Youth Sailing Championsleague

Last week, I had the privilege of representing my hometown club, Segelclub Stäfa, in the Youth Sailing Champions League. The regatta was held in Vilamoura, Portugal, and it saw some of the best teams from across Europe battle it out for the top spot. Teams from Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands participated in the event, making it a truly international affair. The weather conditions were excellent throughout the regatta -as you can see from the photos:)

Our team, consisting of my brother Niklas, Carlos, and Nico, had a fantastic start to the competition. We sailed very solid races with little to no mistakes, which helped us secure a comfortable six-point lead over the other teams(wich is a lot in this format). As a result, we led for the final day.
However, the last day of the competition proved to be challenging due to the very light wind conditions, which ranged between 2-4 knots. In the first race of the day, three out of the four boats, including ours, had an early start, leading to a penalty. We managed to score 3 and 3, which unfortunately resulted in us finishing in second place overall. It was a disappointing outcome for us, and it took some time to process and come to terms with our performance. However, we decided to put it behind us and enjoy some much-needed downtime on the sunny beach of Vilamoura, while sharing a beer.

We extend our congratulations to Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen, who won the competition and proved to be worthy opponents. Despite our disappointment, we take comfort in knowing that we gave it our all and had an unforgettable experience competing against some of the best teams in Europe. We will use this setback as motivation to come back stronger in September for the final event in Kiel.