With 4 teams in the top 25 of the ISAF 49er rankings, Denmark looks to keep more people – especially women – in the sport of sailing by kick-starting a class that brings sailors up to the next level.  “We wish more people would continue sailing,” report the Danish 29er girls teams.  “[We wish] to create an attractive offer for those sailors who previously disappeared from sailing.  It is also to get former 29er sailors back in sailing in a class with technical, physical and tactical challenges – and the thrill of speed”.

Female skippers finished 3 out of the top 5, 1st (NED), 3rd (DEN) and 5th (NZL),  at the recent 112 boat-29er European Championships held in Spain, and the Danish 29er team was lead by the all-girls pair of Ida Marie Baad, Marie Thusgaard who finished 3^rd over all, proving that size and sex do not matter.  But where can they go from here?

The 29erXX is an excellent way to keep women in the sport of sailing.  Featured in the online magazine www.baadmagasinet.dk and newest FaceBook Group 29erXX chicks-Denmark, the new Danish 29erXX fleet is doing just that – taking off with training camps led by Olympic sailor Peter Lang (5^th at this year’s 49er European Championships in Poland).  The top Danish girls teams had a week-long program on the water.  On her Facebook report, Claudia Carlsen writes, “We are looking forward to go out sailing again!”

There are already 3 regattas on the Danish sailing calendar to closeout the season, including the Danish Open Nationals the 25 & 26 September.

Rie Galsgaard loves the 29erXX...

 

Follow the girls and their training on Facebook

Read the original article in BAD Magasinet. 

English translation below:

Kick-starting the 29erXX in Denmark

Some of Europe’s best 29er teams are now starting in the 29erXX. The Danish girl sailors wish that more people would continue sailing.

After the 29er European Championship in Spain the four best Danish girl team are (Number 1, 2, 3 and 6) back on Danish soil with new equipment and challenges. They start the first serious attempt to introduce a new skiff class, focusing especially on girls in Denmark.

Begins with training camp
The first training camp will take place in early August in Skærbæk where the new 49er-crews also will participate, as the crews from the other northern Europe also are invited. It is the plan that they should participate in the festival tournament in Aarhus and the open DM for 29er and 49ers in Hellerup in September.

The purpose of starting the class is to create an attractive offer for those sailors who are about to grow out of 29er and former disappeared from sailing. It is also a desire to have former 29er sailors back in sailing in a class with technical, physical and tactical challenges and the thrill of speed.