Who is sailing at Open Bic International Regattas?
Sean Herbert, at a 2015 World Cup event in Australia |
Italy: 23 sailors (championship held in Italy)
France: 13 sailors
Germany: 6 sailors
Australia: 6 sailors
New Zealand: 5 sailors (including the World Champion)
USA: 4 sailors
Spain: 3 sailors
Japan: 2 sailors (including the silver medalist and first girl)
Denmark: 2 sailors (including the Bronze medalist)
Switzerland: 1 sailor
Poland: 1 sailor
Source: http://worlds2017.openbicclass.org/results
Clearly, this is limited participation in the Open Bic champs, compared to the Optimist worlds, where selection for the 5 slots available for each country is very hard to achieve. Yet, competition there is in the Open Bic Class,
When one checks participation in previous international events, the trend is however clear. There is increasingly high level and international participation in the Open Bic international regattas.
In terms of national class associations, they are now present in the following jurisdictions: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, San Marino.
More info about the Open Bic Class: http://openbicclass.org