Calling all Opti Teams as USA Nationals deadline nears
by Talbot Wilson 22 Mar 2018 13:24 PDT
20-22 July 2018
About 400 young Opti sailors are expected to race in the Optimist National Championships Fleet Racing July 15-18 © Talbot Wilson
The April 16 deadline for team registration for Pensacola's 2018 Optimist Team Race National Championship is less than a month away.
Pensacola Yacht Club will run up to two race circles with up to 12 teams per circle. The total number of teams cannot exceed 24. The first place USA team meeting the Team Race Eligibility requirements from the Gold Fleet will qualify to represent the USODA at the 31st Opti Team Cup Berlin in Germany, October 25-28, 2018.
Organizations planning to register one or more teams for the regatta need to register online by completing the official forms. Entries will not be accepted after midnight CDT, Monday, April 16. Racing is scheduled at Pensacola Yacht Club for July 20-22.
Team racing is the finale of a weeklong three-event USODA spectacular on Pensacola Bay, Florida. After check-in and measurement on July 13-14, the 2018 Optimist National Championship and Green Fleet racing is scheduled for July 15-18, the Optimist Girls Championship is July 19, and team racing wraps it up July 20-22.
While the team entry deadline is April 16, the names of the sailors for each individual team can be submitted as late as midnight CDT on July 5th. Final deadline for registration in the fleet race Optimist National Championship and the Optimist Girls National Championship is July 5th but at that date requires a $50 late fee.
For a team entry to be accepted, each team needs to complete the online registration forms and pay the registration fee. The registration fee is US$600 for a four-person team, and US$750 for a five-person team.
The 2018 Optimist Team Race National Championship is a four-boat against four-boat team race. For those teams having five competitors, any four may compete in a race. Each team is allowed one designated coach vessel per four or five person team.
According to the Notice of Race, the regatta format will include a Qualifying Round Robin stage of one or more round robins to determine a Gold Fleet that will race in a Gold Round-Robin stage comprised of one or more round robins.
Time permitting, this may be followed by a Knockout stage among the top ranked teams from the Gold Round-Robin stage. The racing format for teams that do not qualify for the Gold Fleet will be detailed in the Sailing Instructions.
In PYC's 2015 USODA Team Racing Championship, The Alpha course got off twelve races in an hour and fifteen minutes and the Bravo course got off eleven on a 'squall shortened' first day. The goal for day one was 78 races.
Team racing is a spectacular event for Pensacola Bay. In 2015, 26 teams entered, almost evenly divided between four sailors per team and five sailors per team. At that rate, the team race sailor count would be around 110. In each match, coaches select the best four sailors based on weather conditions and the competition.
Registration is now open online at www.usoda.org for the three-event 2018 Optimist Nationals scheduled for July 13-22 at Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC) in Northwest Florida. A separate Notice of Race for each of these three national events is also posted on the site.
The Notice of Race for the regatta and other details for entry are posted at usoda.org.