USODA 2015 Nationals - Pensacola Yacht Club to host

by Talbot Wilson on 25 Nov 2014 The US Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) has selected Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC) to host their 2015 National Championships. This championship will be a week-long sailing spectacular on Pensacola Bay sailed by International Optimist Dinghy sailors from eight to 15 years old. The event is really three championships: the USODA Team Race National Championship, the USODA Girls National Championship, the USODA National Championship— and there will be Green Fleet (beginners) Racing, too. Racing is scheduled for July 19-26, 2015. Practice racing will be offered the week before. Two days of Team Racing leads the schedule, the Girls Championship is mid-week and the open National Championship is the grand finale.

Organizers expect between 350 to 400 young sailors, one coach per 10 participants, the sailor’s parents and family. The promotion of the event urges— 'Bring the whole Family for a Florida Beach Vacation.' Pensacola Yacht Club expects Northwest Florida to host about 1500 people for the ten-day event. The 2015 USODA Nationals should be the largest sports tourism event of the year in Northwest Florida.

Pensacola Yacht Club hosted the USODA Southeast Championship as a warm-up for the upcoming 2015 Nationals. Racers launch their small boats, a Clark Mills design once made from three sheets of plywood, from the PYC’s sparkling white sand beach on Pensacola Bay between Bayou Chico and the Sander’s Beach Community Center.

The volunteer organizers, race committee and Race Officers from 2013 will be back with that experience to help them run a regatta that will showcase PYC and the Pensacola area as a choice area for future international regattas. Some of the best International and National race officers, umpires and jury members will come to town to enhance the events.

Chairman Kirby Smith IV, a PYC Board member, is hard at work with committee members on getting all the initial details covered. 'We are honored and challenged at the same time to be chosen to host the USODA National Championships at PYC. In 2013 we showed everyone how well we could run a regional championship. Now we have an opportunity to show the nation and the world that we can run a premier regatta from our club.'

'In 2013 we had local support from Escambia County, the Pensacola Sports Association, VisitPensacola, and the city. We also had great support from local businesses through sponsorship. We are hoping to encourage those folks to join us again.'

'We will also be calling for support from fellow sailing clubs all across the region to help us stage a National Championship second to none.' Smith continued. 'Because of our spectacular sailing and vacation venue here in Pensacola, we expect a great turnout. We are already discussing team logistics with the Opti team from the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and hope to have more international participation as the word spreads about out venue at PYC.'

The International Optimist Dinghy, called an Opti, is being raced in over 120 countries by over 160,000 skippers. It is one of only two yachts approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under 16. At the London Olympics, nearly 80% of all boat skippers were former dinghy sailors, most of them having reached international level in the International Optimist Class. Pensacola Junior Yacht Club offers year round sailing instruction and regional competition for the youth of the community.

All qualified Opti sailors, not just sailors from the USA, are invited to come to beautiful NW Florida for great sailing in the 2015 USODA National Championship in Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola Yacht Club is waiting with warm water, warm hospitality, lots of cool fun and plans for a fantastic regatta.

Registration will be on the USODA website.