2019 Optimist African Championship |27 August 2019

The traditional mixing of water

43 sailors vie for top spot

The Optimist African Championship 2019, a competitive racing competition for young African sailors, starts today off the coast of Ile Persévérance.

A total of 43 young sailors from the eight African countries, namely Tunisia, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Reunion, Mauritius and host Seychelles, will navigate their boats in the sea with the help of the South East monsoon winds in search of the top places during the five days of competition.

The Optimist African Championship comprises two championships – the Optimist individual African championship and the Optimist team racing African championship.

Competition today will commence at 12 noon and on the programme will be the first three of the 12 individual races for the Optimist individual African championship. There will also be three races tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. The team racing competition for the Optimist team racing African championship will be held on Thursday.

The Optimist African Championship was launched by the chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC) board, Eddie Micock in a ceremony held yesterday evening at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino, Beau Vallon. It is the first time that Seychelles is organising such a competition.

Present were Vice-President Vincent Meriton, Health Minister Jean-Paul Adam, the chairman of the Seychelles Yachting Association (SYA) Alain Alcindor, the vice- president of the International Optimist Dinghy Association(IODA) Ajay Narang, principal secretaries, chief executives, sponsors, participating delegations and other invited guests.

The Seychelles team for the championship is made up of eight sailors – six boys and two girls. The boys are Luca Marzocchi, Yves Fock-Heng, Travis Ho-Peng, Dean Mathiot, Laurent Contoret and Fabio Bertola Thevenon, while the girls are Stephanie Lalande and Jakirah Radegonde.

Following the welcome remarks by Mr Alcindor, Mr Narang took the podium to encourage the young sailors to be proud of their extraordinary achievements and to represent their countries well as they are all champions having earned the right to be part of their national teams.

For his part, Mr Micock also welcomed the foreign delegations to our shores and said that such an international competition helps to make Seychelles more visible.

Seychelles’ former Optimist sailor Ryan Alcindor had the honour of hosting the IODA flag and thereafter an athlete from each delegation joined together for the traditional mixing of water. The mixing of water coming from their home land is intended to show the world as one body thus uniting people for peace and friendship. The ceremony was graced by cultural performances by a youth group from the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC).

This sailing championship is being organised by the Seychelles Yachting Association (SYA) in collaboration with the Seychelles Yacht Club (SYC) and the National Sports Council (NSC) under the authority of IODA.

Some of the coaches and young sailors who talked to Sports NATION said their preparation for the competition had been good and they are in the competition to win.

What they said:

South African coach Miguel Amdrade: “We arrived in Seychelles on August 23 and we have had a couple of days of training. The place is absolutely amazing for sailing and the kids are loving it so far. We had plenty of wind and the forecast looks to be the same for the next couple of days. Our kids are prepared and our goal is to win the competition.”

Mauritian number one Optimist sailor 15-year-old Artemy Vurdapanaichen: “The spirit within the team is high, we have trained very well for this competition and we are here to win. Me, I feel very at ease and I am waiting for the start of the competition.”

14-year-old Dean Mathiot from Seychelles: “Our team has been well prepared and we did some of our last practices this (yesterday) morning. Everything is going well so far. We are taking the competition very seriously as it is on our home soil and I think we will do well. As for me, my aim is to be among the top 10 but if I surpass that mark it would be most encouraging for me.”

11-year-old Janet Nassari from Tanzania: “My training has been good and I am looking forward to win the championship.”

P. J.