Sailing: Day #2 Orange Bowl
The Biscayne Bay winds got lighter and the competition heated up for day two, the half way point, of the Orange Bowl International Youth Sailing Regatta in Miami. The day started off with 12-15 knot breezes from the NNW, but gradually shifted NNE and dropped in pressure as the day progressed under sunny and cloudless skies.
The mutiple Coral Reef Yacht Club Race Committees were successful with completing 4 to 5 races for the 559 sailors competing in 483 boats which was their goal. On the Laser Radial course Kalin Hillier overtook Owen Siese as the top Bermudian. Hillier moved himself up to 11th place with three top ten finishes yesterday.
Owen Siese dropped slightly to 16th as sailors reached the requisite number of races in order to drop their worst score. Mackenzie Cooper moved up to 28th position. Puerto Rico’s “Juanky” Perdomo is leading the 99 boat Laser Radial fleet by 11 points.
Photo of Matilda Nicholls by Zizi Staniul:
Ellie and Wollmann and Hannah Horsfield slipped in the standings to 58th place in the 76 boat Club 420 fleet. Only 5 points are separating the top three teams. Alex Curtiss and Daniel Ron from Illinois are battling Maine’s Charlie Lalumiere and Elizabeth Pemberton with Miami’s Axel Sly and JP Silvestri close behind.
The Opti Course saw a number of Blag Flag penalties and the Bermuda sailors were not immune. Blag Flag penalties are given to sailors who are over the starting line within 1 minute of the starting gun and are designed to keep large fleets from starting early and causing multiple re-starts. The large 100 boat starting lines are challenging for many sailors, especially the Bermudians who sail mainly in smaller fleets.
Luckily they now have completed 7 races which allows sailors to drop their worst score. Chase Cooper moved up to 51st place after dropping his Blag Flag penalty and was sailing well yesterday with an 11th as his best race. Matilda Nichools also sailed well and moved up to 98th and sits in 4th place in her age group (White Fleet).
Yannick Hillier dropped slightly to 126th and is in 11th place in the White Fleet. Mikey Wollmann copped 2 Blag Flag penalties yesterday and is only able to drop one of them, falling to 146th place. 2011 Bermuda Open Champion Will Lougue is still leading the 206 Optimist sailors in a very close battle for the podium.
Racing continues today and Friday. Full results available here.
