LISOT's Reinier Eenkema van Dijk Takes 9th at Orange Bowl!

Continuing a tradition spanning more than 50 years, the annual Orange Bowl Regatta was held at Coral Reef YC in Coconut Grove, Florida from December 27th through December 30^th. This year's event was the largest on record with over 700 sailors in the Opti, 420 and Laser classes.

Most LISOT sailors arrived on Christmas Day and were greeted with 80+ degree temperatures, sunny skies and a 10-15 knot sea breeze.

After finding their charter boats and unpacking gear, head coach Trevor Moore and Jeff Bonanni ran an afternoon practice on December 26 in nice breezy conditions.

The first day of the regatta again saw temps near 80 and a solid 12-15 knot breeze with moderate chop. The race committee ran three races by 4pm, as the regatta was scheduled for four days.

With a 219 boat fleet representing 23 countries, racing was very competitive. Sailors were very aggressive on the starting line necessitating the RC to make liberal use of the black flag in most races. LISOT sailors had a mixed day - some had good races and some earned one or more black flags - making overall scores quite diverse after Day 1.

With black flag scores and the forecast for lighter breezes, sailors eagarly looked forward to a drop after the sixth race, which they fortunately got after day 2. Day 3 held to the forecast, and was very light with only one race being completed as the afternoon breeze died. The race committee worked hard on the final day and was a ble to get off two races before the 1pm deadline, making it a a nine race series with one drop.

Conditions on the last day were the most challenging, with some big position changes. The race committee did a great job getting the starts off, and then shortening the course at the leeward gate.

As had become a LISOT tradition, we had a large team dinner in The Grove which was attended by well over 100 LISOT opti, 420 and laser sailors (and our friends from the Bermuda team) - all who had a fun watching the Miami vs. Jets game and enjoying the mexican food at Senor Frogs.

Reinier was the top LISOT sailor finishing 9^th - noteworthy as only four US sailors finished in the top 10!

LISOT finishers:

9 - Reinier Eenkema Van Dijk

20 - Gary Prieto

40 - Roger Dorr

42 - Sam Stan

43 - Andrew Puopolo

50 - Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick

58 - Lily Katz

66 - Adele Whitmyer

80 - Hannah Morrill

85 - Casey Klingler

118 - Jack Budill

130 - Jared Gaynes

139 - Ian Crane

152 - Zachary Blumenthal

161 - Matthew Mollerus

186 - Chrissie Klingler

Sean Walsh finished 26th in the green fleet.

Thanks to LISOT correspondents Roger Dorr and Merrill Ulmer who helped with this story.