© Foto OptiWorld.org
The European Championship has always been a unique IODA championship, with 157 boys and 120 girls competing in separate fleets and crowning two European champions at the end of the 5 days (1. – 5. July 2024). The Marina di Carrara Sailing Club, founded in 1953, is a glorious club located in Tuscany. From here you can quickly reach famous cities of art such as Florence, Pisa and Lucca.
See also Website Euro 2024 here. Insta Club Nautico here. facebook Club Nautico Marina di Carrara here.
Manuel is the actual “winner” of the competition in EUROPE, but he is a guest from South America and cannot accept the 2024 European prize as a Brazilian. We are proud to have him on board!
Manuel ist der eigentliche „Gewinner“ des Wettbewerbs in EUROPA, allerdings ist er Gast aus Südamerika und kann den europäischen Preis 2024 als Brasilaner nicht entgegennehmen. Wir sind stolz, ihn an Bord zu haben!
Manuel es el verdadero “ganador” del concurso en EUROPA, pero es un invitado de Sudamérica y no puede aceptar el premio europeo en 2024 como brasileño. ¡Estamos orgullosos de tenerlo a bordo!
Results: 4x first place in 9 races! BRA 4318 Manuel Bragança 1, 10, 4, 1, 1, 1, 9, 2 (29) race results.
Fotos: Manuel Bragança https://www.instagram.com/manuelobraganca/#
Big cheers to Jason Panagopoulos for riding the wave of success and achieving the unprecedented feat of winning the Optimist European Championship 3 times in a row, alongside his coachAntonis Drosopoulos! 2022, 2023 and 2024 European titles were swept by these Greeks! Jason’s determination and domination have earned him the top spot on the podium yet again! Each year brings different conditions, fierce competition, and added pressure, but Jason handled it all masterfully through this week’s light and tricky winds and strong currents in Carrara!
Jason’s consistency and strategic prowess were evident throughout the championship, showcasing his ability to adapt and excel under high pressure situations! His dedication to this amazing sport of sailing and relentless pursuit of excellence have truly paid off, solidifying his European hat-trick win that’s never been done before!
Text and Fotos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9Fx0xCtWph/ .
In the girls' category, the Croatian sailor:
Vita Erceg emerged best girl as European champion.
Second place went to the Italian Anna Merlo and bronze went to another Italian, Bianca Marchesini*.
* Note on the results list: In the final result, two guests are among the top 10 of the European Championship 2024,
- BRA 4318 Manuel BRAGANÇA from South America is "Winner" (Gold), ahead of GRE 2880 Iason Panagopoulos,
- HKG 535 Margaux NGUYEN-MINH from Hong Kong is in third place (Bronze), ahead of ITA 9903 Bianca MARCHESINI,
but both cannot accept the 2024 prize as "non-European guests".
See all results here.
© Fotos: Roberto Celi Ph, Club Nautico Marina di Carrara.
Boys: 10. Lukas Wagner; 32. Noah Schweichler; 47. Maximilian Kießling; 61. Leo Hespe;
Girls: 34. Lea Winkler; 60. Theda Bruhns; 75. Aileen Sorg.
The words of thanks of Carmen Casco, Vice President IODA Europe, at the Closing Ceremony at the Club Nautico Marina di Carrara were emotional. In her speech, partly in Italian as a sign of respect for the host country, certificates of participation were handed out to all the teams and winners were awarded. Gifts were exchanged with the Club Nautico Marina di Carrara, which had
- the prizes made of white Carrara marble customised for the occasion.
At the end of the prize-giving ceremony, the IODA flag was lowered and the Championship was declared closed.
Ciao!
The 2024 Optimist European Championship, held in Italy at the Club Nautico Marina di Carrara, has come to an end. In the boys' category, the European Champion is:
- Jason Panagopoulos (GRE), who won the championship for the third time in a row. Second place went to Italian Jesper Karlsen and third place went to Turkish sailor Mehmet Erkut Budak.
In the girls' category, the Croatian sailor:
- Vita Erceg emerged as European Champion. Second place went to Italian Anna Merlo and bronze went to another Italian, Bianca Marchesini*.
Italy also won the Top Nation Award for the eighth time since 2016 and for the seventh time in a row, ahead of Greece and Croatia. The last day of the championship featured a challenging race course characterized by light and variable winds with a strong current from the south. These conditions made it particularly difficult for the girls to sail against the wind. The start for the Gold Fleet was only given the go-ahead a few minutes before the time limit expired, while the Silver and Bronze Fleet were brought ashore. The prizes for all championship winners were made of white Carrara marble and personalized for the event.
