have to manage the presence of a large number of young international athletes.
Day 1
The championship has just begun and Italy and New Zealand are already in a heated duel. Ranking first after day one is New Zeland's Sean Herbert and in second position is home club sailor Giorgio Bona who was first in two races and fourth in another. In the U13 category the heir of Russell Coutts, Mathias Coutts, was the unchallenged winner of the day, with three bullets in a row.
The first day was extremely positive for Russell Coutts' heir, who placed first showing his ability to deftly manoeuvre on the waters of the Garda Trentino under the watchful eye of his father.
The first day of racing outlined from the very beginning the competitive spirit of all the participating sailors. 187 potential world champions hailing from twelve different countries (Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, United States of America and, of course, Italy). Of these, on the starting line of the first races, there were 132 Under 17 athletes and 55 Under 13. Garda Trentino has coloured itself in white and red, the distinctive colours of these small and ever more common dinghies.
The starting signal came at 1pm and gave way to 3 races, held with an average wind speed of 13/14 knots. The Italians started off on the right foot, occupying the top half of the rankings. The French also raced very well, followed by Australia and New Zealand. The young sailors fought and raced very well, showing great skill in Garda's most famous wind, the 'Ora'.
After a demanding day spent under the warmth of the sun, landfall was followed for all with a generous serving of delicious pasta and a prize giving by the sponsors of the championship; Coni, Fiv, World Sailing, Garda Trentino, Comune di Arco, Trentino, Rigoni di Asiago (whose mascot was also attending) Cassa Rurale Alto Garda, Negri Nautica, Stuffer and the international O'Pen Bic class.
Everything is going according to schedule at Circolo Vela Arco thanks to its well trained staff who have already hosted international-level sailing competitions such as the Nacra World Championship and the European A Class Cat Championship.
More information and full results can be found at worlds2017.openbicclass.org