Volvo Gill Optimist Spring Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club
by Tim Sewell 9 Apr 2014 12:52 BST
29-30 March 2014
Volvo Gill Optimist Spring Championships at Torbay © Peter Newton /
www.peternewton.zenfolio.com
Sunshine and smiles were in abundance at the first major International Optimist Class Association event of the year, the Volvo Gill Optimist Spring Championships, hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club on 29/30 March 2014.
At the end of the two day, six race regatta, it was National Squad sailor, William Heathcote, who had the biggest smile with a convincing championship winning performance finishing on a total of 21 points ahead of Rhys Lewis in second place on 23 points and top girl, Hatty Morsley, in third on 27 points.
The Championships certainly lived up to its name with perfect Spring conditions for the 165 strong fleet. On Saturday the forecasted strong wind never really materialised but the first two races of the day were sailed in a good breeze to create some great close racing. For the third race the south easterly breeze started to die away making conditions tricky in the big swell in Torbay.
The sailors had to work hard to keep their concentration and boats moving in the testing conditions in which the sailors reported that, not only did the wind appear and disappear in and out of the wave peaks and troughs, but so did their rivals. The big swell combined with small Optimists resulted in a few sailors looking at little green around the edges by the end of the first day but for most it had been an excellent day on the water. With two firsts and a discarded second it was Rhys Lewis who ended the first day in top spot with two points closely followed by Vita Heathcote in second and William Heathcote in third.
Sunday brought with it much lighter winds and much calmer conditions for the fleet split into gold and silver divisions. Despite the lighter winds and a number of general recalls across both fleets the race officers did a great job to get three races in on time. The light and shifty conditions meant it was another day for keeping alert and focussed on keeping the boats moving and one that suited the lighter weight sailors.
In the gold fleet William Heathcote piled on the pressure with a 2nd and 4th in the first two races to edge ahead of Rhys Lewis. Despite getting a 4th in the last race, this wasn't quite enough for Rhys and William Heathcote took the Championships victory by a two point margin.
Also competing at the event was a strong team from France made up of sailors from their Worlds and European teams. Despite putting in a strong performance with three sailors in the top ten it was British sailors who came out on top with William Heathcote, Rhys Lewis, Hatty Morsley, Julia Mellers and Benno Marstaller taking the first five places.
In the silver fleet Toby Schonrock took first place with Abby Childerley in second and Nicklas Host-Verbraak in third.
The Volvo Gill Optimist Spring Championships was the first time Torquay and the Royal Torbay Yacht Club has hosted and an optimist event for many years and they did an excellent job, along with Torbay Council, in providing on-shore logistics and on water support. The sight of 165 optimist sailors going in and out of the harbour certainly proved to be a popular extra spectacle for the families out enjoying the Mother's Day sunshine on the English Rivera.