Swiss Optimist Newsletter
Edition December 2022/03
Dear Sailors, dear Parents, dear Optimist Friends,
We are approaching the year’s end, it is time to have a look at what happened in the second half of the year, and what awaits us in the next one.
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
Our National Optimist Teams took part in four international Regattas:
World Championship
Left to right: Damian, Mark, Lars, Romain, Peri (coach) and Nicolò
Damian finished best: 34th out of 276 participants
European Championship
Left to right: Lars, Tino, Jacob, Eivinn, Morgane, Luna, Leanne
The best Swiss boy was Eivinn finishing 23rd of 142
Morgane was the best Swiss girl finishing 37th of 111
Team-Race European Championship
Morgane, Luna, Eivinn, Jacob and Peri (coach)
The Swiss Team finished 11th out of 16.
North American Championship
Edward, Shari, Charlotte, Henri and Peri (coach)
The team arrived 2nd in the Team-Race Nations’Cup, a huge achievement for Switzerland!
In the fleet-race Championship Charlotte performed best, finishing 40th of 155.
Team-Race Swiss Championship
The 2022 Team-Race Swiss Championship has been won by the German Team from Chiemsee.
The Swiss Champions finishing 2nd were the DRCS-B Team.
Fleet-Race Swiss Championship
Similar results on the Fleetrace Swiss Open Championship won by Luka Hamm from Chiemsee.
The Best Swiss was Edward Hirsch followed by Ulysse Raison.
2023 Season
Next year the first selection regatta will be Palamos, already in February. The second will the Easter Regatta in Portoroz again. Note: the last PM counting for the top 30 ranking will be after the 2nd Selection Regatta!
As Selections will start early, registration for the Selection will be even earlier, from the 1st January to the 14th February! If all goes as planned, you will have the choice between 2022 Forward WIP life-jacket, and a new 2023 model made by Nob:
Model 2023 (Nob): 175 CHF Model 2022 (Forward): 125 CHF
Print with or without name, size XS or S New print, with or without name
The DYR in Workum will be the preparation regatta for the national teams (2) and a common training and regatta for all the regional teams. We do hope that you will all come to this spot and enjoy a nice common event, without pressure, and probably good conditions. The European and Worlds Selection Teams will be present with our freshly selected national coaches: Sebastian Peri Brusa (Worlds, NAM) and Luka Verzel (Europeans, Europeans Team-Race).
We will try to get again 4 spots for the North American Championship (NAM). For 2023 the Committee took the decision to limit the participation to Sailors born in 2009 and later. Benjamins will be allowed.
No Talent Pool will be organized in 2023, the preparation for selections and the selections will be organized within the regions. The strategy for 2024 will be discussed in the 1st half of the year, your inputs are welcome. Regions are also invited to share regional camps and regattas with the others, so that the best sailors share and improve together.
As you have seen, Optimist Sailors will not get National Talents Cards starting from this year. The decision does not depend from the Optimist Class, and we regret it. To mitigate the effects an official letter will be issued by Swiss Sailing explaining this situation to the schools and cantonal authorities.
New Swiss Optimist Committee
At the Annual General Meeting During the Swiss Championship in Silvaplana, the Class elected a new Committee with following members: David Benczur (President and region 2), Tanja Müller (Vice-president), Frédérique Radü (Secretary and region 1), Monika Andrey (treasurer), Hene Keller (Regatta Officer and Chief Technical Officer), Tirone Gigandet (Region 3) Damir Nakrst (Region 4), Tom Hofer (Region 5), Carmen Brüngger (Region 6), Edoardo Congolani (Region 8). Marcelo Saguier remains the Referent Coach of the class.
For any question or proposals, feel free to contact your regional representative or any committee member.
Wishing you a very happy Christmas period, and see you very soon on the water again!
Your Swiss Optimist Committee.
This Newsletter has been sent in German, French and Italian languages.
In case the language does not correspond to you, please, send us an e-mail.
For more information, visit our website http://www.optimist.ch