9:07 PM Mon 21 Sep 2009 GMT
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'Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup in Bermuda'
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Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup preview.
2009 marks the seventh year in a row that Renaissance Reinsurance has sponsored the prestigious Junior Gold Cup in Bermuda.
Run in conjunction with the Argo Group Gold Cup professional World Match Racing Tour event, this mini 'world cup' invitational brings some of the most accomplished youth sailors from around the world to Bermuda for a youth sailing event contested in International Optimist dinghies.
Headlining the fleet of international guests is Ignatio Rogala (ARG). He was third at the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) world championship and is Argentina's national champion. Max Hibler (GER) is the winner of the IODA European Championship and is Germany's national champion, too. Annabel Vos (GBR), Taylor Burn (NZL), Douglas Campbell (AUS) and Frederick Naygaard (DEN) are also national champions in their countries.
'It is a unique opportunity for Bermuda local sailors to compete against the best in our own waters,' said event chairman Somers Cooper. 'Renaissance Re provides financial support to help fly the invited youth sailors to Bermuda, providing them with coaching, charter boats and equipment required for competing. This year we hope to have at least twelve talented sailors joining us representing North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean.'
Once in Bermuda local families host the young sailors. The backdrop of the Argo Group Gold Cup match-racing event running concurrently with the youth event provides the real bonus for all the kids entered in the regatta. They mingle freely with their sailing heroes when back at the dock. The young sailors attend the daily press conferences, too.
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Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup in Bermuda -
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The story of the Optimist dinghy in Bermuda started in the early 1970's but it wasn't until almost 30 years later that an official organization was formed. In 1998 the parents of Bermuda's Optimist sailors officially agreed to form an organization to be called the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA). Since those early days the Association has become a registered Bermuda Charity. Soon after BODA was formed, a team traveled to the Worlds in Portugal in 1998. Bermuda has entered a Worlds team every year since then with results in the top twenty in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Today Bermuda also sends teams to IODA regattas in North and South America and often Europe. This year Bermudian Owen Siese placed 5th at the IODA North American Championships in The Dominican Republic. Other regional and national events such as the US and Canadian National Championships, New England Championships, CORK and Orange Bowl events have seen Bermudians winning or placing very high on a consistent basis.
Once out of Optimists, local sailors have continued to excel on the world sailing scene. Some of Bermuda's best adult sailors today such as Stevie Dickinson, Zander Kirkland, Katrina Williams, James Doughty, Jesse Kirkland, Gareth Williams and Rudy Bailey learned the world-class skills necessary to enable them to represent Bermuda in other classes from their start in the Optimist.
Bermudian sailors from the Opti class have been hot prospects and been heavily recruited by boarding schools, colleges and universities and seen as strong competitors for interscholastic and intercollegiate sailing teams. Many people think the next Olympic medal for Bermuda will come from the ranks of these sailor athletes.
The Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup will conduct four fleet races per day on Great Sound starting on Thursday, October 8th run by volunteers from the RBYC and BODA. The final day, Sunday, Oct. 11, will see the championship sailed on Hamilton Harbour during the final rounds of the Argo Group Gold Cup if time and conditions allow.
Website:
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by Talbot Wilson
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