France and Norway celebrate victory at landmark RS Venture Connect World Championships

The Norwegian crew of Elliot Finnestrand and Nilas Goa Diab finished first overall, winning four of the eight races, notching two second places and two third place finishes on their way to victory, finishing just two points ahead of the Australian team of Genevieve Wickham and Grant Alderson, with Jazz Turner and Adam Billany of Great Britain a further five points back.

Norway’s Elliot Finnestrand, said, “We were really happy. It’s been a blast the whole weekend. A lot of wind; we couldn’t ask for better conditions for us two. We just worked perfectly through these conditions, and we worked well as a crew.”

Nilas Diab added, “We never expected this. We just started to sail together not too long ago. And then we saw this as an opportunity to learn, but we never thought it would be enough for a win. It’s surreal, really.”

The French team of Ange Margaron and Olivier Ducruix won three races to come in just one point behind Finnestrand and Diab in the overall rankings. In the Para competition, they were two points ahead of Great Britain’s Rory McKinna and Chi Chain Wu in second and seven points ahead of Portugal’s Pedro Cancio Reis and Guilherme Ribeiro.

Olivier Ducruix, said, “It’s so marvellous. We hoped but we didn’t believe it before. And we are especially happy because we were champion and The Hague last year and it was really a challenge to do it again this year. It’s magic. I think it will sink in tomorrow. We are going to have a lot more fun sailing together in the future.”

Hannah Stodel, World Sailing’s Para Inclusive Sailing Manager, said, “This is the first time we’ve run an event with Para and inclusive sailors. This is the first time we’ve run an event with Para and Inclusive sailors. It’s been a real landmark shift for World Sailing in particular because we’ve had Para, Inclusive and Open sailors all racing together. And I think it’s showing the positives of the new direction and the new strategy and what we can do within the sport. It’s a real showcase of this new strategy. We believe in a foundation of inclusivity will help us obviously with, hopefully, our reinstatement to the Paralympic Games.

“It’s been a huge team effort, especially with the team at RS providing the boats and the World Sailing coaches being on site to support. The biggest thing with this event has been the community spirit. In particular, we’ve had Rutland Sailability who have helped, Rutland Sailing Club who have supported the entire event.”

Prior to the first race of the World Championships, World Sailing organised a three-day Inclusive Development Program (IDP) with coaching available for the emerging nations from Japan, Brazil, and Chile whose participation was supported by World Sailing.

The IDP is now a worldwide coaching program and can offer global access to World Sailing’s coaches to help develop national Para Inclusive Sailing programs. Coaching and access to IDP resources is available to everyone. Currently, 30 of the 33 countries with an active Para Inclusive Sailing program have registered.

Stodel added, “This event has been a real positive. We’re opening up to more disabilities, more conditions, and to welcome everybody to this part of sailing, and we’ve created a safe space for people to do that.”

As part of World Sailing’s Para Inclusive Sailing strategy, World Sailing pledged to sustain the worldwide reach of Para Inclusive Sailing and create a comprehensive quadrennial competition calendar of Para Inclusive events.

Following the conclusion of the RS Venture Connect World Championship, focus shifted to the 56th Barcolana Regatta in Trieste where Hansa 303 and 2.4mR boats from the FIV Para Sailing Academy competed alongside a local fleet from the Duino 45 club and national class associations.

For Barcolana 50 in 2018, artist Marina Abramović unveiled a poignant poster proclaiming inclusivity for the event under the slogan ‘we’re all in the same boat’. Since then, the regatta has created unique opportunities for Para Inclusive Sailors and has ambitions to host the EUROSAF Inclusive European Championships in 2025, as well as greatly increasing the number of participants.

Hannah Stodel was also part of a two-hour forum on best practice within inclusivity, share the World Sailing Para Inclusive Strategy and discuss future plans. The FIV Para Sailing Academy is already showing the potential for encouraging people across Italy and beyond to discover Para Inclusive Sailing. At the recent Youth Sailing World Championships on Lake Garda, the Italian national Para Sailing team had the chance to train alongside under-19 competitors at the event.

The ultimate goal is to see sailing reinstated to the Paralympic Games, and the support of class associations and event organisers is key in ensuring the growth of the sport. For more information about the resources available to Para Inclusive Sailors, please visit the World Sailing website.