USODA Team Race National Championship - Preview

by Talbot Wilson on 19 Jul 2015 On the day before the USODA National Championship events start, Pensacola Yacht Club was really bustling with a full day of pre-race activity. The atmosphere was focused and exciting. The USODA Team Race National Championship, the first event of this sailing trifecta of youth championship regattas starts today, Sunday. This is the biggest week of sailboat races in the history of Pensacola, Northwest Florida and Pensacola Yacht Club.

Following the measurement of sails, centerboards, rudders and boats on Saturday, sailors and their teams made their final check-in through a gauntlet of volunteers handling paperwork, forms, flags, colorful team pinnies and more. Coaches, safety boats and media boats all had to register, too.

Racing starts with the three-day USODA Team Race National Championship through July 21. The second event, the day-long USODA Girls National Championship, follows on Wednesday July 22 and the big wrap-up is the four-day USODA National Championship sailed July 23-26.

Team racing is a spectacular new event for Pensacola. There are 26 teams entered, almost evenly divided between four sailors per team and five sailors per team. The team race sailor count is 118. In each match, coaches select the best four sailors for the given weather conditions and the competition.

Pensacola Yacht Club coach Tom Whitehurst noted the intense competition. 'It starts before they start. They can sail one guy off the course before they start, keep him from starting. They use themselves to block each other using starboard tack vs. port tack rule to keep them from actually getting around the weather mark. They will block the opposition to allow teammates to pass ahead.'

The three days of team racing starts with the first warning at 10:00AM Sunday on two race circles near the center of Pensacola Bay and continues through the last race of the day on Tuesday. The team racing Principal Race Officers (PRO) Dwight LeBlanc and John Alden Meade hope to finish 78 races on their two courses the first day.

At the 2014 USODA Team Race National Championship last year in California, there were 23 teams. After three days of round-robin racing and a knock-out series, over 300 races were completed. With 26 teams, Pensacola’s competition should top that. Like a quick chess game on the water, each race takes six to eight minutes, ten at most.

The Sailing Instructions explain the team race format:

The intended format will be comprised of four round-robin series and one knock out series run on two race courses. The first and second series, two split fleet single round robin qualifying series (Preliminary and Gold), will be used to determine the top eight teams for the Gold Fleet. The third series is the Gold Round comprised of one or more round robins among the eight Gold Fleet teams. The fourth series is the Silver/Bronze Fleet Series comprised of one or more round robins among the remaining 18 teams in two groups, nine in Silver and nine in Bronze. The fifth series if time permits, Top Four Gold, is a knock-out series among the top four teams in Gold Fleet at the end of the Gold Round.

There will be prizes for the first three teams in each fleet. The top team in the Gold Fleet will be invited to represent the USA at the 28th Opti Team Cup Berlin in Germany in October.

Spectators are invited to come to the Pensacola waterfront at Plaza de Luna, Pensacola Maritime Park, Sanders Beach or Pensacola Yacht Club. A 'Food Truck' food court will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily at Pensacola Yacht Club.

For fleet racing in the USODA Girls National Championship and the USODA National Championship individual entries come from all over the USA and other countries including Canada.

Summer racing conditions on Pensacola Bay are usually predictable...a northerly land breeze early in the morning that switches around to the south and southwest as the sun heats up the land and the thermal builds. A barrier island to the south protects Pensacola Bay; so even with a fresh breeze, the bay only gets about a one to two foot chop. Pensacola Bay is one of the top one-design sailing venues anywhere.

Pensacola Yacht Club welcomes all of the young Opti sailors for these elite events from beginners to experts. A ‘beginners’ Green Fleet will race in the shallow waters off Sanders Beach adjacent to Pensacola Yacht Club. In total, PYC expects over 2000 people to be involved in the championships as participants, coaches, race officials, volunteers and parents supporting their young green and championship fleet challengers.

The USODA Opti Nationals week is a great time to enjoy all that Pensacola and Northwest Florida have to offer.