2018 Optimist US Team Race National Championship at Pensacola Yacht Club - Overall
by Troy Gilbert 23 Jul 2018 03:38 UTC
20-22 July 2018
With a Southwesterly settling in at 10-15 knots, races were hard fought again on the final day. In the finals Lauderdale Yacht Club (90's) defeated Long Island Sound 3-2 to take the top prize and earn an invitation to Germany for racing in October © Talbot Wilson
"We just stayed relaxed and tried not to get worked up." Still in his white pinnie and hosing down his Opti, Connor Boland and his teammates Sara Schumann, Laura Hamilton, Jack Redmond and Lucy Meagher of Lauderdale Yacht Club pulled in the 3-2 victory in the 2018 USODA Team Racing National Championship. After three hard days of tough sailing against 23 other teams in varying conditions that threw everything at them, their overall victory came down to the absolute final race of the day against Team Long Island Optimist Sailing Team, LISOT Black.
Since LYC won and is the reigning champion of the 2017 Opti Team Cup, both the first and second place teams are invited to the 30th Opti Team Cup in Berlin this October.
Having sailed with his team for about two years including having won the Nationals with Sara Schumann in 2017, Boland adds, "It just came down to the basics, who sailed the better race."
Team Race National Championship Principal Race Officer (PRO) Dwight LeBlanc states, "These final two teams were really mixing it up and they were very close races. For Lauderdale YC, it came down to them getting off the line clean. If they won the start, they ended up controlling the race. It was a very, very tight series and the skill level for the top end of this fleet and the age of these kids is extraordinary. They know the plays, they know the moves, they know the winning combinations and they sail well – that's the full package."
Weather for today's racing posed a big challenge for the Race Committee with the wind shifting between 50 degrees for most of the day until Pensacola Bay's reliable sea breeze powered up around 1:00pm and then the on-the-water battles went into full gear as a light chop built.
Resembling an assembly line producing sailing victories, the young sailors would work on strategies as they moved into the starting sequence and then sail hard in each six-minute race. As they eased over and sailed to their holding area after finishing, the teams would huddle and debrief each other. With as many as three match ups underway at any given time it was loop of - Strategize. Battle. Debrief. Repeat.
As the 2018 USODA National Championships come to a close on Pensacola Bay, over 283 young sailors have given their all over eight days to settle the Overall, Girls and Team Racing National Champions. The expansive grounds of Pensacola Yacht Club are about to go quiet after the frenetic energy of this monster sailing event and Pensacola Bay will return to the pelicans and dolphins, but these young sailors go home with heightened skills, new friendships and memories that will follow them for their lifetimes.
In the National Championship Race sailed on July 14th– 18th, Stephan Baker of Miami led all sailors with 9 points (1,(4),2,1,3,1,1). Maithe Ebdrup of Denmark was second with 12 points (3,3,1,2,1,2,87/BFD) and Cort Snyder grabbed 3rd with 18 points (4,(10/SCP),3,4,1,2,4). Top girl was Laura Hamilton with 27 points (2,15,1,5,2,2,(17)).
Samara Walshe of New York won the 2018 Girls National Championship on Thursday leading all sailors with 9 points (2,2,5). Sara Schumann of Ft Lauderdale was second with 14 points (1,11,2) and Emory Friend of New Orleans grabbed 3rd with 21 points (4,4,13).
For more information and complete results visit www.usoda.org