Optimist Worlds- Singapore takes Teams Racing event at Napier + Video
by Nathalie van Dort on 5 Jan 2012
Day 5, 2011 Optimist Worlds, Napier Matías Capizzano/Optiworlds
http://www.capizzano.com/
The second day of teams racing at the 2011 Optimist World Championships, being sailed at Napier on the east coast of New Zealand, started with a glorious sunny day, 16 teams and 32 races ahead.
The 2010 World Champion, Thailand, sailed their first race against Poland. Thailand sailed a strong competition and made it through to the semi finals but lost against Peru.
Peru who had beaten the Netherlands 10 to 26 in the quarter finals, had a lot of onshore supporters.
'This weather really brings out the crowds, and it is fantastic to see the support for all these young sailors' says Nigel Rippey, Event Director.
The wind decided to play games with the sailors, and changed direction half way through the morning which meant a new course had to be set.
Singapore had won all their races and therefore qualified after 4 races, while Peru had to sail 6 races to the final.
The final sail off consist of three races. Both Singapore and Peru qualified by beating reigning Champion Thailand. The Singaporean team was sailing today with three females and one male, a team has only four sailors. Peru had high hopes, with Javier Arribas currently in third position in the individual racing.
Singapore won the first race with 13 over 23. The second race saw a draw 18 all, but with Singapore finishing first, the win went to Peru. The third all deciding race went to Singapore with a well deserved win.
During tomorrow's Lay Day all 210 competitors and their supporters will enjoy a variety of tours, activities and beach days with a bit of Kiwiana. The individual racing continues with Race 7 this Saturday.
Day 5 Video Report - Finals of the Teams racing
Principal Race Officer explains Teams Racing
The provisional leader board (for the individual racing) shows: 1 Ryan Lo (SIN) 14 points, 2 Bart Lambriex (NED) 23 points, 3 Javier Arribas (PER) 25 points, 4 Wade Waddell (USA) 32 points, 5 Leonard Takahashi-Fry (NZL) 33 points, 6 Peter Lin Janezic (SLO) 40 points, 7 Philip Meijer (NED) 41 points, 8 Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz (MAS) 41, 9 William Marshall (USA) 44 points, 10 Miel Verstraete (BEL) 44 points.
www.optiworldsnz.org.nz
Opti Worlds Vital Stats:
30 December 2011 - 10 January 2012
The boat: a safe and simple dinghy that is one of the world's most popular designs
The racing: 9 days of Championship racing
The competitors: 210 sailors aged between 11 and 15 years
The countries: teams from 48 nations including reigning Champs Thailand
The host club: Napier Sailing Club, Napier, New Zealand
Famous sailors that have started out in Optis include: Ben Ainslie
The big sponsors: Vodafone, New Zealand Major Events, Hawke's Bay Tourism, SPARC, City of Napier, Air New Zealand, the Radio Network, EuroCity Napier, Victoria Cruising Club, Lion Foundation
The technology: GPS tracking and live video coverage online - real time
The website: www.optiworldsnz.org.nz, over 8,000 hits per day
The Facebook page: 1,366 likes http://www.facebook.com/optiworldsnz2011
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