Optimist Sailing Day #1: Bermuda Team Results

The 2013 Optimist North American Championship 2013 got underway on Friday [July 5] with 176 young sailors from around the world taking to Bermuda’s waters.

USA, Argentina and Bermuda occupy the top five positions at the 2013 IODA North American Championships after 3 races were completed on Friday.

American Shawn Harvey sits on top of the podium after finishing 1, 1, 6 for the day while Argentine Dante Cittadini is second, tied on 8 points with finishes of 4, 1, 3.

Harvey’s two “bullets” versus Cittadini’s one, break the tie. 3 points back is the USA’s Ripley Shelley (1, 1, 9) followed closely by Bermuda’s Chase Cooper (7, 3, 2). The championship’s top female, Martina Pisani (1, 8, 6) from Argentina, completes the top five in the tightly packed group.

Rounding out the top ten is Argintine female Luiza Cruz (2, 12, 5), Chile’s Dante Parodi (11, 5 , 3), Japan’s Kogiso Ryo (16, 2, 2), Singapore’s Shyn Ee Phuaa (6, 6, 9) and the USA’s Luke Arnone.

Ideal “Bermuda Chamber of Commerce” conditions – sunny skies and northerly winds from 10 – 16 knots made it a sailor’s (and photographer’s) dream and allowed officials to easily execute the 3 scheduled races with only one major wind shift after Race 1, which required some time time for course alterations.

The 177 sailors are divided into three color coded “flights” or groups of approximately 60 boats each, in order to properly manage a fair start with such a large fleet, a Bermuda record. Three completed “flights” result in a completed single race. Other sailors recording “bullets” in their respective flights on Friday include Bermuda’s Ceci Wollmann (11th overall), Singapore’s Isaac Tang and Bermuda’s Joe Arrowsmith.

Team Bermuda’s highlights for the Day 1 included Chase Cooper’s three top ten finishes, Ceci Wollmann’s “bullet” in race 3 of her flight and Joe Arrowsmith’s “bullet” in race 3 of his flight. This is Arrowsmith’s first IODA event. Race 2 for the day saw some of Team Bermuda’s less experienced sailors shine as Yannick Hillier had a standout 16th place and Tayte Stefaniuk had a 19. In Race 3 there was even more with Alice Reeves finishing 10th, Michah Thomas Raynor finishing 11th and Tre Maxwell finishing 16th.

Bermuda has a full team competing, with Ceci Wollmann currently in 11th place overall with 26 points, Campbell Patton in 52nd place with 65 points, and Joe Arrowsmith holds down the 55th spot with 67 points.

Peter Dill is in 57th place with 69 points, Tre Maxwell is in 75th place with 78 points, while holding down the 80 place spot is Alice Reeves with 82 points.

Micah Thomas-Raynor is in 90th place with 88 points, Tayte Stefaniuk is in 91st with 89 points, George Buckley is in 105th place with 100 points, while Jordan Etemadi is in 123rd place with 111 points.

Yannick Hillier finished 131st with 119 points, while Camille Chin-Gurret is in 133rd with 120 points, Felix Cutler is in 137th place with 123 points, and Adriana Penruddocke is in 138th with 124 points.

Matilda Nicholls is in 139th with 124 points, Benn Smith currently holds down the 151st spot with 138 points, Sammy Dill has 139 points and is in 153rd place, Mickey Wollmann is in 157th place with 149 points, while Thomas Penruddocke is in 160th place 2with 152 points.

You can view the full preliminary results of all sailors here. Racing continues on Saturday in the Great Sound.

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