2010 Opti NA's Report after 2 days of racing

LISOT's Harry Koeppel (USA 17071 - Larchmont YC) sits in 4th place overall after and 6 races (1 discard) over 2 days of racing at the 2010 IODA North American Championship in CORK, Canada.

Harry (Photo right, by Dave Hein) checks in with 28 points and is tied with Team USA teammate Duncan Williford (Lauderdale YC) for 3rd in the 196 boat fleet.

Harry and Duncan (who are both on the TeamUSA World Team) are a mere 2 points ahead of their friend, Bermudian Sam Stan, in 5th, who has sailed with LISOT over the years.

Defending NAs champion and Team USA World Team member Christopher Williford sits atop the leader board with a mere 11 points, including bullets in races 5 and 6.

Conditions have been varied between light air on day 1 to a solid 15-20+ knots on Day 2.

The other LISOT sailors competing at the NAs are:

27th - Will Logue (Riverside YC)

28th - Jack Parkin (Riverside YC)

38th - Reinier Eenkema van Dijk (Larchmont YC)

46 th - Ty Ingram (Larchmont YC)

96th - Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Geneva YC)

Tomorrow is Team Racing, after which fleet racing picks up again on Friday (Thursday is a layday).

Team USA, with LISOT's own Pepe Bettini as co-head coach, currently has 7 sailors in the top 10, including Ali Toppa as top girl.

Go LISOT. Go Team USA.

LISOT Opti Sailors Competing Around The World

The summer is off to a busy start and so are LISOT Opti's at the big international regattas in the next few weeks.

Below are the early summer events, our sailors attending and the websites, blogs and Facebook pages for easy reference.

New this year - track all the action, live, at the NA's and Europeans. Click here for all the details!

IODA North American's

June 26-July4, 2010

CORK, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Official Website

Team USA blog

• Reinier Eenkema van Dijk
• Ty Ingram
• Harry Koeppel
• Malcolm Lamphere
• Will Logue
• Jack Parkin

IODA Europeans

July 2-10, 2010

Kamien-Pomorski, Poland

Official Website

Team USA facebook page

• Drew Gallagher
• Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick

Flanders Youth Regatta

July 3-7, 2010

Nieuwpoort, Belgium

Official website

• Jared Gaynes
• Matt Kaplan
• Kate van Loveren

British Nationals

July 24-31, 2010

Weymouth, England

Official Website

• Russell Clarida
• Florian Eenkema van Dijk
• Sean Walsh

Ya Mon, LISOT Opti's Enjoy Some Island Hospitality.

Nine very happy LISOT opti sailors flew down for a week of sailing in beautiful St. Thomas, USVI's at the 18th annual Scotiabank Optimist Regatta hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club in picturesque Cowpet Bay.

Competition was strong with 11counties represented amongst the 90 sailors, including some of the top sailors from the US (including 3 on the US World team - Harry Koeppel, Christopher and Duncan Williford).

The week consisted of a 3-day clinic, a day of team racing, and a 3-day regatta to end the week of fun in the sun. This year was the largest contingent of LISOT sailors in recent memory, lead by head coach Pepe.

The weather was typically terrific for the first half of the week - with 15-20 knot easterly trade winds and some nice big waves for surfing. The sailors had a great time at the clinic and a very competitive day of team racing.

The regatta got a nice write up on the IODA website.

When it was time for the actual regatta, a tropical storm approached the islands, causing very shifty conditions. According to PRO Gordon Hackstaff, "I moved the marks more in the past 2 days than in the past 2 years."

LISOT sailors brought home plenty of silver and a lot of smiles - even though the flight home didn't land until midnight on Sunday night.

For the Sea Star team race, LISOT 1 finished 2nd and LISOT 2 finished 4th overall. The teams were:

LISOT 1 - Reinier, Megan, Harry, Jack and Duncan

LISOT 2 - Russell, Augie, Florian, Audrey, and Gabe

In the Scotiabank Fleet Racing, LISOT finishers were (full results):

4. Reinier

5. Megan (and top girl)

9. Harry

12. Florian

17. Jack (2nd Blue Fleet)

21. Russell

30. Audrey

32. Augie

35. Gabe

Congratulations to Megan for being awarded the sportsmanship award, and to Cameron Giblin for his 3rd place overall finish in green fleet.

St. Thomas Yacht Club is a wonderful venue for an early summer regatta. Plenty of wind and sun, great food, a perfect resort for the sailors to hang out after sailing, and plenty for parents to do.

LISOT Dominates Newport Opti Challenge

14 LISOT sailors and families traveled to Newport, RI for the Sail Newport Opti Challenge. LISOT traditionally attends this gem of a regatta as a summer warm up for the USODA events.

LISOT dominated the regatta with 6 of the top 10 overall finishers, including #1 in Blue, #1 in White fleet and #1 girl! Head Coach Pepe and coach Maarten were very pleased with the teams' finishes!

Overall

Sean Walsh, Matt Kaplan and Will Logue dueled it out with Will Marshall (FAST, 9^th @ TT) for the top four spots overall. The racing was very tight, with Will Marshall taking the top spot with 31 points, just 1 point ahead of Will Logue. Sean Walsh in 3^rd with 33 points, just 1 point behind 2^nd, and Matt Kaplan was 4^th with 38pts. Rounding out the top 10 were LISOTers Florian Eenkema van Dijk 7^th , Russell Clarida 9^th and Kate van Loveren 10^th. Kate was also top girl overall!

Red Fleet

2nd Matt Kaplan

4th Florian EVD

Blue Fleet

1st Sean Walsh

3rd Will Logue

White Fleet

1st Matt Logue (with a remarkable 7 firsts!)

5th Sloan Kratzman

Other Highlights

Many of those new to LISOT kids had great individual finishes including Richie Gorden, Cooper Yeager, Henry Fernberger and James Westerberg. Sean Walsh dominated on Saturday and Matt Kaplan ruled on Sunday. Matt Logue won White fleet with 7 bullets!

The conditions on Saturday were classic spring in Newport - SE winds of 8-12 knots, huge current, healthy chop whereas Sunday turned into a light Northerly finally filling in after lunch with 6-8 knots flat water and ripping current.

The NYYC regatta was going on with lots of Grand Prix boats sailing close to our course. Saturday afternoon the team was invited by Alex Jackson to tour the Juan K 100 footer “Speedboat”. Stan Honey, world famous navigator, was on board and answered questions about the upcoming Bermuda race!

Team LISOT's overall finishes were:

2nd – Will Logue

3rd – Sean Walsh (#1 Blue Fleet)

4th – Matt Kaplan

7th - Florian Eenkema van Dijk

9th – Russell Clarida

10th – Kate Van Loveren (#1 girl)

22nd – Henry Fernberger

23rd- Richie Gorden

25th – Matt Logue (#1 White Fleet)

27th – Charlotte LeClue

30th – Walter Florio

32nd – Cooper Yeager

36th – James Westerberg

46th – Sloane Kratzman

Congratulations to all the sailors and thanks to all the parents/volunteers!