Guernsey sailing ace, Andrew Bridgman, who delivered a ‘standout performance’ in the Foiling Waszp World Championships last weekend, has been congratulated by The International Stock Exchange (TISE).
TISE, under the banner of its private markets service, TISE Private Markets, is sponsoring Andrew again this season and in the most prestigious regatta of the summer he finished 22nd in an event boasting a total of 140 competitors.
Competing as part of the Great Britain contingent and under the banner of the Guernsey Yacht Club, Andrew was the second placed Briton in the event held in Sandefjord, Norway, between 6th and 10th August.
Very light winds at the start of the event made for some very technical and tactical racing which left Andrew 75th after the opening day. As the wind picked up over the next few days, Andrew was able to improve his results and was the star of the show during the fourth day of racing when he secured his first ever win at an International Waszp Games in what was described by the event organisers as ‘a standout performance.’ This was followed by a second-place finish which, together with his maiden victory, helped catapult him from 45th after day three to 21st overall at the end of the fourth day.
Andrew said: “I’m pleased with how I performed considering the level of competition and the varying racing conditions. I have practised very hard this season to improve my light wind sailing and I do feel I’ve improved a lot particularly on manoeuvres and race tactics, but I kept getting shut out causing me to crash off the foils on the starts and at which point I was always playing catch up.
“Then I managed to pull back tup the leaderboard as the wind picked up throughout the week, with the final two days being particularly windy and wavy with two-metre waves and 30mph gusts to battle through. Of course, I would have wanted to have finish higher, but I was very happy with that comeback and to hold on to 22nd place in the end. I left everything out on the water but unfortunately there were just too many mistakes this time around.”
Andrew’s final regatta of the summer will be the UK national championships in Weymouth on 22nd August where there are expected to be 80 boats competing at the venue which is set to host the world championships in 2025.
Mark Oliphant, Head of Marketing and Communications at TISE, said: “We are so proud to see Andrew compete with the best in the world and deliver such a strong result. It was particularly impressive to see him record his first race win at this elite level and get the accolades from the event organisers for that day’s racing. Huge congratulations to Andrew and we wish him the very best for the UK national championships which are coming up.”
The Foiling Waszp boats sailed by Andrew are not included within the classes selected for the Olympics although some of his contemporaries switched to be able to participate in Paris or will be competing in the Americas Cup.
Andrew: “Now I’m looking ahead to the UK national championships and then I’ll be considering whether I compete again next season. The boat designer is expected to release a new rudder which could increase speeds by 15-20% so I’ll definitely be watching developments with interest this winter.”
