Optimist US National Championships at Pensacola - Day 1
by Talbot Wilson 24 Jul 2015 10:28 BST
23-26 July 2015
The scheduled start time for the first race of the 4-day 2015 USODA National Championship hosted by Pensacola Yacht Club was postponed for an hour or so with a delay ashore. Early wind then settled in and the course was set.
The first group, the Pink Flight— 93 of the 279 championship competitors— tried to start. All the boats were bunched up at the pin end of the starting line because the wind had shifted left favouring that end. Dozens of the Optis were over the line early forcing a General Recall,
Because the wind had shifted, Principal Race Officer (PRO) Ron Hopkins ordered the pin boat to drop back to change the angle of the starting line relative to the wind. This scenario played out five times till the PRO thought he has hit the last shift.
At this time the black flag was hoisted and that meant that any boat over the starting line at one minute before the start would be 'black flagged' and dismissed from that race. The 'over earlies' came on in spades. 22 boats got the flag and were dismissed from the first race for that group. And that start was a general recall, too.
Some people said that outgoing tidal currents played a part in pushing the bloats over early. However, Race Chairman Jim Baus said, "An outgoing tide played a role in the recalls, but not much with the good wind velocity on the bay today. The sailors were just being overly aggressive in this first championship race of the regatta."
Before the next start the sea breeze filled in with a quick, 40º shift to the south and a velocity increase from 7 knots to 15 knots. After a total course reconfiguration, that much delayed 'Pink' race finally got off to a clean start, still under a black flag.
The first Pink Flight that had so much trouble starting became a fast blast around the course. Bermudian Tayte Stefaniuk of Smith's Bermuda took that first race of the USODA National Championship. The Lavender boats started next and Yellow boats followed in good order.
The top three of combined preliminary results of three flights for each group saw Tayte Stefaniuk of Bermuda's Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club LOOT in first with scores of 1-1-2 and 4 points. Second is Luke Arnone of Mantoloking Yacht Club CERT at 2-2-1 and 5 points. Third is Brice Tone of Sarasota Yacht Club with 2-5-3 and 10 points.
Complete updated preliminary results, subject to protests and penalty adjustments are available at www.usoda2015nationals
These first races with the fleet divided into thirds decide who will move in the the Gold Fleet for the Medal Round and who will go into the Silver Fleet. The top 33% after five races are completed or at the end of racing Friday if they complete more than five will go into the Gold Medal Round. The rest will go into the Silver Fleet.
Three events in one
Racing started with the three-day USODA Team Race National Championship through July 21. The second event, the day-long USODA Girls National Championship, followed on Wednesday July 22 and the big wrap-up is the four-day USODA National Championship sailed July 23-26.