Between tomorrow and Wednesday, Malta will host 249 young sailors in the traditional racing arena of Mellieħa Bay with the db Seabank Resort once again recognised as the official hotel of this annual sailing bonanza.
The occasion is the 17th MAPFRE/Middlesea Euromed Regatta, organised by the Malta Young Sailors Club.
This year’s edition is a special one as it boasts a record entry of young sailors hailing from more than 50 clubs with over 20 countries represented.
Two countries are making their debut in the Euromed regatta this year, namely Canada and Cayman Islands who have one sailor each in the laser and optimist classes respectively.
Besides attracting a record number of competitors, the 17th Euromed Regatta will be supervised by a jury made up of respected international judges and chaired by the experienced Peter Valentino.
The members of the jury are Nigel Vicks (Great Britain), Christophe Zeiser (Switzerland), Giorgio Dacanzo (Italy) and Mirko Urkas (Croatia).
Furthermore, Briton Mike Hayes is the race officer for the laser fleet and Bruno Ampola, an international judge and race officer from Italy, will assist Peter Dimech in the optimist events.
An on-going activity related to the Euromed is the pre-event sailing clinic run by international coach Mauro Bencic who is assisted by Jean Paul Fleri Soler, the MYSC youth development officer.
This year, teams from Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Slovenia, Russia and a good number of Maltese sailors are taking part in these high-level training sessions.
Malta lead the all-time winners’ list after topping six of the past 16 Euromed editions, followed by Russia on three wins. Italy and Sweden have two victories each while Great Britain, Iceland and Turkey have triumphed once.
There will be three optimist classes, namely the senior division for boys and girls born between 2001 and 2004, the cadet division for those born between 2005 and 2008 and the beginners’ category (born between 2001 and 2008) who have only been sailing for 12 months.
There will also be laser 4.7 and radial fleets which will be sailed in a single series but on a separate course to the optimists.
Lady Carla Stanley, one of the two vice-presidents of the International Optimist Dinghy Association, is attending the 17th Euromed Regatta as guest of the organisers.