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The 2011 OptiWorlds were an outstanding event. It was truly an eye opener to see so many talented sailors from all corners of the world, and as many young ladies as there were (there were 4 young ladies in the Singapore team!).
The weather in the Hawkes Bay was great in the lead-up and certainly better than was endured elsewhere in the North Island over the Christmas and New Year periods. Regrettably there was also less breeze than was encountered in the north, so the regatta was
predominantly a light air regatta, with one medium airs day, and no heavy airs sailing. But the Hawkes bay swell was running most of the time. Overall the conditions were fair and challenging, but tended to favour the lighter sailors.
The regatta schedule involves 3 days fleet racing, then 2 days teams racing, a rest day and another 3 days fleet racing.
From the outset, it was clear than the Singapore sailors were likely to be to the fore they won all 3 flights in Race 1! From my vantage point on the committee boat it was clear that there was a lot of talent around and there was going to some great racing and
so it proved with sailors from many countries sharing the honours throughout the fleet racing over the first 3 days and 6 races.
The teams racing was an absolute highlight, with 2 days of 5-10 knots from the East being perfect to set up close to the shore. On the first day with 32 teams we had 2 courses running in an area smaller than the usual GBC race course and banged away 37 races on
each course to find the final 16 teams. Unfortunately the NZ lead were bundled out in 2 close finishes and went home early. The teams racing on finals day was superb with some outrageous skills, boat handling and team tactics being displayed. Teams from The Netherlands, USA,
Brazil, Thailand, Peru and Singapore won through to the finals. Ultimately it came down to the teams racing skills and tactics of Peru versus the extra speed and boat handling of the Singapore team. The best of 3 final went down to the wire and the Singapore team were the
victors.
After the rest day, it was back to fleet racing looking initially for the first discard and hopefully the completion of a full race schedule. With the end in sight, there was more pressure on the start lines and a number of India (I flag) and Black flag
penalties were incurred. The most significant was in Race 7 by Ryan Lo (SIN) who was leading the regatta at the time.
Day 8 (was it Saturday or Sunday who cares?) dawned wet and windy, and everyone was excited at the prospects of getting out on the bay. However the visibility was such that the CRO and PRO were concerned that they couldnt see the whole course and deemed it
unsafe for sailing until approx. 2pm, at which time the breeze had softened to 18-20 knots. The sailors revelled in the conditions with good breeze and big swells, and three races were banged away as the breeze dropped to 14-16 knots later in the afternoon. It was after 7pm when
the sailors got back to the dock but everyone was very pleased to have been out in a breeze.
The last day proved a disappointment. Despite needing only one race to enable sailors to discard a 2nd worst performance, the combination of light, unstable airs and a big tide (remember the North Island Champs?) saw two races start and then get blown up, and
then the 3pm cut-off on the last day saw an end to the regatta.
In the final results, the best sailors were to be fore Kimberley Lim (SIN) won the Pre-Worlds and carried her good speed and tactics through to win the Worlds and head off sailors from The Netherlands, Peru, Singapore, Chile, Malaysia, USA, Brazil, Brazil and
New Zealand what a spread of talent and countries!
On reflection, the OptiWorlds were a great regatta it was fantastic to see kids from around the world doing extraordinary things in their Optis!
NZIODA and Napier Sailing Club did a fantastic job organising and hosting the regatta. They deserve all the accolades heaped upon them from visitors from all around the world.
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The New Zealand team performances were:
Leonard Takashi-Fry 10th
Markus Somerville 19th
Isaac McHardie 46th
Nathaniel Deverell 85th
William McKenzie 101st
From my perspective, the Kiwis had good speed but were found wanting in the pressure of getting clean starts and picking the right first beat tactics. All the Kiwis enjoyed top ten finishes in some races but were carrying a high poor performance and their
overall positions suffered without the 2nd discard. Overall, the NZ team finished 5th= in the Miami Herald Trophy which is without doubt a meritorious performance.
To put the Kiwi performances in perspective, Hector Guzman (Mex) was 22nd and Alistair Young (AUS), the best Aussie, was 42nd
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