Optimist North American Championships 2011

by IODA on 6 Jul 2011 Optimist North American Championships 2011 is being hosted by Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, in the port of Los Angeles from 29th June to 7th July.

July 2
Peter Lin Janezic consolidated his lead on day two with two bullets and a fifth, while the order of the other leading sailors was radically affected by the taking of the first discard. The Slovene was 18th at last year’s Worlds so his position is not perhaps that surprising.

The lead among the North American sailors has now passed to Russell Clarida from Pequot Minnesota , runner-up in USODA Trials, closely followed by Alexander Hanna from Hampton Virginia. Incidentally the 40-strong USA team is drawn from at least twelve different states.

Camila Flores Hernandez (MEX) remains the leading girl in eight place over-all, having been able to discard her disastrous sixth race, and now has a 20 point lead over Justina Pacheco (DOM).

July 1
Leading the fleet of 187 sailors from 21 countries after day one is Peter Janezic of Slovenia, one of only 13 non-Americans accepted for the event. He is tied on points with William Marshall from Newton, Massachussets, a member of the USA Worlds team. The difficult conditions mean that several top sailors will hope to have sailed their discard, including US Trials winner Wade Waddell (Lauderdale, Florida).

First girl at this early stage is Camila Flores Hernandez (MEX) ahead of Odile van Aanholt from Curacao. Other top-rated girls such as USA Worlds team member Martina Sly and 2010 medallists Alie Toppa (USA) and Justina Pacheco (Dominican Republic) will hope to improve as the event progresses.

June 27
Excellent day in Los Angeles!! More and more sailors are arriving in Cabrillo Beach, eager to start the competition. Teams ARG, ECU, AHO, ISV, CHI, BER, CAN, MEX, IVB and GER are already enjoying sunny California, that treated them with steady North Westerly winds of 16 to 18 knots below a cloudless sky.

Meanwhile on shore measurement started early in the morning with team Ecuador and at the end of the day a total of 58 boats had been scrutineered. The biggest team, the USA with 40 sailors, will go through measurement tomorrow.

June 26
Teams have been arriving in Los Angeles for the last few days and many are now out training, preparing for July 1st, when racing begins. Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, in the port of Los Angeles is the venue. CBYC played host to the USODA Nationals in 2009, an event which demonstrated what a fantastic venue this can be for Optimist International Optimist Dinghy Association website