The best German sailor in 10th place was Lukas Wagner. On the first day of the final round, he had secured 7th place in the Gold Fleet with two top 10 results. With 22nd place in the only race on the final day, he was 10th overall, level on points with the Italian sailor Artur Brighenti ahead of him.
The final European Championship results of the GER sailors:
- Boys: 10th Lukas Wagner; 32nd Noah Schweichler; 47th Maximilian Kießling; 61st Leo Hespe;
- Girls: 34th Lea Winkler; 60th Theda Bruhns; 75th Aileen Sorg.
* Note on the results list: In the final result, two guests are among the top 10 of the European Championship 2024,
- BRA 4318 Manuel BRAGANÇA from South America is "Winner" (Gold), ahead of GRE 2880 Iason Panagopoulos,
- HKG 535 Margaux NGUYEN-MINH from Hong Kong is in third place (Bronze), ahead of ITA 9903 Bianca MARCHESINI, but both cannot accept the 2024 prize as "non-European guests".
See all results here.
© Photos: GER TEAM, Roberto Celi Ph, Club Nautico Marina di Carrara.
At the conclusion of the five qualifying races, last night the Fleets were defined for access to the final series which started this morning in the Marina di Carrara spot. The sailors launched at 11:30 and started racing around 13:00. Three races were completed for each Fleet for a total of 8 races since the start of the Championship.
The first boy in the Gold Fleet is Manuel BRAGANÇA (BRA), second is Iason PANAGOPOULOS reigning European Champion and third is Mehmet Erkut BUDAK (TUR).
The first girl in the Gold Fleet is Anna MERLO (ITA) second is Olha LUBIANSKA (UKR) and third is Vita ERCEG (CRO). Light winds on the race course, in the range of 6 to 10 knots, with a long wave.
In the GER boys, Lukas Wagner reached 7th place, a great result in the top 10 out of 157 sailors on the 4th day after 8 races! Followed by Noah Schweichler, Maximilian Kiessling and Leo Hespe.
In the GER girls group, Lea Winkler leads 1st place, followed by Theda Bruhns and Aileen Sorg.
Day Four was complex because the wind was very shifty and made the course difficult for the competing sailors to interpret. In fact it is notorious that the Marina di Carrara venue, which has trained many famous sailors, is a very technical and feared race course. Pasta party and music took place at the Club when the sailors returned ashore. The appointment is set for tomorrow when, at the end of the races, we will know the names of the winners. The Prize-Giving Ceremony will take place tomorrow at the Club Nautico Marina di Carrara on the stage in front of the IODA flag
See all results here.
© Fotos: GER TEAM, Roberto Celi Ph, Club Nautico Marina di Carrara.
A crucial day this Day Three. The target was to conclude the five qualifying races today in order to contest the finals on 4th and 5th July, the last two days of the Championship. And the venue in Marina di Carrara did not fail: the stable wind between 12 and 15 knots on the race course allowed 10 races to be held today, two for each of the five fleets, which, added to yesterday’s three, form the five needed for the final series. This morning the light wind seemed to slow down the 2024 Optimist European Championship: at noon, the scheduled starting time, there were not the knots needed for the start. Ashore the teams were ready and, waiting for the Delta flag, they entertained with games and music until 14:00. The Guest Boat, an opportunity by the Club Nautico Marina di Carrara to follow the regattas, arrived at the race course where the 277 sails off Punta Bianca were displayed.
See all results here.
© Fotos: GER TEAM, Roberto Celi Ph, Club Nautico Marina di Carrara.
At the end of today's races, Artur Brighenti (ITA) is in 1st place, Maro Uroda (CRO) in 2nd place and Shoi Fujita (JPN) in 3rd place.
Girls: Margaux Nguyen-Minh (HKG) in 1st place, Vita Erceg (CRO) in 2nd place and Laura Neves (BRA) in 3rd place.
Best German sailors:
157 Boys: 19th Lukas Wagner; 25th Noah Schweichler; 28th 41st Leo Hespe; 23rd Maximilian Kiessling 23rd,
120 Girls: 23rd Lea Winkler; 71st Theda Bruhns; 102nd Aileen Sorg.
15 races were completed, three for each of the five fleets with 157 male and 120 female sailors. The sunny day with wind speeds of around 10 knots provided ideal conditions for the races. The steady Mistral caused some fluctuations towards the end of the races, which ended today at 16:40. The usual popular pizza party with music took place on the terrace.
See all results here.
