Sailors in Malaysia for World Championships
A young but well prepared team of five Bermudian youth sailors from the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) left the island just before Christmas to prepare for the IODA World Sailing Championships which will be held in Langkawi, Malaysia starting this Thursday [Dec 28] through January 8th.
The team has apparently settled in nicely and apart from some jet lag and a missing suitcase, they have not encountered any major problems. The 5 sailors and 3 officials have spent their pre-race days getting their charter equipment ready and measured by the officials and practicing on the water with the Germans and South Americans in Langkawi’s Kuah Harbour.
The team consists of current National Champion Sam Stan (14) and fellow qualifiers Antonio Bailey (13), Chase Cooper (12), Makai Joell (13) and Ceci Wollmann (12). BODA President Anthony Bailey will be escorting the sailors as the official Team Leader along with Country Rep Ron Stan and performance coach Zizi Staniul.
Team Bermuda will join 235 other young sailors from 56 countries to compete in the Optimist dinghy’s penultimate contest in both individual and team racing. Live tracking of the racing will be available in real-time online at Tractrac.com. Updates of Team Bermuda’s progress will be posted at Bodasailing.blogspot.com.
Organised by the Malaysian Yachting Association, the Sport Council of Malaysia, the Ministry of Sport and Youth and the Kedah state government. Langkawi is an archipelago made up of 99 islands on Malaysia’s west coast and is the country’s best-known holiday destination. The venue was most recently the location for Ben Ainslie’s Match Racing World Championship victory a few weeks ago. It was the final stop of the Match Racing Tour following the Argo Gold Cup here in October where Ainslie was also victorious.
Team Bermuda’s trip to the Worlds would not have been possible without the generous assistance of Gold Partner Aspen Re, Silver Partner Kitson Group of Companies along with support from the Bermuda Sailing Association and the Cox Family.
Congratulations! Here is a group of young Bermudians taking on the world, not some backwater regional event, in a very popular sport. Perhaps this is where more sporting money should go rather than to sports that bring home loses & excuses.