Optimist World Championships, Day 3 update from Dominican Republic

by John Adair on 20 Jul 2012
Seven to eight knots of wind was promised along with rain and thunder at some point throughout Day 3 of the World International Optimist Class Championships.

The first flight (Yellow) left the beach at 10.30am for the forty-five minute tow out to the course, later joined by the other three flights (Blue, Red, Green) in succession. The wind showed some early promise whilst everyone hoped for clean starts and quick races. Unfortunately the first three flights suffered from general recalls with the race officer going straight his black flag in each flight to stop the nonsense. With twelve starts to get away after a noon start for the first flight, there never seemed the necessary sense of urgency given we had no racing the previous day.

The system of four flights has caused something of a controversy this year as it means it’s entirely possible for a team to be in the same flight. This almost happened today with four of the five New Zealand team being assigned to the Red flight to race against each other today. Not a great method and certainly not good for the New Zealand sailors’ points.

The large course in the ever-lightening breeze with considerable chop and some swell made for tough racing conditions. The breeze started to swing left whilst all four flights were racing such that the reach became more of a downwind and the final upwind leg was a straight beat to the finish after rounding the gate.

A mixed bag of results for the Kiwi sailors with William McKenzie (NZL4413) turning in a safe 11th place, closely followed by Tim Adair (NZL4429) in 14th, and Cameron Moss in 21st place.

After three days of racing and only three races completed, McKenzie is the highest placed Kiwi in 20th place overall, just ten points behind fourth place. The top three spaces are currently occupied by three of the Singapore team. There’s a long way to go though with one drop to kick in after five races have been completed.

Day four of racing continues tomorrow at the earlier starting time of 10.30am. We pray for wind, and lots of it, with no rain. You can follow the race tracking live or on replay here... http://www.optiworld.org/MiniSite/12Worlds/index.php [Sorry, this link had a problem]!website

John Adair protects his gear at the OptiWorlds with Lowepro from TA Macalister