News 140 JUNIOR SAILORS IN ARGENTINA INTRODUCED TO THE 420 CLASS

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140 JUNIOR SAILORS IN ARGENTINA INTRODUCED TO THE 420 CLASS

22
May 2019

A fantastic promotional clinic in Argentina over the weekend, 18-19 May 2019, saw over 140 young junior sailors be introduced to and 'have a go' in the 420 Class.

First organized by the Argentinean 420 National Class Association (Asociacion Argentina Clase Internacional 420) six years ago, the annual promotional clinic has grown year on year and this year was hosted in partnership with the Club Universitario de Buenos Aires and the Federacion Argentina de Yachting.

Our thanks to Martin Cloos, Member of the Board of Directors of the 420 National Class Association and President of the National Class Association from 2015 to 2018, who was instrumental in organizing the clinic and shares his update:

"Last weekend, 18th and 19th of May, the Argentine 420 National Class made its traditional annual promotional clinic. The objective is to promote the 420 to all the young sailors that actually sail in categories such as Optimist or Cadet and are finishing their career in those classes, or they just want to know about other boats (sailors between eleven and eighteen years old).

The Clinic is organized by the National Class Association, with the support of all the sailors and coaches, who put their boats at disposal to guarantee that all participants can sail. 

It is organized in the following way: first we count the number of participants and divide them between the number of boats, which are also divided by the number of coach boats. The idea is to divide the participants into groups of 4 or 5 persons, who are allocated to a sail boat and its owner, at the same time every coach boat is responsible for 2 or 3 sail boats (8 to 15 persons, plus the 420 crews). 

This year we had a record of 140 persons that attended to the Clinic, so in addition to all the coach boats, we had support from three Club motor vessels that carried the children to the racing area, acted as race committee, and were “waiting spots” (where participants could wait so coach boats weren’t so full of people).

On both days the schedule consisted of a breakfast and a meeting with the participants in which we explained the goals of the day, the clinic and safety issues; at noon all boats were launched to the water and sailing started. In the evening we had some great after-races with pizzas and all the sailors (experienced or not) sharing stories and anecdotes. 

On the water, the activity consisted in windward-leeward races in which coaches gave tips to the new sailors, who could sail the boat with another new sailor or with an experienced 420 sailor.

The weather was good in terms of temperature but not that good in what respects to wind. The first day the wind died, and we had to go ashore before the scheduled time, on the second day we had a light breeze through all day which let us complete the activities and make as many races as possible. 

On Saturday evening we made a meeting with all the parents of the participants, with a presentation of the Int Class, all the people in the meeting where amazed with the organization of the class, all the options to race in international championships and the material that is available in the web page. 

We started making these clinics six years ago, in that moment in Argentina there where sailing thirteen boats from two clubs, after a hard work of promotion now we have seven clubs and twenty-seven boats. With this last clinic, which was without any doubt the biggest one, we estimate that by the end of the year and the beginning of the next one we will have nine clubs and thirty-five boats racing in Buenos Aires.

In the name of the Argentina 420 National Class Association we want to thank the International Class Association, the National Sailing Federation and the Club Universitario de Buenos Aires for all the support for making this event possible, and we hope that the next year we have a new record of participants so that the 420 keeps growing in the region."