Alex Mothersele clinches Title at Optimist Nationals

by Sophie Luther on 4 Aug 2007
The final day of racing at the Volvo Musto Optimist Nationals saw Alex Mothersele from Emsworth SC, fight off strong competition in the senior fleet, in the form of Spanish sailor, Eric Plancon, to win gold with two points spare. Top female, American Sarah Williams just pipped her teammate Alex Curtis to a bronze medal.

The final day of racing also saw the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown visit the Weymouth and Portland National Academy, while the young sailors finished off their week long regatta, with three races today

Mr Brown commented, 'What is fantastic, are the plans for here and the Olympics. It is the first Olympic facility up and running, with people already training here and the legacy will go on for years after that. So more young children will go sailing and more children from schools all over the country will also. We have already done so well in Olympic sailing and carry on doing so. I am very confident with the young people and facilities down here, this will be a sport we will be able to carry on excelling in.'

London 2012 Chairman, Sebastian Coe, accompanied the Prime Minister, whilst he toured the facilities and was introduced to young sailors and the spectators at the Optimist Nationals. The youngsters showed him around an Optimist dinghy, explaining why the 2.3 meter boat is the most popular youth class dinghy across the globe and has groomed some of the UK’s most successful sailors, including triple Olympic medallist, Ben Ainslie.

Alex Mothersele (15) from Emsworth, Hampshire fought off strong competition in the senior fleet all week, in the form of Spanish sailor, Eric Plancon (14), to win gold with two points spare. Top female, American Sarah Williams (13) just pipped her teammate Alex Curtis (13) to a bronze medal today, with a second, ninth and eleventh. Unfortunately for Curtiss, after his first place in the first race of the day, he was over the line in the second.

The junior fleet has been dominated all week by Team USA, but it was change at the top on the final day, with Hunter Johnson (12) from Chicago regaining poll position. Clay Danly (12) was only one point behind Johnson, with friend Duncan Williford (12) in bronze position. United Arab Emirates sailor, Oliver Grogono (11) finished in fourth, with first Brit, Scott Wallis (11) from Hampshire, jumping into fifth position today.

The regatta fleet managed to fit in 14 races this week, to help teach the 105 youngsters how to race dinghies. Ben Waha (11) from Hampshire won gold with 18 points between him and his nearest rival, finishing off his week with a first and a second place. Joe Girling (11) from Norfolk won silver, with Joseph Burns (10) from Hampshire receiving bronze.

Optimist Leading Results

Senior Fleet

1 GBR5592 Alex MOTHERSELE 28pts
2 ESP1372 Eric PLANCON 45
3 USA13596 Sarah WILLIAMS 50
4 USA15581 Alex CURTISS 56
5 GBR5558 David GRANT 57
6 DEN8170 Laerke LOKDAM 59
7 IRL1114 Alexander RUMBALL 64
8 GBR5661 Tom BRITZ 74
9 USA14076 Tracy DOHERTY 76
10 GBR5467 Ben HARDEN 81
11 GBR5642 Tomas PAIN 82
12 USA16362 Connor BRADY 86
13 GBR5413 Sam ROBINSON 88
14 GBR5593 Nick HAYNES 90
15 GBR5496 Harry DERBYSHIRE 90
16 GBR5674 Callum ELLIS 101
17 USA15049 Maxwell AUDETTE 106
18 GBR5678 Ollie COOPER 109
19 GBR5707 Jess LAVERY 110
20 GBR5683 Matthew WALLIS 111
21 GBR5666 Tarra GILL-TAYLOR 111
22 GBR5671 Cameron DOUGLAS 113
23 GBR5632 Tim GRATTON 118
24 GBR5596 Craig DIBB 121
25 GBR5537 Zoe PARKINSON 124
26 GBR5427 Calum MURDOCK 130
27 GBR5575 Jack MARTIN 135
28 GBR5502 Annabel VOSE 136
29 NED2783 Tiuri LUITWIELER 144
30 GBR5722 Matthew FOSKETT 148

Junior Fleet

1 USA13777 Hunter JOHNSTONE 19pts
2 USA15706 Duncan WILLIFORD 20
3 USA15579 Clay DANLY 20
4 UAE300 Oliver GROGONO 29
5 GBR5165 Scott WALLIS 38
6 UAE729 Nik (nicholas) FROUD 39
7 NED2802 Niels BROEKHUIZEN 43
8 GBR5643 David PAIN 50
9 GBR5594 James PARKER-MOWBRAY 54
10 GBR5731 Josh SPARKS 64
11 IRL1200 Aodh KENNEDY 74
12 GBR5665 Jamie DIAMOND 74
13 UAE308 Georgia THOMPSON 75
14 GBR5453 Myles JACKSON 78
15 UAE301 Freddie GROGONO 85
16 GBR5485 Harry GOZZETT 90
17 IRL1173 Philip BROWNLOW 94
18 IRL1117 Tara FLOOD 99
19 GBR5503 Dan BULLOCK 105
20 GBR5605 Robert DYER 105
21 GBR5345 Josh VOLLER 114
22 GBR5723 Joshua BURGESS 115
23 GBR5279 Stephanie HARDING 119
24 GBR5400 Robert BADDELEY 120
25 GBR5210 Jake BRAYBROOK 120
26 GBR5252 Zach BRUBERT 123
27 GBR5536 Matthew WHITFIELD 123
28 GBR5525 Rupert CLARK 128
29 IRL930 Fiona DALY 132
30 GBR4948 Callum AIRLIE 140

Regatta fleet

1 GBR5555 Benjamin WAHA 16pts
2 GBR5710 Joe GIRLING 34
3 GBR5604 Joseph BURNS 37
4 GBR5356 William MASSEY 40
5 GBR5414 Daniel WHITELEY 57
6 GBR5136 Jack DANIEL 63
7 GBR5432 Callum TOLLEY 71
8 GBR5618 Ollie SELLERS 77
9 GBR5426 Hugo ANDREWS 80
10 GBR5323 Stirling TAYLOR 84
11 GBR5230 Nicole DEACON-SMITH 84
12 GBR5675 Sophie PUDDICK 92
13 GBR5314 Elizabeth ELLISON 95
14 GBR5138 Jennifer CROPLEY 100
15 GBR4974 Jack GILLESPIE 114
16 GBR5689 Jemima LAWSON 129
17 GBR4614 Phoebe WARREN 133
18 GBR5363 Andrew MAWER 134
19 GBR5294 Guy WILKINSON 138
20 GBR4592 Jack PARKIN 141
21 GBR4795 Poppy RICKARDS 151
22 GBR5232 Clementine THOMPSON 154
23 GBR5320 Chay TAYLOR 155
24 GBR4117 Henry MARTINDALE 156
25 GBR4791 Robert MASTERMAN 158
26 GBR4439 Ellan NEEDHAM 163
27 GBR5282 Ben BAILEY 173
28 GBR5694 Josh ATHERTON 173
29 GBR4175 Jack BORRILL 176
30 GBR4602 Amelia HARPER 179

Event website: http://www.kbsuk.com/optimist/iocaevents/index.asp?EventID=4