JNOM Day 3 report
SWEDES TOP DOGS IN OPTIMIST
A veritable anthill of optimists swarmed off the Helsinki south shore, on the second day of the Nordic Youth Championships. Some forty small rubber boats swarmed all over the race track, like hattifatteners in a Moomin tale. Onshore, on solid Finnish granite, some sixty supporters followed the ups and downs of their racing offspring. The day's cheerleading contest was won by the Norwegian Optimist Club thanks to a very visible team banner strung up between the trees. The sharpest observers were armed like bird watchers with powerful telescopes mounted on tripods. The less interested were absorbed in detective novels, or sunbathing in bikinis.
Wednesday's sovereign Oliver Österberg continued his triumphal march. He took a first, a fourth and a 14th place. - Sure, it went well today, said Oliver with a twist. I had great downwind speed. You have to dare to heel the boat up to windward, declared the skilled youngster from the KKKK club. Not to be confused with the KKK from –Alabama, the clever acronym stands for Kullavik Kanoe and Kruising Klub, located 25 km south of Gothenburg. Close behind was Oliver Norwegian Andreas Dyhre, followed by another Swede: Emil Järudd. - I like light weather, said Emil. It is worse if it begins to blow too hard, he added. Emil sails for KSSS (Royal Swedish Yacht Club) of Stockholm. The legendary rivalry between the west and east coasts of Sweden still persists, not only in the big keelboat classes.
On the distaff side, the Swedish dominance was even clearer: Andrea Dubois first, Vilma Bobeck second. Mats “Maple” Lönn, leader of the Swedish optimist team, what’s the secret of your success? - We are building our team on a broad national basis. We have many clubs around the country, trying to get their sailors, via the regional championships, to qualify for the national championship. At the top we have nearly 200 boys and 100 girls, who know each other and have fun together. They have quickly learned how to start with a hundred boats on the line. The best Optimist sailors go on to become coaches, when they reach the age of 19-20 years. A good coach can quickly graduate to the Nordic, European and World Championship level, enjoying fully paid work trips to regattas in exotic countries such as Malaysia. It is an attractive career ladder for young people from our sailing high schools, concludes Mats.
The Zoom class on Kronberg Bay ran their three races well to schedule. - The starts were neat, no general recalls at all. We had enough wind. On a hot summer’s day, there is always more breeze on “Kronikan” than on the waters offshore, reported Andrea Söderholm from the mark boat of Brando Seglare. The leader among the Zoom guys, Victor Silén, kept up his blistering pace. In the chick category, experienced Noora Ruskola passed Julia Toroi. - It was not the end of the world, said Julia, as this was only the second time in her young life that she was helming a Zoom-8 dinghy.
The larger singlehanded dinghies Europe, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 made their debuts on the Nordic courses. The star of the E dinghies was Danish Lau Zachariassen with an unbeatable series of 1-2-1. No less than nineteen Europe sailors were disqualified for premature starts. For Fredrik Höje Karlsson the day was a complete washout. He managed to collect three false starts out of three. Must have got up on the wrong foot that morning… In the Radial class the Estonian girl Anna Pohlak beat her 17 Finnish rivals with a clear 1-3-1 score. The sparsely populated Laser 4.7 class was won by Riku Vääriskoski. Fastest cadet, i.e. young Optimist, was Lucas Bergstrom.
Henry Clayhills Ericsson, +358-500-433580
