Sailing: Tom Coleman Green Fleet Clinic
It was a busy day on the water last weekend for Bermuda’s Youth sailors with almost 40 sailors of various skill levels racing on Sunday.
The Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) organized another Tom Coleman Green Fleet Clinic sponsored by Riihiluoma’s Flying Colours hosted at the RHADC.
Green fleet guru Coleman comes to Bermuda a couple times a year introducing novice racers to the rules and techniques required to join BODA’s Silver and Gold fleets. The fun approach allows sailors to get over their fear of racing in tight proximity of other boats and gives them the skills needed to handle themselves on the racecourse.
Despite the chellenging winds which sometimes gusted to as much as 25kts as various rain clouds made their way across Hamilton Harbour, the sailors all enjoyed a fabulous weekend. The racing on both days was dominated by 2 sailors, with 12 year old Thomas Penruddocke (RBYC) winning the series of 13 races by a narrow margin of 3 points over Flo Nicholls (8) also from RBYC.
Shea Darril (12, RBYC) was thrilled to finish the racing series in 5th place, he gave out a loud “wahooooooo” as he saw his result.But the real winners were all of the sailors who participated in the clinic, BODA Sailor Development Executive Ben Nicholls said “it is wonderful to see the next generation of Optimist sailors enjoying themselves so much. We are very grateful to Jay Riihiluoma and Flying Colours’ generous sponsorship who enabled this all to happen.
Tom Coleman congratulated the Bermuda sailors on their efforts over the weekend and made a special mention of Christian Oatley (12, RHADC) and Grace Arrowsmith (8, RHADC) who worked so hard at improving their skills over the weekend. Tom presented Aiden Young (13, RBYC) with a special award for his excellent sportsmanship and good manners on the water.
He also gave particular praise to Tre (12) & Taj (10) Maxwell and Malik Salassie (8) from West End SBC who put in 100% effort over the weekend, “it is through trying hard that you sailors will continue on your path to becomming better and following the rich heritage of Bermudian sailors. The youth of Bermuda are blessed with wonderful sailing conditions and the Optimist is the perfect boat for them to learn to sail. Junior Sailing in Bermuda is enjoying a significant resurgence at the moment.”
Meanwhile out in the Great Sound, 16 Silver and Gold fleet sailors raced in near perfect conditions of 14 – 18 knots as part of BODA’s Spring Series. The winners for the day were in the Gold Fleet were Sam Stan, Rory Caslin and Antonio Bailey in Gold Fleet and Benn Smith, Campbell Patton and Kieran Swan in the Silver Fleet.
The Spring Series standings now show Stan leading the Gold Fleet followed by Bailey and Caslin while in the Silver fleet the current leader is Smith followed by Swan and Patton. Two more race days remain in the series with the next race day June 12th.
Photo attached of Tom Coleman and his Green Fleet Clinic attendees.
