5 BODA Sailors To 52nd IODA Championship
Five Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association[BODA] sailors head to the historic town of San Isidro Argentina this week to compete in the 52nd International Optimist Dinghy Association [IODA] World Championship from October 20-30, 2014.
There are 214 sailors from 51 countries registered for this year’s championship. The IODA World Championships is where the best of the best in Optimist sailing all gather in one place to see how they compare with the rest of the youth [under 15] sailors in world.
The Chairman from the regatta said, “it is positive and inspiring for an event like this to exist, to see sailors who are self-motivated, leave it all and do whatever it takes to achieve what they want.”
The team representing Bermuda is Joe Arrowsmith, George Buckley, Adriana Penruddocke, Tayte Stefaniuk and Mikey Wollmann. Each National Optimist Association selects only five sailors from a series of selection trials to represent their country. Recently elected President of the BODA, Steve Arrowsmith said,”for most of the team this is their first World Championships, we wish them the very best.
It’s a young team and we hope to see some of them continue to represent Bermuda in the years to come. The Bermuda Optimist fleet has a wealth of young talent coming along and the future is very promising.”
The Team have just finished two training clinics in preparation for the regatta with the Bermuda High Performance Coach, Martin Jenkins, a two-time IODA World Champion.
The native Argentinean is excited to be bringing Bermuda to his home country and to be coaching at this competitive regatta.
Coach Jenkins said, “Of course I am proud to coach the team because of what the Optimist means to me and how important the Class is now world wide. What makes it even better for me is that it is at home.”
This is the first time Argentina will hold an IODA World Championship. The venue is the palatial Club Nautico San Isidro situated on the Rio de la Plata, known for it’s distinctive brown coloured water and short choppy waves.
14 year old Bermuda team member Mikey Wollmann attended the 2012 South American Championships held at the same venue and when asked about the conditions he said “there is a strong current adding to the chop and a wide variety of wind conditions which makes it very challenging to sail. I hope my experience from sailing there before and that I am bigger now will help me in the tough and possibly windy conditions.”
Opening Ceremony is October 20 with racing beginning on October 22. There are 12 races scheduled with a break for the World Team Race Championships October 25-26 before the regatta concludes on October 30th. Follow the regatta at www.optiworlds2014.org
