Orange Bowl Sailors have a safe and sunny first day
by Connie Bischoff on 28 Dec 2009
International Optis battle it out at the Orange Bowl Regatta Tim Wilkes
http://www.TimWilkes.com
With 731 youth sailors on the water in Miami's Biscayne Bay, safety is the number one objective. The safety boats worked hard to keep racing motorboats from running through the fleets. Race organizers, led by Orange Bowl Safety Officer Jack Ellis, have 4 safety boats on each circle including West Marine's loaned boat and crew.
The City of Miami have also offered their services, providing two City of Miami Fire Boats with paramedics on board. When the weather warmed into the 80s and the winds got lighter during the day, many young sailors wished that the Fireboats would start spraying the sailors to cool them off.
In the 226 boat Optimist Red/Blue/White fleet, there were so many competitors that they split the start into two. Lauderdale Yacht Club's Christopher Williford won one and Arthur Fortune from the French island of Guadeloupe and representing the Yacht Club of Cannes won the other. The 420 leaders after two races were Michael Dahl and Nichole Grice from Newport Harbour Yacht Club, CA. The International 420 class, participating in the Orange Bowl for the very first time, is led by Georgie Ryan and Haley Kirk, an all girl team from San Diego and Long Beach, CA.
After three races in the beginner Optimist Green fleet division, Key Biscayne Yacht Club's Sebastian Clark is ahead by a tie breaker. The Laser Full-Rig leader is Ricardo Montemayor from Canada's Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. The Laser Radial fleet is led by Ecuador's Jonathan Martinetti. In the Laser 4.7 class, Maximilian Stein representing Germany's Yachtclub Langenargen is in first place.
The Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta is hosted by Miami's Coral Reef Yacht Club (CRYC) assisted by the US Sailing Center-Miami, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and Lauderdale Yacht Club. Sponsors include Investors Solutions, Dinghy Locker @ Landfall, Laser Performance, Lightning Printing, West Marine, Zoum and McLaughlin. West Marine has loaned the regatta a safety boat and driver. Scoring is done on the water using DataJack.com.
The regatta runs through December 30th. For complete results, visit www.coralreefyachtclub.org.
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