Australian sailors came from afar to the junior dinghy regatta organized in Helsinki
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Rob Brewer, coach of the Australian optimist sailing team, brought young people aged 11–14 to sail in Helsinki.
The optimist has a good and safe boat to learn the basic skills of sailing.
Olympic sailor Akseli Keskinen says that optimistic dinghies do not exactly bring sailing skills to the current classes.
Experienced sailor Tapio Lehtinen compares learning sailing skills to riding a bicycle.
Australian the optimist who coaches the team Rob Brewer looks around in front of Merisatama in Liuskasaari, regretting the calm and foggy gray weather.
Sailing is a situational sport where Tapio Lehtinen sometimes we are crowded together like in a freestyle cage. Sometimes there is an archery-like sensitivity in the air.
“We need the wind, but this has been a great experience for us. It’s the middle of winter at home, but here we get to sail against the best,” says Brewer.
He arrived in Helsinki via Europe. The 13 children of the team, on the other hand, flew to Finland in the middle of the school year on two long flights, which is hard on the body.
You can still sail on Optimistjolla the year you turn 15. Brewer’s protégés are between 11 and 14 years old, and the coach wants to develop their psychological strengths.
“They’re quite young, and as you know, there’s a big difference between the thinking of 11-year-olds and 14-year-olds,” says Brewer.
“So I teach them to face adversity and trust themselves. That is a big reason why we are here in a foreign country to them. Your language is also a challenge for us.”
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“It’s the middle of winter at home, but here we get to sail against the best.”
Coach Rob Brewer (center) arrived in Helsinki with the Australian optimist team. The team consisted of 13 sailors, 12 of whom were able to take the picture.
Brewerin The sloops were the second largest group of foreign sailors who took part in the Helsinki Downtown Regatta in the middle of July on the optimist yacht.
More (18) were only Turks. There are 145 sailors on the results list of the competition.
“The corona years were a bit inoculating when traveling was difficult. It’s really great that there are so many people here now”, a member of the organizing team Pia Grönblom says.
According to Grönblom, the sport is “in a great mess” at the moment. In a country the size of Finland, it also depends on the activity of the parents.
However, the threshold for starting sailing is lower than many people think. Boats can be borrowed from many clubs, and it is quite easy to assemble a large training group.
“Social activity around sailing is one of the most important things that keeps young people involved in the sport”, Central axis says over the phone from Marseille.
He is in the Mediterranean coastal city preparing for the Olympic regatta. All the Finns sailing in the Paris Games have started their careers on an optimistic note.
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“The corona years were a little inoculating when traveling was difficult.”
Oiva Järvinen, who has been sailing for four years at HSS, getting her optimist in race shape. 12-year-old Järvinen also plays football in PPJ.
Bigger ones the boat classes are still suitable for 12-year-olds Oiva Järvinen on the horizon. The Helsinki native, who is at the beginning of his own career, has been sailing on the optimist dinghy for four years.
Järvinen started sailing because the boats were so nice. He says that he has improved the most in boat handling and speed, but how exactly does the latter happen?
“So that you have to know how to trim the sails so that it goes harder. But it also depends on how the body is in the boat, how you sit and how you tighten the sail”, answers Järvinen.
He has already had time to sail in the big waves of Valencia and the strong winds of Lake Garda. In the coming years, Järvinen dreams of a place in the optimist dinghy World Championships.
Five sailors from each country can enter them. The sport is equal, because the places are distributed as evenly as possible between girls and boys.
The Finns give a handicap to, for example, Asian or South American sailors simply by growing out of the boats already before the age of 15.
“I myself switched to the 29er class at the age of 13, when I grew from an optimistic shoe so quickly to an unnecessarily large size,” says Keskinen, who is preparing for his second Olympics.
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“I switched to the 29er class at the age of 13, when I grew from an optimistic foot so quickly to an unnecessarily large size.”
The wind has picked up and the first optimist boats are on their way to the starting line. The team is led by Finland’s Niko Noponen (1221), who won the entire regatta in showmanship.
Sailing Keskinen, who started in Tuusulanjärvi, has grown into an Olympic medal hope in the waters off Helsinki. For Australians, the conditions are exotic.
“At home we have good and strong wind in the Indian Ocean and in Western Australia or the Pacific Ocean. The bodies of water are large and we get a lot of good thermal wind,” says Brewer.
“In Europe, we sail in lighter conditions and there is less wind. This is a valuable lesson for us: how to learn to sail in unknown conditions.”
According to Tapio Lehtinen, having fun, learning new things and learning about the sport are the most important things in the sailing hobby, even if the competitive ones are aiming for the Olympics.
“That’s just the other side. The other side is that the Optari is a good and safe boat to learn the basic skills of sailing,” says Lehtinen.
He compares learning sailing skills to riding a bicycle. It lays the foundation for larger categories, although according to Keskinen there is plenty to criticize in boats.
“It doesn’t really bring sailing skills to these current classes, but it is very affordable as a boat,” says Akseli Keskinen.
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“It doesn’t really bring any more skills to these current classes in terms of sailing.”
The Lithuanians Ieva Germanaviciute (545) and Aistė Rasiukevičiūtė (440) took it easy in their boats while waiting for the departure. The blue ribbon on the mast of the Lithuanian girls’ boats indicates that they are participating in the start of the blue group.
Affordability for optimist yachts, it means that you can get a slightly used but like-new boat for just over 2,000 euros.
“Optari is probably one of the most affordable categories because they have such a ‘big’ market. It’s still not cheap,” Keskinen says.
He has ended up being the Olympic representative of the Nacra 17 class Sinem Kurtbayn gastina. Wait Moisio in turn rose from the class to become a round-the-world sailor.
“He is now 21 years old and six years ago he sailed on the Optimist dinghy. It tells you what opportunities this optari job opens up”, Lehtinen mentions.
He follows young sailors at the helm of his Galiana WithSecure yacht. It was with this classic boat that he and his team participated in the Ocean Globe Race.
Commodore of Turku Sailing Club Juhani Soini on the other hand, observes the optimist jolly in the judge’s boat. He is part of the competition’s international jury.
“What we look at in those waters is sailing technique and style. Progress should be made purely with the help of the wind, and swaying and jerking of the sail are prohibited.”
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“What we look at in those waters is sailing technique and style.”
Estonia’s Isabella Nõmmik (300) and Elari Teras (98) prepare for race day with Tallink’s passenger car ferry Megastar in the background.
Young people optari sailors have to wait two extra hours in Liuskasaari for the weather to clear and the wind to pick up.
It can be seen as more enthusiasm than usual at the starting line, when the first start has to be called back. That’s part of the point – young people are just learning.
“They also need to be gently guided and instructed. It cannot be assumed that they have everything figured out yet,” Soini reminds.
He is satisfied that a large and international junior dinghy regatta could be organized near Helsinki. The setting is also pleasing to distant guests.
“I think Finland is a really good place because the values of Finns and Australians are very close to each other,” says Rob Brewer.
“The environment is nice, and we feel at home and welcome. So Finland is a great place for us. I hope we could come here more often.”
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“Finland is a really good place because the values of Finns and Australians are very close to each other.”
Latvia’s Toms Andrejevs (7) and Finland’s Anton Reivilä (1224) sailing on the right side of the picture set off with the other optimist dinghies with yellow ribbons.