Given by Hartmut Wesemüller, GER 1777, on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the European Championships 2012 at Altea, Spain
What a gorgeous view! When you look through the huge window of this auditorium you can see the remarkable mountains in the late sunlight. You must have felt the same when you came down the stairs into this hall. And on the other side there is the sea. What a wonderful contrast! We have both in Altea: The mountains and the sea.
I admire your Spanish ego which is clearly shown in the impressive video we watched in the beginning of the ceremony. But I can assure you we have a strong ego, too.
Good evening everybody.
On behalf of the German team I would like to address myself this evening to the entire female part of the FD-sailing:
Dear ladies, wives, girlfriends, daughters, sisters- in- law, etc… etc, and last but not least dear sailing ladies – dear Dutchwomen.
As the speaker of the German team of tonight I would like to thank you that you enabled us- with nearly no blame – to share this extraordinary sport: the FD sailing and racing.
In the majority you were ashore awaiting the soaked heroes coming into the harbour from their battles, the races. And what is more:
You can take the burden of endless discussions among the competitors during the night and even after they had quite a few beers. It could appear as if the battle has not finished yet: False manoeuvres, silly tactics and bad trim- these are the topics ever since.
Even during the night when you lie in bed with your partner you can take the enormous snoring coming out of an exhausted body. Then you might have wished this could have been a result of your favourite sport instead.
You do not suffer – as far as I know – and you can stand these miseries.
In the name of all FD sailors I thank you very much for your patience!
The German team at Altea is small compared to the big number of active German FD sailors. But in comparison to other teams I think we are quite a big one. Even three teams from my club show up here, they have driven more than 2000 km from their home to Altea. If you look at our team you can easily discover that our average age is very high. There are quite a few wise and experienced sailors within this group. But there are also some young fellows among us and they know pretty well how to compete successfully.
Therefore, dear fellow sailors from Europe we will have strong competitions!
Finally, I have to tell you that each of us is happy to be here in Spain. We have voluntarily fled the German spring that is said to be cold and windy this year.
Dear Club Nautico Altea thank you for this event. We do enjoy very much to be your guests.
I wish everybody fair sailing, good winds and good spirits. Thank you.