Optimist Semina Caixanova del Atlantico Vigo

Semina Caixanova del Atlantico Vigo © Alan Williams

Semina Caixanova del Atlantico Vigo © Alan Williams

Semina Caixanova del Atlantico Vigo © Alan Williams

Wild conditions for the GBR Optimist Team in Vigo

The 5 members of the GBR Optimist worlds team recently tested their skills against 230 sailors from 8 countries, including large numbers from host nation Spain and Portugal, in the autumn international in Vigo on Spain’s north west coast.

After a couple of days of practice in light winds, day one of racing on Saturday saw epic conditions with a south westerly wind at 18-30 knots and mountainous seas funneling into the large estuary. Many sailors struggled to get downwind and it was even pretty scary in a RIB with waves breaking into the RIB on a regular basis.

The fleet was split into flights and in race 1a Scott Wallis, fresh from 4th place in Bermuda a few weeks ago port tacked the fleet and was only overtaken by Spanish sailing legend Spain’s ‘The Tank’ Carlos Robles who took the bullet from Scott in Second. Matt Whitfield had been in the top 10 at the leeward mark only to wipe out on a monster breaking wave just before the finish. In race 1b, Arran Holman arrived at the windward second and immediately nosedived, he was followed by Josh Voller and Oliver Grogono who had great races finishing 5th and 8th in worsening conditions.

In race 2a, the wind increased and the waves were more violent. Carlos Robles again dominated the race this time by a huge margin as he reveled in the conditions. Grogono finished 9th and Holman finished a great 8th. The wind was getting even stronger for race 2b, and this took its toll in the fleet which was rapidly diminishing in size. Scott Wallis finished 5th with Josh Voller in 8th. Matt Whitfield who had been in about 5th place, death rolled on the run and failed to bail his boat so reluctantly retired from the proceedings. The race officer decided enough was enough so the fleet retreated back to the safety of the marina. Overnight Scott was 2nd overall, Josh, 8th and Oliver 12th.

Sunday saw even wilder conditions and torrential rain so racing was eventually abandoned by mid-afternoon.

Monday dawned almost sunny, and after launching just after sun up and a long wait afloat in no wind, eventually a fitful breeze from the North appeared coming across the estuary. The racing got underway with the windward mark not far from a small hill with a valley on either side which saw some fairly large shifts. Matt Whitfield after the disappointment of sinking in conditions he normally revels in excelled in the 5-10 knots of breeze and scored 2 and 6, Matt led the first race of the day for over 30 minutes to be snook past by one of Spain’s top sailors on the final windward leg to the finish. Scott had a more challenging day trying to defend his 2nd place and perhaps was caught out by sailing too much up the middle when he needed to be more adventurous. Scott scored 8 and 16. Arran Holman scored 7 and 22 [ after getting the wrong side of a shift], Josh Voller struggled with boats speed scoring 32 and 48 and Oliver Grogono continued being ‘mr average’ scoring a 9 and 10 to end up with one of the lowest point scores of the event.

Overall it was a promising event with some good scores a little more consistency could have seen all 5 in the top 10, with Scott just 4 points off second place.

Overall Results:

1st Carlos Robles, Spain
2nd Diogo Pereira, Portugal
3rd Silvia Mas, Spain
GBR results:
6th Scott Wallis
10th Oliver Grogono
18th Arran Holman
27th Josh Voller
34th Matt Whitfield

Next up is the Oppy Worlds in Malaysia at Xmas which will see the top 250 sailors from over 50 countries battling it out to become the world champion.