Optimist World Championships Overall

by Editor 30 Jul 2000 09:24 BST

Sime Fantela from Zadar, Croatia is the millennium Optimist world champion.

As the day started the situation was complex. If the two possible races were sailed then Sime could discard a 10th and would have been in a strong position. But, with a 1430 cutoff time this was never likely and without that discard he had a real battle with Lucas Calabrese (ARG). As it turned out the second race would have been almost academic. Sime led from the start and finished at least eight boat-lengths ahead of the fleet, while Lucas could "only" manage a 10th.

14 year-old Sime has already had a distinguished Optimist career. Bronze medallist in 1998, his 1999 Worlds was disappointing with OCSs and DSQs pushing him down to 12th. This year he made no mistake.

Croatia, or more accurately the beautiful Dalmatian coastline, has bee one of the most progressive areas of the Optimist world with medallists in four of the last five years. Following the Optimist their sailors have been equally successful in the Laser Radial (e.g. Aron Lolic) which is the boat Sime intends to sail next.

South American champion Lucas Calabrese was a worthy opponent. From Olivos Y.C., Buenos Aires, he, like Sime, has one year left in the class and will be looking forward to a renewed battle in China next year. Italy, champions for the last three years, provided bronze and fourth.

Overall Results:

Pos Sail No Helmsman R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 Pts 1 CRO 761 SIME FANTELA 4 1 4 10 10 4 2 5 1 1 32 2 ARG 2739 LUCAS DAMIAN CALABRESE 2 3 24 2 3 4 4 4 3 10 35 3 ITA 5584 JARO FURLANI 6 2 10 5 42 7 1 7 4 12 54 4 ITA 5461 FABIO ZENI 36 21 6 6 11 3 3 3 11 3 67 5 CRO 785 IGOR MARENIC 53 6 7 7 11 18 21 5 5 7 87 6 SWE 3739 ANTON DAHLBERG 6 7 15 13 23 2 1 3 45 24 94 7 BEL 1003 CORENTIN DEMANET 4 12 68 18 4 8 20 21 2 5 94 8 BEL 983 BASTIEN MEUR 13 5 5 4 16 13 15 18 11 16 98 9 BRA 3050 THOMAS SUMMER 18 5 8 3 58 5 35 9 1 17 101 10 FIN 267 MATTI HAAPIAINEN 12 8 19 9 22 6 12 10 20 6 102 British Placings in the Top 100: 30 GBR 4791 THOMAS MALLINDINE 4 12 5 3 40 33 OCS 13 25 24 159 38 GBR 4789 TIM BOYDELL 27 7 47 8 18 33 27 OCS 9 7 183 43 GBR 4790 TOM SMEDLEY 27 16 13 27 13 17 38 OCS 19 27 197 77 GBR 4793 JONATHAN FRASER 18 40 31 47 14 42 18 27 14 42 246 93 GBR 4861 NIC THOMPSON 49 20 29 31 37 41 29 56 38 2 276

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com Optimist Page
• World Championship Reports
• World Championship Results