Sailing: Bermuda Teens Competing In California
Team Bermuda started day one of the five day IODA North American Championships today with the first 3 races completed.
The event commonly known as “Optinam” is being hosted by the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club in San Pedro, California just south of Los Angeles next to the Port of LA.
Pictured below, left to right: Michael Barit, Chase Cooper, Rory Caslin, Sam Stan, Zizi Staniul [back], and in the front are Sue Stan [Country Rep] and Somers Cooper [Team Leader].
Bermuda National Champion Sam Stan leads the Bermuda pack in 22nd place in the 187 boat fleet after scoring a 24, 2,14 in the three races. Michael Barit is in 50th after improving each race with a 31, 20 and 9. Rory Caslin is listed as in 120th but was scored DNF in the last race which is incorrect. He was 22nd and 29th in the first 2 races.
Chase Cooper struggled in the windy conditions and was unable to finish the last race while scoring a 55 and 58 in the first two. The sailors saw the wind build to 18 knots, sometimes as high as 20 knots from the west which is common when the morning starts out clear. Three more races are scheduled for Saturday. The leader of the regatta is Peter Janezic from Slovenia followed by William Marshall from the USA and Alberto Lados from Uruguay.
There are 187 sailors from 21 different countries. Bermuda’s team from the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) consists of Sam Stan, Rory Caslin, Chase Cooper and Michael Barit. They are coached by Zizi Staniul and are accompanied by country rep Sue Stan and Team Leader Somers Cooper. The team was on site training for 4 days prior to the event.
You can follow Team Bermuda’s progress on their blog Bodasailing.blogspot.com.
