Otters at the Optimist Spring Championship 26 Mar 2011
The IOCA (International Optimist Class Association) 2011 Spring Championships took place last weekend, 26th and 27th March at Weymouth. There were over 210 Optimists entered.
Racing on the Saturday got away under a pretty light breeze. A major shift left the second race pin end the place to start with many fetching to the windward mark – hence the race was abandoned and the course reset. Black flag starts were common all weekend. Fog descended with a drop in wind putting further delay to the racing.
Nevertheless our guys did brilliantly. On the Sunday a 14 knot breeze started the racing off. This soon dropped and there were delays to the starts until a 6-7 breeze filled back in with glorious sunshine. A summary of the results follows: Tom Johnson bagged a fantastic 9th and 13th in the 3rd and 4th race. In the first race Chay Taylor bagged a 16th which was an excellent result. In his second race he came 22nd.
Arthur Brown’s third race was his best result – a stunning 14th. Colette Bacon (her first main fleet competition) had a 24th in the second race which again was a considerable achievement. Matt Jayasekara winner of the regatta fleet end of seasons last year achieved a brilliant 23rd in his third race. Tom Jayasekara’s best result was an excellent 31st.
Overall the results were as follows.
- Tom Johnson – He was top Otter with a 38th overall
- Chay Taylor – 2nd in Silver Fleet – (40th overall)
- Arthur Brown – 64th overall (5th IOCA age 11yr old)
- Colette Bacon – 73rd overall (6th IOCA aged 11 yr old)
- Matt Jayasekara – 79th overall
- Tom Jayasekara – 92nd overall
Very well done to you all.
You will all realise that the sailors in this event included the best in the country. There were entrants from France, Belgium, Germany, and of course the Oppie National Team were there with some exceptions. So the competition is hugely tough. For our first event this season with three top 1/3rd of the fleet results was excellent and credit to our joint clubs and the effort we all put in.