- RCN Valencia organizes the regatta together with the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club.
- The test takes place from 5 to 8 March.
- Participation increased by 30% compared to 2019.
In just three years of life, optioOrange Valencia has managed to break its own records, and next weekend will bring together in its third edition more than 400 sailors from 30 different nationalities. This represents an increase of participation of 30% of in this children's sailing regatta organized by the Real Club Nautico de Valencia and the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club, which at the same time has a high level of the participating fleet.
The event will begin on Thursday, March 5 with the Practice Race, followed by the qualifiers on Friday and Saturday and the final series on Sunday. For qualifying regattas, the set of regatistas will be divided into five fleets that will be redistributed in each test depending on the results, to finish by guessing the groups Gold, Silver, Bronze, Emerald and Pearl, which will compete on Sunday in the final series.
Numerous national champions
Among the 30 nations in liza, Spain presents the largest fleet, with outstanding sailors such as the Runner-Up of Spain Nora García de la Casa (CN El Masnou), the sub13 Susana Bestart Mir (RCN Palma), the winner of the Excellence Cup, Miguel Campos (RCR Alicante) and several members of the national top10 such as Carlos Espí (Valencia) or Eduardo Reyes (Denia).
The second team in order of size is Russia, a co-organizer of the event, which includes medalists such as Kirill Shunenkov, Andrey Sotnikov, Nikita Chenrnykh, Varvara Ureva and Marina Babkina.
Some of the countries with the most powerful sailors curiously have no sea. This is the case of the Swiss team, which has doubled in size compared to last year and will be headed by national champions Boris Hirsch, Victoria Edlinska and Morgane Mazuay (sub13). The Hungarian fleet also gains momentum and will be represented by the top five in the national ranking, as well as Serbia, which will feature Pavle Dabic, one of the top three in the country.
The United Kingdom comes with some of its best athletes, such as national champion Emma Breese and the number one in the country's ranking, Robert Mawdsley. Ireland will be led by Rocco Wright, who has just won a second place in Torrevieja and the national champion Jessica Riordan, the Netherlands will have the first in the ranking Floris Schraffordt and Thomas Schouten, as well as Belgium whose most outstanding sailor is Boris de Wilde.
France debuts in optiorange with a team that will feature the sisters Alizee Chinot – the under11 winner in the Palamós Trophy and Oceane Chinot, while Switzerland returns with a contingent twice as big as in the last edition, and with the presence of the nac champions Boris Hirsch, Victoria Edlinska and Morgane Mazuay (sub13).
Northern Europe also has a powerful partipation in this OptiOrange Valencia, with teams from Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Denmark or Poland, all with outstanding children's athletes. We will also have to keep in mind the Hellenic fleet with the winners of the Mediterranean Optimist Championship Emilios Max Boeros and Andriani Geogiou of Cyprus, and one of the most powerful sailors in Greece, Alexandros Ioannidis. Eastern Europe will be represented by Czech, Bulgarian and Ukrainian athletes. The United States, Canada, Bermuda, Germany or Portugal, among others, complete the cast of nationalities of this regatta.
"We are delighted to receive more and more sailors from different countries, which means that this OptiOrange has found its space in the European regatta calendar," says Saint Petersburg Yacht Club Communde Vladimir Liubomirov. In addition, the high level of the fleet anticipates a very contested competition, which is very positive for the sporting development of the participants, which is exactly the purpose of this regatta".
"At RCN Valencia we are delighted to welcome the best Optimist sailors from the international scene. The club makes an extraordinary effort to ensure that they enjoy a great event on land and on the water," explains RCN Valencia President Alejandro Fliquete.
In addition to the competition at sea, the OptiOrange Valencia offers cliniced sailors with outstanding coaches worldwide and a complete social program with parties and activities. At the same time, the families of athletes can enjoy the competition from the sea, as the regatta has enabled a spectator ship that will sail every day from the regatta base.
OptiOrange Valencia welcomes Volvo Vedat Valencia as an official sponsor and thanks one more year the support of North Sails, Winner Optimist, Garmin, Blue Blue and Sailing Cuack.
More information: https://optiorangevalencia.com/en