| The Future Of Sailing At SSCBC
As part of the SSCBC Team Sorrento Sailing Strategy, the Sailing Centre has focused on a junior class of boat and worked together with the respective Association towards a common goal. SSCBC’s junior boat of choice is the Optimist (Opti). The Opti was first brought to Australia by Club Member Steven Bond, and is the most widely sailed junior boat around the World. The Opti boasts about producing the most Olympians out of any class! Did you know?? In the last Olympics alone, 91% of medallists were past Opti graduates! SSCBC has a rich history of producing great Opti sailors, many of whom make up our active Next Gen group, who sail various boats at the Club, and who have also contributed back to the Sailing Centre over the years as staff members. My first job in Australia was working with the Victorian International Optimist Dinghy Association (VIODA) State Team, of which Jack Lewis (our current Head Opti coach) was a member back in 2012. This year, our Team Sorrento sailors had a fantastic season on the water, expertly led by Jack Lewis. This season, Jack worked as the Team Sorrento Head Coach and also as the VIODA State Coach. Jack would usually work on Saturdays with the State Team and Sundays with Team Sorrento. This has led to much of the State Team joining our Team Sorrento and achieving the all-important critical mass, which makes training so much more effective. Our sailors travelled to several major events this season: The 2021 Summer Optimist Regatta in Sydney, 2022 Musto Australian Optimist Championships, Buxton Cup, Schnapper Point Regatta, Sail Sandy and Victorian Optimist State Titles. The biggest regatta of all was the 2022 Musto Australian Optimist Championships, which was the selection regatta for the Worlds, Asians and European Championships. Prior to last year, only one Victorian has ever won the National Championships and that was SSCBC’s Jack Graves, which was over 10 years ago. Last year, SSCBC’s Aidan Simmons won it to break the drought and this year, Aidan became the first ever person to win the Championship two years in row. This now means Aidan has been selected to compete with the best at the World Championships, being held in Turkey in June 2022. The other Team Sorrento sailors who have been selected to represent Australia are Callum Simmons, Dmitry Sorokin and Jorja Mahoney, who will all be travelling to Denmark in July for the European Championships. Henri Levenspiel, who did some work with our own Tess Lloyd, will be travelling to Korea in August to take part in the Optimist Asian Championships. On the Australian Optimist Development Squad, Augustus Buividas, Miles Levenspiel, Maya Cantwell and Lottie Griffith will also get their chance to compete overseas. In our Laser fleet, our lead competitor was Riley Cantwell, who won the Schnapper Point Laser 4.7 regatta and was second at the Victorian Youth Championships and Sail Sandy. Riley has qualified to travel to compete at the Laser World Titles in Portugal in August.
We wish all our sailors the best of luck when they travel. Aside from these great results, one of the most impressive things that stood out to us this summer, was the incredible parental support. We have loved seeing the old school vibe at the Club and at regattas, where parents were actively involved in their kids’ progress – not just their own kids’ – but collectively looking out for one another’s. We had parents helping on the water, on land, even providing extra boats for training when we were down staff members due to COVID. What an inspiring group to be part of and Jack and I would like to say a big thank you to each and every one of the parents who have travelled with their superstars this season to help them achieve these incredible results. We look forward to continuing to support the Opti fleet and watching their progress on the World stage, this year and in the future! David White, Head Coach & Sailing Centre Manager. “On behalf of the SSCBC Committee and Members, I would like to congratulate the Team Sorrento Opti sailors as a whole, and their coaches, on their celebrated successes this season. Ably led by David and Jack, the team is in great hands, learning not only how to be successful sailors, but how to conduct themselves at regattas, be graceful in defeat when sometimes things don’t go to plan, and to always try their best. This success has been years in the making – a specific approach of the Club to focus on the growth of our junior and youth fleets at Sorrento, so it is very satisfying to see the hard work paying off. We look forward to seeing where this talented group of young sailors go in the future. Thank you also to the parents for their incredible support, both on and off the water.” Here is a summary of the Team Sorrento results achieved at the State and National Titles: At the Cygnett Victorian State Titles: 1st under 10 Female: Juliet Sankey Intermediate Open At the 2022 Musto Australian Optimist Championships: Intermediate Open Photos: Bret L. |
Team Sorrento Optimist Success
