News Around the World
Right place right time, but the boat has to be good. The design and marketing genius of the Johnstones gave the J/70 a leg-up when it first appeared and immediately became the go-to small keelboat. The Cape 31 came about in a different way when Irvine Laidlaw wanted to support local racing at his second home in Cape Town, inviting Mark Mills to put forward a design proposal for something modern, fast and affordable for local yachtsmen. A few years on and the first Cape 31s reached Europe, winning in IRC and clearly having a blast. After the initial rush J/70s suffered as programmes became very expensive, professionalism was out of control and, like the Etchells, the fleet became divided into pro and ‘am’. Now balance is restored and J/70s are thriving again – because it is such a good boat. The Cape 31 looks likely to undergo a similar process: rapid growth, consolidation, then we hope a second wind. All is healthy today but budgets have increased dramatically and some good people have moved on. When people talk of ‘escalating wages bill’ and ‘equipment arms race’ about a 31ft day-racer the warning signs are there. The Cape 31 is a cracker but so were other one-designs that got out of hand and started to rely upon owners ‘downsizing’ into the class rather than moving up from smaller boats
I can easily see us having to invest in on-the-water juries as more pros arrive and it all continues to get more competitive.’ Compelling, fast and at a certain level ‘affordable’, the Cape 31
is the class of the moment. Now about those magic numbers… Magnus Wheatley
SPAIN The 2023 Optimist World Cup, organised on the Costa Brava, was a resounding success despite losing two days’ racing to bad weather. La Ballena Alegre camping resort was the organiser of the championship and proved the perfect venue for nearly 250 young- sters taking part. Housed in modern bungalows, the kids lived in groups from their own nation but also began to forge international friendships with others from elsewhere who they will surely keep as friends (and of course rivals) for many years to come. La Ballena Alegre is an atypical organiser in keeping a careful
distance from the Catalan and Spanish sailing federations – in fact, from any national sports organisation. Its dynamism thus escapes the sobering influence of traditional yacht clubs, often more con- cerned with protocols than the sporting factor. For youngsters such a refreshing atmosphere could not be bettered. Initially closely tied to ‘original’ windsurfing, in the 1990s they
began to organise test events for the PWA Tour, then qualifying events for the international Kite Surf circuit. A highly successful 29er World Championship opened the way for more dinghy events and the F-18 and Hobie Worlds soon followed. Then they presented their candidacy for the Optimist World Championship, which after two failed attempts was granted for this year. Next year they will host the world championship of the revived Windsurfer class. A yacht club that is not a yacht club, for most youngsters better
than a yacht club; if your own kids are invited to an event here do not miss the opportunity. They will have the time of their lives… and also great racing; 248 boys and girls from 56 countries is a
28 SEAHORSE
significant figure, never before achieved by any other sport in Spain; even so the achievement left Spanish and regional sports estab- lishments rather disinterested. Nine races were completed in the individual competition, which
was not decided until the last race in both overall and female cat- egory. The prestigious team title was decided in a single long day due to the weather. Despite the superiority of the American team in the international rankings, Spain eliminated the USA in the semi- finals while Italy kept Croatia out of the final. The Italians finally ousted the Spanish by two points with USA third ahead of Croatia. The following day the last two individual races were held, and
Sweden’s Henric Wigforss took the opportunity to storm into the lead pushing American favourite Travis Greenberg, who had dominated most of the championship, into the runner-up spot. In the women’s division our brilliant young Spanish sailor Blanca
Ferrando also did not lead the women’s classification before D-day, going into the final in third place behind the almost unbeatable American Minx Anthony and the Portuguese Mariana Pinto. Visibly nervous as she pushed her boat away from the sandy beach, Ferrando overcame her nerves and the pressure of a sudden-death finish to the regatta and at the age of 13 she fulfilled her dream. Pinto was second with America’s strong pre-regatta favourite Anthony completing the podium.
Blanca Ferrando is the best girl! Seahorse:Blanca, first of all congratulations on your great triumph. How did you start sailing? Blanca Ferrando: I started sailing with my grandfather, doing cruises around Ibiza. I did some windsurfing and I enrolled in the club’s sailing school (RCN Valencia) when I was eight years old. I began in the Optimist because my brother and sister had already started! SH: Wouldn’t you like to sail with two in the boat? BF:So far I have always sailed alone, in the Optimist. But, yes, now
PAUL WYETH
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