Aquilina rides the waves to medal glory

The sailing fraternity had good reason to be happy yesterday when the GSSE competitions came to a close at the Dolmen Hotel quayside in Qawra.

In the only race of the day, that from Laser Standard, Mario Aquilina finished third, a position high enough to earn him a gold medal, the second in GSSE sailing for Malta after that of upcoming talent Benji Borg, 13, in the Optimist Class.

The two first positions were complemented with Peter Valentino's silver, in Laser Radial, and a bronze in Optimists of Matthew Fleri Soler.

Aquilina completed the event on 15 points. He was first four times from the eight races contested. Yesterday's leg was originally scheduled for Friday, but light winds forced organisers to put it back by 24 hours.

"This gold medal was not easy to win," an emotional Aquilina, whose next international assignment is the world championship, said.

"There were some skilful sailors here but I knew I could do it. I don't have enough words to thank the federation and the MOC who have always supported me. I dedicate this success to my wife Lorraine, who is pregnant, and my family."

Apart from the four places on the rostrum, there was a display of fine manoeuvring as well by the young Malta squad during the week, all credit going to national coach Jerome Mainemare and the Malta Sailing Federation.

Federation president Anton Valentino was naturally delighted awith the outcome but administrative thoughts forced him to focus elsewhere yesterday.

"We have to see that what was achieved during the week will not finish here," he said. "The boys did really well. They were trained to win and win they did. We knew this would be a fine week for sailing.

"However, there are other issues to look at. Our coach did a wonderful job but his contract runs out this month. Results proved he was the right person in charge but we can't offer him another contract without the help of the authorities. Our next step is to see that our representative in the Olympics will be fully trained but without a qualified coach it will be difficult to achieve that."

Mainemare said the federation should be assisted to set up adequate training facilities which would be of benefit to all.

"My sailors were absolutely fantastic this week," the Spanish coach said.

"True, this country is surrounded by beautiful sea but there's nowhere to train properly. I believe a sailing centre is fundamental here.

"It would attract sports tourism as well. Teams from Nordic countries would welcome the chance of conducting training camps here. Malta has a lot of resources in this camp but those in charge have to make good use of them."