In the exhilarating world of windsurfing, the ID2CA has once again wrapped up a season filled with highs, challenges, and unforgettable moments. As the windsurfing community eagerly anticipates the next adventure, we take a moment to reflect on the exhilarating journey that defined this season, with a particular focus on the much-anticipated European Championships.
Join us as we navigate through the highlights, triumphs, and lessons learned, providing a front-row seat to the windsurfing experience that unfolded within the ID2CA class and a recap from the Class Executive Committee.
1. Overview of the Season: Can you provide an overview of the ID2CA windsurfing season, highlighting the key events and standout moments?
2023 is a successful season overall with major milestones achieved.
The competition program was enriched by important races, 11 in total. The number of countries (5) organizing National D2 Events has increased., i.e., Nederland, France, Slovenia, Greece, and Belgium held their Open National Cups.
Germany also held an Event in Kiel, Baltic Sea with around 9-10 participants attracting sailors from BEL, SWE and FRA.
More importantly, we saw a wake up of The Netherlands which set again 4 official D2 races culminating with a National D2 next to Amsterdam in September.
But the biggest surprise came from France earlier this month where the Autumn National RCO organized in parallel of the FRA National RCB Championship turned out to be an Autumn National D2 attracting 20 Division 2 of which sailors from other Europeans countries and Canada. (20 (!) compared to 40 men RCBs).
There seem to be a growing momentum. Some National Federations have started to recognize, again, Division 2 Class. The most remarkable comes from France:
A meeting was held with FFV officials during Autumn National D2.
Officials admitted that what they were calling “code “RCO” (Raceboards Class Open > 3.80m), was unclear and creating confusion.
They announced us that RCO will be removed from official FRA National program and be replaced by DII, effective January 1st, 2024!
2. European Championships: Were there any remarkable challenges or exceptional performances during the European Championships?
Europeans 2023 in Überlingen Germany was a great successful.
The organization was excellent, ashore and on water, in a very friendly atmosphere. Every detail of the Championships was predicted and handled with characteristic precision. During the Event competitor’s skills were tested in various wind, very light to windy and weather conditions (warm and sunny to cold and rainy).
Countries that participated in the Championships was: Germany, Austria, France, Slovenia, Greece, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Canada.
In A class the Austrian Seppi Salvenmoser dominated.
In C category as anticipated French champion Alain Cadre won again, easily all races. But behind the winners, battle was fierce and results uncertain till the end.
Youth and female sailors participated again.
The downside of this Event was that, unfortunately, total attendance didn’t meet our expectations. As we were expecting at least 20 sailors, only 16 or 17 participated, withone German sailor only representing country organizer, which generated a lot of disappointment.
3. Challenges and Solutions: What were the major challenges faced during the season, and how were they overcome or addressed?
It is still challenging to grow the number of active members among participants to official races. It requires constant effort and push to get sailors registering and paying their annual fees.
The other challenge is to deal with distances between venues (that frequently translates into additional costs for sailors), as well as matching sailing club programs with people agenda.
That said, the Dutch experience has shown that multiplying local races is positively impacting the rate of participations and subscriptions to ID2CA.
4. Future Plans: Are there any upcoming plans or initiatives for the ID2CA windsurfing class, particularly regarding events or development?
Following the above observations and outcomes, ID2CA will increase the number of races held annually in each territory. The official DII return in France next year should consolidate this pathway. A careful selection of venues will however be required to address distance related issues.
5. Memorable Moments and Quotes: Are there any memorable moments or quotes from participants or officials that encapsulate the essence of this season or the European Championships?
Most memorable moments from this season are, without any doubt, those comments from the Youths (sailing Bic Techno at National Championships in France), ashore when returning from regatta: “I’ve been watching you guys on the water. Your boards are so cool! I want to try one! “, not mentioning how they were looking at us on starting line.
Mission (almost) accomplished…Next step being: How to bring our kids back on DII?
