The German Windsurfing Association (GWA) has decided to financially support young participants in two important regattas on Sylt. Specifically, these are the California Summer Opening from 5 to 9 June and the California Surf Cup with the GWA Championships from 29 July to 3 August. For both events, the GWA will grant a travel allowance of 100 euros each to eligible young athletes.
The support is aimed specifically at young GWA members. All windsurfers in the Youth U21 age group (born in 2005 or younger) as well as students and trainees are eligible. The subsidy is intended to help offset the higher costs and greater effort involved in travelling to the island events. Although the partner RDC Autozug already offers discounted crossings, the Sylt regattas remain a financial challenge for many young athletes.
Young talent should be able to gain competition practice
GWA CEO Gerd Prien emphasises the importance of the measure: "We want the GWA youngsters to gain as much competition experience as possible in top-class fields at the national regattas." The direct financial support is intended to reduce one of the biggest hurdles for the participation of young sailors in regattas - the costs. Prien hopes that this will "inspire as many young GWA members as possible to take part in regattas".
A number of requirements must be met in order to receive the travel allowance. In addition to GWA membership and age or training status, active participation in the regattas is also required. Specifically, there must be at least one valid result in the results list of the respective regatta. The application for the subsidy can be submitted informally to the GWA office after the event.
