Youth Sailing World Championships in Oman

Nik and I are now back from the Youth Worlds. It’s been a great experience and yes, I can see why some people call it the “Youth Olympic Games”.
The opening and the closing ceremonies were really a bit like the real Olympics, even the sultan of Oman visited the closing ceremony. We’ve heard the national anthems, saw the flags of the 59 participating countries… I was very impressed.
Our own sailing performance was much less impressive. We never really figured out the wind patterns in the Gulf of Oman. We’ve had the expected light wind but it was super shifty and with occasional “lifts” that would push one team forward but not the team five meters away. Of course, the wind was the same for all sailors and some figured out how to read the wind patterns better than others. Our German friends really aced that. We had beaten then at the 420 Europeans by six places but this time they have been ahead of all and became World Champions, big congrats!
Big congrats also to our Swiss team members Anja who won silver in the ILCA6 women’s fleet as well as Axel and Noemie who won bronze in the Nacra 15!
Oman 2021 has been a great experience and I was super happy that it all worked out despite Covid, the bumpy selection process and the problems getting free from school. I just wished we had sailed better in these difficult conditions.
As a small remedy we got some nice pics shot by Mark Lloyd (@lloydImages) and Sander van der Borch @sandervanderborch.photography; ; https://omansailgallery.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/2021-Youth-Sailing-World-Championships-presented-by-Hempel/C0000K1HJcK8yQEE).