Open Sailing Vingelz/Vigneules

Open Sailing Vingelz/Vigneules is a bilingual sailing club on Lake Biel in Vingelz that has been dedicated to unconventional youth sailing since 2018. The focus is on O'pen Skiff dinghies from the club pool, which are officially registered and may leave the near-shore zones even without a support boat. Founded on 1 July 2020, the club is a member of Swiss Sailing and offers bilingual J+S courses on O'pen Wednesdays and O'pen Fridays for Rookies and Racers, as well as holiday camps in spring, summer and autumn. In addition to classic sailing training, pumpfoiling, junior foiling on Nikki boats and the organisation of the SWISS O'pen Skiff UN-REGATTA round out the diverse programme. Family memberships, couples and supporters sustain the club; spontaneous training sessions and trial sailing are organised via WhatsApp and Telegram groups.

Vingelz/Vigneules, Schweiz

History

Inspired by junior sailing activities led by Sir Russell Coutts (NZ) and Nevin Sayre (USA), and by a presentation at the US Sailing FORUM 2014, we started in 2018 with two O'pen Skiff dinghies (then still O'pen BIC) to test an unconventional sailing format for children and young people aged 10-16. Our central goal was and remains to enrich sailing sport through diversity in a playful way and thus make this extraordinary outdoor sport between the elements more attractive and accessible to a wide audience. During the 2019 season we experienced first-hand how O'pen Skiff dinghies, thanks to their current design, complexity reduced to a minimum, simplicity, robustness and favourable price-performance ratio, are ideally suited to the desired, highly varied sailing format. After a COVID-19-delayed start to the 2020 season, interest in the format grew immediately with the first sessions on the water, making structured organisation necessary to ensure healthy long-term development. The association Open Sailing Vingelz/Vigneules was founded on 1 July 2020. Since then the club has organised bilingual J+S courses, holiday camps, the SWISS O'pen Skiff UN-REGATTA and further events on Lake Biel as a Swiss Sailing member integrated into the national sailing structure.

Information

Facilities

Club pool of O'pen Skiff dinghies at Vingelz harbour and lido on Lake Biel; access to scootpump and pumpfoil boards as well as Nikki boats for junior foiling; motorboat support during training; official registration of O'pen Skiffs.

Activities

O'pen Wednesdays and O'pen Fridays as J+S courses, holiday camps in spring, summer and autumn, SWISS O'pen Skiff UN-REGATTA, pumpfoiling and Big Wave Swiss Tour, spontaneous training and trial sailing, Junior Foiling Cup.

Youth section

Strong focus on youth sailing with O'pen Skiff, bilingual J+S courses, holiday camps and participation in national and international regattas for children and young people aged 10-16.