WOW returns

Weymouth Olympic Week is set to return this year under its new title Sail For Gold Regatta

The inaugural Sail for Gold Regatta will take place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) from 13-15 October. Run by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), the Sail for Gold Regatta is open to all Olympic classes, and for the first time also incorporates all Paralympic classes.

This will be the first time that Olympic class racing has returned to the UK in this format since the early 1990s.

In the 1980s and 1990s Weymouth Olympic Week was a regular fixture on the international sailing calendar, but dwindling entries resulted in the event no longer being run. Now, with the impetus and interest created around London hosting the Olympic Games in 2012 and with the Olympic sailing competition due to be held on the same Weymouth waters in six years’ time, international sailors are once again expected to flock to British shores as they prepare for 2012.

This first event is a forerunner to the full Sail for Gold Regatta in 2007, which will become a regular feature on the international fixture list, occupying a regular slot in mid-September and leading all the way up to and beyond 2012.

Not only is the 2006 event a first event for Sail for Gold Regatta, it is also incorporating the first international event for the new Paralympic class, the SKUD-18. The 2006 SKUD-18 European Championship will be incorporated with the Sail for Gold Regatta and run for an extra day from 12-15 October.

Other initiatives are to open up the RS:X and Laser Radial to youth sailors, where young male and female youth sailors will be able to compete alongside the female competitors on the same equipment in the RS:X (8.5 sq mt sail) and Laser Radial.

Rob Andrews, RYA Competition Manager and Event Director is looking forward to developing the Sail for Gold Regatta, particularly in making sailing more accessible to the spectating public.

“In the first two years we hope to develop an internet based format for spectators, with tracking and commentary,” Andrews explained.

“Ultimately, we hope to move this forward to a complete sailing experience on site at WPNSA, with TV feed to the shore, tracking, commentary and a regatta village.”