A longday at the Orange Bowl where the competition tightened up

by Connie Bischoff on 30 Dec 2009 Biscayne Bay was definitely the center of Miami's action between the competing Orange Bowl boats, many coach boats and spectators and recreational boats (motor and sail) streaming down the Intercoastal.

A foiling international Moth sailboat and a Viper were flying through the fleet making all the sailors drool. As the Orange Bowl boats sailed in after a long day, the sun was setting and a full Miami moon was already up in the sky. There was also a display of Atlantic bottlenose Dolphins performing in the midst of the 420 fleet.

Hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club, the competition tightened up in all the classes. Two Peruvians rose to number one and two in the 223 boat Optimist Red/Blue/White class, with Javier Arribas in first and 2009 Optimist World Champion Sinclair Jones in 2nd place. The Williford brothers from Ft. Lauderdale are holding on to the 3rd and 4th spots. In the Optimist Green Fleet, the top sailors are Sam Baker from Tavernier, Florida followed by Geronimo Nores and Sebastian Clark, both from Miami. The Laser leader in the 4.7 Class is Maximilian Stein from Germany. St. Petersburg, Florida's Mateo Vargas is winning Laser Radials. Andrew Fox of Ft. Lauderdale has moved ahead in the Laser Full-Rig Class. The girls are still winning the International 420 class with Morgan Kiss from Michigan and Rhode Islander Katia DaSilva in first place. In the 420 class, a new team is on top. Graham Landy from Norfolk, VA and Colin Murphy from New York City have teamed up to take first place.

Tonight is the famous Orange Bowl Giveaway where every sailor goes home with a donated sailing item. In addition, there is a raffle with great prizes including a Performance Opti Vapor made in the USA, a Zoum Opti Racer with donated T-4 Mainsail designed by North Sail Japan, two 1-year memberships to Just Sail donated by Sail Laser Miami (you can sail a Laser Dingy every day all year), a 14 K gold Orange Bowl charm donated by Miami Opti Moms, a Quantum sail plus many more items. Coral Reef Yacht Club Commodore Mark Kamilar will again act as MC for the Giveaway and Raffle. He claims that the sailors cheer so loudly that they are even heard on Fisher Island and in South Beach.

The Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta is hosted by Miami's Coral Reef Yacht Club (CRYC) and 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 Boats. West Marine has loaned the regatta a safety boat and driver. Scoring is done on the water using DataJack.com's wireless Internet service. The regatta runs through December 30th.

For complete results, visit www.coralreefyachtclub.org.