Optimist sailors at the Volvo Ocean Race!
by IOCA UK 15 Jun 2018 13:54 BST
9 June 2018
GBR Team sailors on board MAPFRE with Blair Tuke and Peter Burling during the Volvo Ocean Race Cardiff Stopover © Sharon Davidson-Guild
Optimist sailors experienced a day to remember courtesy of Volvo Car UK and the Volvo Ocean Race Academy in Cardiff at the weekend.
Volvo Car UK invited the members of the summer GBR Teams to a VIP experience and on arrival were greeted by Team Brunel sailor Annie Lush and taken for an up close and personal tour of the Mapfre boat.
They were joined by Mapfre's Blair Tuke, and Peter Burling from Team Brunel - both 49er gold medallists for New Zealand before turning their attentions to the America's Cup and now the Volvo Ocean Race - who answered questions from the group.
And the expertise didn't stop there, with Olympic medallist and former Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper Ian Walker, now RYA Director of Racing, also on hand to offer words of wisdom.
By now the sailors were totally inspired, and after a tour of the boats the sailors were treated to a visit to the Volvo hub. This provided an opportunity to learn more information about the race, boats, crews and Volvo's products and services.
At each stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race an Optimist Team Racing event has also been hosted by the Volvo Ocean Race Academy.
All members of the Optimist class association, IOCA UK, were invited to submit their names to take part, and 32 lucky sailors were treated to a tour of the Turn the Tide on Plastic boat before setting out in the Academy's fleet of Optimists.
Forty-two races were sailed in a round robin series, gold and silver round robin and a final series. The eventual winners of the racing was the team from Scallywag (grey bibs) who beat The Boatyard (pink bibs) in a closely sailed gold fleet final.
All the sailors learnt a lot during the day, as noted by the team of judges, who named Team Mapfre (red bibs) as the winners of the sportsmanship award for their team work, support of each other and improvement throughout the day.
The day finished with a prize-giving on the main stage in the Boatyard and a BBQ for all the sailors and their families hosted by the Academy.
Optimist class association chair Sharon Davidson-Guild said the day had been a wonderful experience for both groups of young sailors involved: "Thank you so much to Volvo Car UK and the Volvo Ocean Race Academy for all their support and providing such a memorable and inspiring experience."