What an amazing summer it has been so far. Plenty of events and Championships for our team riders on which we’ve been working so hard towards and it looks like a lot of the team riders are completing their goals. Saying that we’re proud of all of our 8 Days a Week teams would probably be the understatement of the year!
Gleaming with pride
By: Pieter Van den Bossche, Head Coach 8 Days a Week.
Starting with our team riders from our 8 Days a Week Optimist GBR Team. A great group of young, talented sailors, eager to learn and improve their selves. It’s one of the best feelings in the world to see how much quality has come out of them throughout a whole year of progressing together.
For the second year in a row, two of our girls managed to finish amongst the Top 20 at the IODA European Championships in Scheveningen (Netherlands) this year. Emily M., one of our Optimist GBR team riders, was extremely close in winning the event with only one race to go. Emily still finished 4th European, which is an amazing performance. She finished her optimist career on a high after winning the British Championships! She only the third ever girl to do this, congrats Emily!
Another girl of our 8 Days a Week Optimist GBR Team, Florence B., showed some great skills at the same event and pulled of a superb result, finishing 22th European! For her the British Championships was also her last event, finishing second British girl! We wish Emily and Florence all the best in their new adventure together in the 29er.
And there’s much more! Our GBR boys have made an amazing achievement as well. Optimist GBR Team rider Joshua M. qualified himself for the Nieuwpoortweek, which he managed to win! Joshua competed in the British Championships as well and managed to finish 11th and 3rd British boy. Ben M. furthermore showed great progress during the whole season, qualified for the development team and had a great result at the British Championships, where he came 13th. After finishing 1st and 2nd at the Selection trials, we’re looking forward to see William P. and Freddie L. kicking ass at the IODA World Championship at the end of August. They definitely have some great potential in them. They’re on track to do something well after a solid Nationals. William even managed to finish as first British boy.
A new composed team we started working with last year, is our 8 Days a Week Optimist GBR Potential Team. With some great individuals already showing more potential at a tender age than what we could have hoped for.
One of our young team riders is Santi S. From the beginning, it was already very clear to us that he had lot’s of potential in him, but the progress he has made and results he sailed together this summer are just amazing! Finishing 7th at the Selections trails, 17th at the IODA European Championships and 10th at the Nieuwpoortweek made it a summer he’ll probably never forget. We’re looking forward to work with him and see him growing over the next couple of years.
Likewise, Optimist GBR Potential team rider Arwen F. has made some great progress and sailed some nice results together. Finishing 4th girl at the selection trails, where she got qualified for the development team. She has sowed great promises and is definitely a sailor to look out for!
Our third and new composed team, the 8 Days a Week Optimist BEL Team, managed to get excellent progress as well. Working towards the three National Selection weekends with this small team of 3 talented sailors was really nice. Otto V. qualified for the Europeans and was very close to winning the silver boys fleet. Lasse-Finn S. & William R. managed to qualify for the IODAWorld Championship in Cyprus at the end of August. Hard work sure pays off!
Last, but definitely not least. A smooth transition into 29ers helped Elodie E. and Amy B, our 8 Days a Week 29er team rider girls, to move up to the national rankings in rapid speed! Despite an injury and therefore less days afloat, the girls managed to become 3rd Girls Team and 3rd Junior Team at the Grand Prix ranking. Also, on their final British Championships they finished 15th overall and became U17 Girls British Champions. Congrats girls! We’re looking very much forward to continue working with them as a part of the 8 Days a Week 29er GBR Team.
“It’s been a very nice season for the 8 Days a Week Team riders and we’re pleased with the steps they’ve made. The results are really just an extra to how good they really become in their sport. We would lie if we said we don’t like trophies, but I’m mainly and incredibly proud of our team of coaches and how we helped our riders to be complete sailors. We’re already looking forward to work with our new teams the upcoming season!”
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