© Photos: GER TEAM, Roberto Celi Ph, Club Nautico Marina di Carrara.
The wind, a timid mistral with a strong southerly current, gusted up to six knots, but the direction did not stabilize sufficiently to ensure the smooth running of the race. The race committee tried to take advantage of the conditions, but was forced to hoist the return signal at 16:45. The sailors were welcomed ashore with music and a delicious pizza party. Tomorrow promises to be a difficult day due to temporary weather disturbances in the area.
© Fotos: GER TEAM, Roberto Celi Ph, Club Nautico Marina di Carrara
Starting at the OPTIMIST EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2024 in Carrara / Italy from June 29th to July 6th:
4 boys: Lukas Wagner, Maximilian Kießling, Noah Schweichler and Leo Hespe,
3 girls: Lea Marie Winkler, Aileen Sorg and Theda-Marieke Bruhns.
The coach is George Blaschkiewitz and the team leader is Annika Oline Grossmann.
Carmen: "A warm welcome to the 2024 Optimist European Championship. Soon, we will get together in Marina di Carrara in beautiful Toscany, a place with a rich history of navigation dating back to ancient times. For centuries, sailors have sailed these waters, discovering new horizons and embarking on adventures on the waves."
See the full opening speech here: Opening speech (en, es, de).
The Marina di Carrara Sailing Club, founded in 1953, is a glorious club located in Tuscany. From here you can quickly reach famous cities of art such as Florence, Pisa and Lucca.
The currently best 80 optimist sailors were fighting in May 2024 for 7 places to take part in the European Championships (EM) in June. Tactical Sailing (TS) sponsored the winners of the qualification regatta in Travemünde with a voucher for the TS Highlights version.
Arguments: What can we recommend to the 7 participants in the EM-Team for using Tactical Sailing (TS)?
1. Continue practicing tactics on the PC with TS,
2. “Play” TS in three languages
3. Make new contacts with TS,
4. A TS lexicon provides help.
Noah Schweichler was the day's winner in the 5th race, with an overall result of 9th place.
Noah got the TS license key the next day and started training on the PC!
© Copyright Photos: Birgitt Müller-Genrich, presse@opticlass.de
The currently best 80 optimist sailors were fighting in May 2024 for 7 places to take part in the European Championships (EM) in June. Tactical Sailing (TS) sponsored the winners of the qualification regatta in Travemünde with a voucher for the TS Highlights version.
Zur OPTIMIST EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2024 in Carrara / Italien 29. Juni bis 6. Juli werden fahren:
4 Boys: Lukas Wagner, Maximilian Kießling, Noah Schweichler und Leo Hespe,
3 Girls: Lea Marie Winkler, Aileen Sorg und Theda-Marieke Bruhns.
Coach is George Blaschkiewitz and Teamleader Annika Oline Großmann.
© Copyright Photos: Birgitt Müller-Genrich, presse@opticlass.de
Petra Kliba (Pescara) and Davide Curcuruto (Bologna) have been supporting Tactical Sailing (TS Supporter) for many years. Petra and David translated a TS dictionary with more than 400 vocabulary words about regatta sailing into Italian. A total of 11 languages are available for free in the dictionary, which will help the sailors travelling to Italy.
Order a Coach's Toolbox here in the online shop. "Participants in the 2021 championship in Argentina - as now also for the 2023 championships in Spain and Greece - will be offered a Coach’s Toolbox." The idea for the Spanish language version came from Pablo Villar (ARG), who has been working intensively for years in Buenos Aires to promote young sailors. Pablo Villar:
Order a "Tool Bag" in the Online Shop.
Strategic and tactical decisions in regatta sailing are made in a similar way to classic "risk management". Already at the starting line, the sailor has to decide on the right or left side of the Regatta area. Jochen Schumann, Germany's most successful sailor, agrees: "The physics of sailing constantly forces us to make a clear decision. " In the Tactical Sailing program there is the "Coach’s Toolbox" with over 100 exercises. From this toolbox collection we have put together a special "Tool Bag" for regatta sailors. With these exercises, the ability to make decisions is trained, such as risk assessment and gain-loss analysis. They serve the regatta sailor to prepare for cups and championships, such as:
With one "click", the coach can repeatedly call up the simulation of a regatta scene as video clips (YouTube) and discuss it with the sailors, e.g. tactical behaviour on the way to the finish line. We are happy to provide the new "Tool Bag" for all sailors.
Click here to visit the shop. Payments can be made by credit card, PayPal, bank transfer, etc. at the market places listed.