News Pennant Campaign #2 - GEN Roses host of the 1986 Optimist World Championship

Pennant Campaign #2 - GEN Roses host of the 1986 Optimist World Championship

1986 Optimist World Championship Logo

 

 

 

 

 

The 2023 Optimist World Championship is being hosted by the Club Vela Ballena Alegre from June 11th to 21st 2023.  It will be the 6th time in the history of the Optimist Class that the World Championship has been hosted by Spain.

To commemorate this achievement, the World Championship organizers have created the ‘Pennant Campaign’ to celebrate with past venues throughout Spain that hosted the World Championship in 1979, 1986, 1993, 2000, 2003 and next year in 2023.

The ‘Pennant Campaign’ involves a past host club exchanging their club pennant with the one created for the 2023 World Championship.  They will all be on display at the venue next year.

The second Optimist World Championship that took place in Spain was in 1986, hosted by the GEN Roses (Grup d’sports Nautics de Roses) in Girona, Spain. 

In 1986, Spain dominated the world championship taking the gold and silver as well as the top sailing nation winning the Nations Cup.

The results were:

  • Gold – Xavier Garcia (ESP)
  • Silver – Luis Martinez Doreste (ESP)
  • Bronze – Risto Tapper (FIN)
  • First Girl – Isobel Hens (BEL)
  • Optimist Team Racing World Champions – FRANCE
  • Nations Cup (Top Overall Team) - SPAIN

Located on the beautiful Badia de Roses in northern Spain, close to the Spain and France border, GEN Roses is a club where today you can learn and practice a variety of water sports, such as sailing, windsurfing, rowing, scuba diving, sport fishing, swimming and motorboating, among others. They have a very active sailing and windsurfing summer camp programs during July and August. Here is their website. http://www.genroses.cat/?q=node/303

GEN Roses continues to host Optimist events each year.  The N3 Optimist Championship is taking place April 30 to May 1st.   They will also be hosting the Catalonia Team Championship on June 11th and 12th.

2023 is a special year for IODA.  It is the 50th anniversary of the Optimist becoming an International Class and the 60th Anniversary of the Optimist World Championship. Spain has been a member for 50 years and has played a pivotal role in the history and development of the Optimist class over the years.

IODA is looking forward to coming back to Spain to celebrate our 50th Anniversary as an International Class and 60th Anniversary of the Optimist World Championship.

We invite members of the GEN Roses Club to come to the Club Vela Ballena Alegre next hear as we celebrate together the success of the Optimist Class in Spain and around the globe.

We are confident that the organizers will host a very successful and memorable 2023 Optimist World Championship and we look forward to continuing to share the ‘Pennant Campaign’ with all our members and Optimist sailors and their families around the world.