Optimist Worlds - Kiwis on final prep in Portugal

by Sail-World.com NZL on 24 Jun 2016 Preparing for the sailing regatta of their lives right now, are five young New Zealand sailors. They are in Vilamoura, on the Algarve coast of Portugal, for the World Optimist Dinghy Championship.

The regatta starts with the first of 12 races on Sunday 26th June 2016. For the thousands of sailors around the world that start racing the Optimist from around the age of 9, the World Championship is the pinnacle of their early sailing careers. The event in Portugal this year has attracted 258 sailors representing 59 Countries.

The Optimist is by far the largest junior racing class in New Zealand. The New Zealand team have been selected through a rigorous process that started back in November 2015 with a regatta in Napier, moving on to Maraetai, Auckland for a January 2016 Regatta, then to Picton in February for the annual Interislander event. It culminated in the New Zealand National Championship held over Easter 2016, at Kohimaramara Beach, Auckland, where over 250 sailors competed.

Selected (in the order of their New Zealand National rankings) were Henry Wilson (13 years) of Murrays Bay Sailing Club on Auckland’s North Shore, Campbell Stanton (13 years) also of Murrays Bay Sailing Club, Gavin Ninnes (14 years) of French Bay Yacht Club, David Buchanan (11 years) of Charteris Bay Yacht Club, Canterbury, and Seb Menzies (11 years) of Murrays Bay Sailing Club. They are accompanied in Portugal by Team Manager Briar Dye-Hutchinson, and Coach Sam McKenzie, both of Auckland.

Since the Nationals finished, these 5 sailors, along with 31 other sailors that were also selected for NZIODA teams travelling to the Asian Champs, North American Champs, European Champs, and a Noumea Development squad, have been in intense training, sailing almost every weekend since Easter. The NZL Yachting Trust Worlds team have been training on the waters off Vilamoura through this week.
The Opening Ceremony will take place in Vilamoura on the evening of Saturday 25th (local time), followed on Sunday with the first racing. The individual event racing will continue to Friday 1st July, and will be followed by a World Teams racing competition second and 3rd July prior to prize giving and closing ceremony that evening.

About NZIODA

The New Zealand International Optimist Dinghy Association Inc is the controlling body of the Optimist sailing dinghy class in New Zealand. NZIODA runs the national ranking system and controls the 4 ranking regattas held each year across the country. At the end of each season, 36 sailors are selected to attend various international regattas. NZIODA also selects coaches/mentors to travel with each NZIODA NZIODA Facebook

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