Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
There was a huge effort put in to Optimist sailing in 1996 for the simple reason that South Africa hosted the Worlds in Langebaan from Club Mykonos.
Our youth sailors underwent some intensive coaching, as well as briefings, from top sailors to get the youngsters into top form for the stiff competition they would face. Rick Nankin, who managed the Worlds team, had enlisted the help of a number of other top competitive sailors to attend the coaching sessions at Club Mykonos, and at Durban during The NCS Regatta to monitor the youngsters, and pass on some top-class advice.
The feature in SAILING Magazine from July 1996 has profile pics of each of the sailors going to the European and World Champs. One can only wonder where they are all today, and how many are still sailing competitively?
SEE THIS REPORT AND PICS HERE: Pages from 1996 07 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
The Worlds in Langebaan drew competitors from 39 countries to our shores, and a fleet of brand new Winner Optimists too.
The top South African was Jamie Waters who finished in 38th spot, and the rest of our team all finishing in the top half. The winner was Lisa Westerhof of the Netherlands.
READ THE WORLDS REPORT HERE: Pages from 1996 10 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
