In mid-July this year our 4 sailors representing New Zealand headed off to Gydnia, north-east Poland to compete in the 2026 European Optimist Championships. New Zealand was very well represented by Aurora Edhouse (MBSC), Claire Bao (MBSC), Zephyr Lane (WBC) and Zac Loader (NSC), after all recording very impressive results at the Nationals earlier in the year. The team were also joined by our Supercoach Tiago Brito and a handful of very supportive parents who I couldn’t have survived without.
Gydnia is very well known for European racing events, hosting a number of Optimist Chamiponships in the past, as well as other prestigious events such as the 470 Junior Worlds, held just prior to our event. Gydnia is located on the Baltic Sea, providing a strong challenge for our sailors.
We arrived in Warsaw in sweltering conditions, and navigated our way to Gydnia on a train with all of our oversize luggage, which was no mean feat after 26 hour flights. IODA had put all of the sailors, coaches and Team Managers into university student dormitories, which was great collectively as all of the sailors got time to know each other and spend time together.
Supercoach Tiago carried on his NZ form with getting the team out to train as much as possible, with a full 6 day programme prior to the regatta beginning. The conditions were very light on training days, which would suit the Europeans who were used to these light, shifty conditions.
The day of the opening ceremony came which was a fantastic occasion, all of the teams marched through the main promenade in Gydnia before being called up on stage, it was awesome to be a part of. The European Championships have separate fleets for girls and boys, with 122 girls and 157 boys competing. Then came the racing days!
The first day of racing was extremely light; they took the sailors out to the course to try to get some races in, and finally got one boys race in each fleet after sitting out there for 4 hours! The boys struggled in the very light conditions, as did many of the other international sailors. Day 2 were far better conditions, much more like what we have trained in New Zealand for. The wind was around 20-25 knots gusting over 30; queue some moaning from some of the European teams! Our team did very well that day, Claire had a 7th placing, Aurora a 13th and a 16th, Zac a 14th and 15th and Zephyr a 19th.
Day 3 was similar conditions although the gusts were higher; Claire recorded creditable results in the 20’s and 30’s, Zac a couple of 20’s, Zephyr a 19th and 25th however Aurora came through with an incredible 3rd and 4th to finish qualifying in 20th place, making gold fleet for the finals. Claire, Zac and Zephyr all got into silver fleet, with some awesome performances as they all just missed out on gold fleet.
The finals days went back to extremely light conditions, and the race committee could only get in 1 race per day which was disappointing after such a great qualifying series. The team finished the regatta with some great results, Aurora finishing 20th overall, Claire 79th, Zac 81st and Zephyr 100th.
The best part of all was the incredible ‘trading floor’ action that went on between all of the sailors as they swapped their rashies for other international rashies and tops… some of these youngsters will make incredible traders one day!
It was such a fantastic experience for all of the team and supporters, along with the sailing we experienced the culture and cuisine of Poland, with many of the restaurants a real highlight. We had our fair share of challenges along the way, not least the massive challenge getting home when the airline refused to take all of our oversized luggage! That’s a story for another day…
My massive thanks to Brent Loader, Nate, Amanda and Aurelia Lane, who were fantastic travel companions and supporters of the team, and so fun to travel with! Their work and assistance to make this the best event for the kids is hugely appreciated. Behind the scenes huge thanks to Aylin Edhouse, Sarah Loader and Jack & Catherine Bao for all of their support, organisational skills and Project management that the team couldn’t do without! Thanks also to Sarah and Veronica from NZIODA for all of the help provided to the team.
Finally a huge thank you to our Supercoach Tiago, who had to put up with me for 2 weeks in the same room, whose tireless work and dedication to the team was so instrumental in the results achieved. Good luck back in Brazil, we will certainly miss you!
Bruce Edhouse
Team Manager
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