The Garda Optimist Meeting has begun in Riva del Garda, on the northern shore of Lake Garda in Italy, the same location that will host the Optimist World Championships in 2021.
This Guinness World Records event is back in its original format after two years, in Easter week, and above all in its original numbers of over 1000 helmsmen from 35 nations. And this is why this incredible event, especially at this difficult time in history, is good for the heart.
It is good for the heart to see so many children-boys and girls with their families in tow and their older brothers and sisters, who may be taking advantage of the opportunity to train on Lake Garda in another class, with their smiles, their life jackets and coloured wetsuits, all taking to the water together, more than a thousand of them, in an area that also, with its clear colours in these days, makes the eyes shine.
The Garda Optimist Meeting began on Thursday 14th April with the first races of the cadet and junior categories, divided into five heats. However, despite the fact that the winners of the Meeting have been Olympic champions, world champions, America’s Cup participants or successful coaches over the years, it is above all a celebration of sport, sailing and people, unique in the world; and the symbol of the event itself demonstrates this with the drawing of children holding hands in a circle around the symbol of the Optimist class.
