Optimist US National Championship at Pensacola Yacht Club - Day 2
by Troy Gilbert with Talbot Wilson 16 Jul 2018 20:02 PDT
15-18 July 2018
Ian Lent (22237) of Easton CT heads upwind after rounding the leeward mark. He's the right-of-way Opti amid his competition still on their downwind leg in the 2018 Optimist National Championship sailed out of Pensacola Yacht Club © Talbot Wilson
AP flew over Alpha Monday afternoon telling the young fleet of Opti sailors that racing was postponed for Monday. But the party went on.
Monday, the 2018 USODA National Championship sailors arrived at Pensacola Yacht Club early, ready to sail after a 4-set day on Sunday. But the weather didn't cooperate. The race committee, led by Hal Smith PYC Fleet Captain and fleet racing Principal Race Officer (PRO), first hoisted the AP flag announcing a general postponement at 9:30am due to lack of steady winds barely approaching the 4 knot minimum.
Regatta Chairman Tom Pace, Jr. said, "The challenge was that if we could just squeeze one more set in now, then we could divide the whole fleet into the Gold and Silver fleets, but they can only do that after we have a total of five sets completed. The problem is that we have stormy weather coming in with lightning and rain."
"Two storm cells are about to merge and we have the sea breeze fighting this local system, so we have a north and south wind struggle. Out in the bay there simply isn't enough steady wind and it's doing fifty degree shifts from 80º to 130º. You cannot set a fair race course in this breeze. And safety of our young sailors in event of lightning has to be a primary concern."
At noon, Green Fleet Chairman Bert Rice Jr. postponed all of the day's racing for the novice sailors. The championship fleet's PRO officially postponed the races for today at 1:20pm.
The official 2018 Optimist National Championship dinner scheduled for 'After Racing' was held at 3:30PM at Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC). Sailors, families, and coaches will then be free to enjoy historic Pensacola, founded in 1559, or maybe take a stroll on Pensacola's famous white sand beach.
Everyone enjoyed a Mexican buffet, the door prize drawing for one of about thirty prizes— you had to be present to win— and a chance to win one of 10 duffles, backpacks and other prizes from Sailor Bags, a Trek bicycle from Trek Bikes of /Mobile/Pensacola and a Tag Heuer Men's Chronograph watch donated by Jeweler's Trade of Pensacola.
Then it was time to rest, re-hydrate and come back to PYC Tuesday morning fresh and focused for another try at completing that elusive fifth set.
Sunday the fleet got in four sets... groups of scored races in which all divisions competed. Then, after the race day on which the fifth set is sailed, the championship group will be divided into Gold and Silver Fleets. The top 33% will reach Gold and sail in a single division for the regatta's top prize. The remainder will sail in the Silver Fleet in two divisions.
The 2018 Optimist National Championship is also a 2019 USODA Team Trials Qualifying event. The top 50% of Championship Fleet's team trial eligible competitors based on the final results and using the total number of boats registered in both the Championship and Green Fleets, may receive invitations to compete in the 2019 USODA Optimist Team Trials.
After the four sets of races that were completed Sunday, Stephan Baker of Miami leads all sailors with 8 points (1,4,2,1). Malthe Ebdrup of Denmark is second with 9 points (3, 3, 1, 2) and Peter Foley of Coconut Grove FL is third with 18 points (2, 14, 1, 1). Samara Walsh, the top girl so far, is in fourth with 21 points (10,7,2,2). Pensacola sailor Gil Hackel is the top local standing in 13th place. Full results are posted at www.usoda.org.
Racing in the four-day Optimist Nationals continues Tuesday and Wednesday. The 2018 Optimist Girls National Championship will be sailed Thursday July 19 and the 2018 Optimist Team Race National Championship will run Friday through Sunday.