Record fleet for NSW Optimist Championships
by Warwick Crossman on 11 Apr 2010
Space was at a premium on Northbridge SC’s rigging deck Warwick Crossman
With the amazing growth of the Optimist class in NSW it seems that every event becomes bigger and better than the previous one, but even the most Optimistic supporters of the class were surprised when more than 70 boats swarmed at Northbridge Sailing Club recently for the largest and arguably the most competitive Optimist regatta in NSW to date.
The Australian Optimist Sailing Team (AOST) members were in Sydney for a two day high performance clinic and eight members of the team were flying out of Australia immediately after the NSW Championships to compete in the New Zealand Nationals. The race ready AOST sailors were expected to provide some very tough competition for the local fleet.
Spectators were treated to some brilliant racing on Day One of the NSW Championships. Five races were completed in a light to moderate southerly where sailors were rewarded for keeping their head out of the boat and maintaining a lane of clear air.
Victorian sailors led the way at the end of the first day's racing in the Open Fleet with Jack Graves (13), Sam Hannah (15) and Zac O'Connell (16), however less than ten points separated the first five boats so there was plenty to race for on Day Two. For NSW, Brodie Crossman (19) was sitting in fourth place overall, Jim Colley had shown that he could race at the front of the fleet and lead for some of Race Five, Christopher Phillips had a third place in Race Four and Jaime Swavley also had a top ten finish to her credit.
After a short wait on Day Two a nor'easterly began to fill in and another five races were completed in a building seabreeze that peaked at around 18 knots for the final race. Testimony to the quality of the competition in this truly international class was that seven different sailors enjoyed race wins across the ten race series, and any of the top ten sailors could have won the regatta with one more race win on their scorecard.
To quote Homer Simpson,
'everyone was a winner on the day, but in another more accurate way the real winner was..........................'
Jack Graves (1st) with Zac O'Connell (2nd) and Tom Trotman (3rd) in the Open Championship, while the 2010 NSW Champion is Brodie Crossman (1st) followed by Jim Colley (2nd) and Xavier Winston Smith (3rd). The First Girl Award went to Caitlin Tames (24th) and the prestigious NSW Encouragement Award this year went to Jaime Swavley (25th).
Congratulations to the team at Northbridge SC for demonstrating what a dedicated group can achieve. The class is in good hands with people of that calibre involved and they've set the bar very high for future Optimist regattas in Australia.
Full list of results can be found at www.optinsw.yachting.org.au.
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