Russians set to raise the bar

Since December 2000, Malta has become a popular destination with young sailors during the Christmas holidays. They are lured to our islands to take part in the Optimists Class Euromed Malta Championship, an event which, in a short period of time, has gained in prestige and popularity.

The Malta Young Sailors Club organise this annual sailing competition in partnership with the Kunsill Malti għall-Isport and under the auspices of the Malta Sailing Federation. This year is the ninth edition in the series and will again be held in Mellieħa Bay over a 4km course between December 17 and 21.

As in previous years, besides the Optimist Class, competitive racing will also feature the Laser 4.7, the Laser Radial as well as the Laser Standard dinghies.

In the Optimist class, the fleet will be divided into the Cadet and Open categories. The Optimist dinghy, recognised as the largest junior class in the world, is an internationally renowned one design single-handed craft, where only sailors under the age of 16 are eligible to contest.

The sport-tourism concept is very much in evidence during the Euromeds as the foreign sailing enthusiasts, in most cases accompanied by other family members, fly to Malta to participate in a pleasant and challenging event while at the same time spending part of their Christmas holidays in our country.

The official hotel for the 2008 championships will be the Seabank Hotel, practically overlooking the racing course, while the Race Office and the launching area will be at The Adira Sailing Centre.

The first participants bound to arrive are 16 sailors from the UK, together with their coach Chris Witty, a well-known personality in Malta because last summer he was here to run a sailing school organised by the Malta Young Sailors Club at St Paul's Bay.

Some of the sailors from the UK team were also here last year and Maltese sailors competed against them at the UK Nationals in Wales earlier this year.

The second largest contingent is expected to come from Russia, 14-strong, including two top Moscow Laser Radial Class sailors. Milica Dukic, a Laser Radial national champion in his country, leads the Serbian sailors with other participants coming from Ireland, Italy and Sicily.

A team of Optimist and Laser 4.7 sailors will be coming over from the Circolo Velico Reggio Calabria, a visit which came about following the participation last month of a Maltese Optimist team in an International Regatta at Reggio. The organisers are also expecting the participation of an Optimist and a Laser 4.7 team from Marsala.

This year, the organisers, together with the Race Committee, decided to introduce the novice course, open to beginners. Those taking part in this course started their sailing experience last summer at the Malta Young Sailors club, through the summer sailing programme, held every year.

Being an international regatta, the organisers must appoint an International Jury which will be made up of Lorenz Walch (Germany) and Manuel Santos e Silva (Portugal) under the chairmanship of Peter Valentino, an international judge. This jury will be assisted by Jovin Rausi and Godwin Zammit.

The Race Committee will be composed of Jenny Camilleri, Georgina Maniscalco, Norman Cutajar, Paul Warren, and Arabella and Philip Denver who will be led by International Race Officer Peter Dimech. The committee boat is being made available by Tonio Miggiani.

The Race Office will be run by Anna Rossi assisted by Mikela Zammit Tabona and Graziella Borg. National Optimist coach is Jean Paul Fleri Soler and the instructor for the novice group is Simon Psaila. The coach for the Laser sailors is Mario Aquilina while the results will be compiled by Mark Fleri Soler.

Support in various forms for the Euromeds has been most encouraging and secured from Air Malta, the Malta Tourism Authority, Atlas Insurance, Hotel Riu Seabank and the Chemimart Group.

Besides being the only international dinghy event held locally, the championship is also one of the federation's ranking competitions. This edition is of particular importance as the national Optimist and Laser teams are looking to obtain the MQSs for the GSSE in Cyprus next June.

The championship sets off with a practice race. The notice of race says that 12 races will be sailed over five days, of course weather permitting.

Last year, Thomas Zammit Tabona retained the title after withholding the challenge of Russian champion Dmitry Tretiakov by a mere 0.5 of a point. Zammit Tabona was the only Maltese in the top 10 which included four Russian, three British and two Italian sailors.

Past winners

2000 L. Tait (13 yrs), Ireland
2001 T. Thorn (13 yrs), Sweden
2002 M. Fleri Soler (14 yrs), Malta
2003 V. Valacchi (14 yrs), Italy
2004 H. Grim (14 yrs), Sweden
2005 O. Arin (12 yrs), Turkey
2006 T. Zammit Tabona (12 yrs), Malta
2007 T. Zammit Tabona (13 yrs)