We have pre Opti Nationals training dates set for July 21-22 with coach Leigh Kempton. If your team is not arriving early or you are not team racing and would like to get a couple extra days of practice in on site we have open spaces for those dates. Contact us if you are interested.
We still have a couple spots open for the St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta. We will be arriving on the 17th and practicing the 18th and 19th. If you are already doing the clinic there but need coaching for the regatta we can accommodate as well.
Contact us for more information.
Congrats to Ian Jezak, Harrison Bailey, Michelle Lahrkamp, Madeleine Rice, and Nick Chisari will join SailStrong Coach Scott Norman on the USODA team heading to the British National Championship this August in Weymouth, the sailing venue for the 2012 London Olympics.
With three teams traveling to two events this weekend the kids were busy. SailStrong Red finished 5th of 20 teams at the Trofeo Marco Rizzotti in Venice, Italy. It was the first international team race for SailStrong. There was definitely a lot learned about a different style of racing than we usually see here in the US. SailStrong Blue and White were at Southern YC for their inaugural Opti Team race. Being a first time event it was a small turnout with 6 teams but SYC put on a great regatta and given the low number of teams the teams were able to get in a lot of races relative to a two day event with 15-20 teams. Racing was also close with all teams winning races and victory for SYC Black coming down to the last race. Our White Team finished 2nd and Blue Team 3rd.
Both events produced lots of good preparation for Nationals in July.
Trofeo Marco Rizzotti Team Race Results
SailStrong Red Team USA Trofeo Marco Rizzotti 2014 (JC Hermus, Gray Benson, Maddie Hawkins, Thomas Rice, Clayton Johnson, and Coach Scott Norman)
SailStrong Blue at SYC Team Race (Michelle Lahrkamp, Jordan Bruce, Ian Jezak, Nick Chisari)
SailStrong White (Walter Henry, Madeleine Rice, Torrey Chisari, Vanessa Lahrkamp, Sam Bruce)
Congrats to the 4 SailStrong Opti team members that have qualified to represent the USA at the IODA North American Championships in Nayarit, Mexico in July. Sam Bruce, Maddie Hawkins, Michael Pinto will all make their first trip to a continental championship and Thomas Rice will be heading to his second North Americans.
More info at the event webiste: http://www.optinam2014.org/
SailStrong teams will be traveling to two team race events this weekend.
First, SailStrong Red ( JC Hermus, Thomas Rice, Gray Benson, Maddie Hawkins, and Clayton Johnson ) are headed to Venice, Italy to compete in the Trofeo Marco Rizzotti. They qualified for this international team race by winning the USODA Team Race Midwinters back in February. This is one of the most competitive Opti Team races in the world and a great honor to represent USA there.
http://www.rizzottisail.it/wordpress/
At the same time SailStrong Blue ( Michelle Lahrkamp, Ian Jezak, Nick Chisari, Jordan Bruce) and White (Madeleine Rice, Walter Henry, Sam Bruce, Torrey Chisari, Vanessa Lahrkamp) are traveling to Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans for their inaugural Junior Team Race. It looks like it is going to be a great event with a similar format to the Lauderdale YC Opti Team Race with provided boats and sails. It’s always nice to be able to arrive with just your sailing gear and lifejacket to sail. Thanks to SYC for putting this together and hopefully it builds into a great team race in coming years.
Click to access 2014_inaugural_opti_tr_promo_piece.pdf
Good luck to all our sailors this weekend. Enjoy!
Congrats to the 11 SailStrong Opti sailors who qualified for the 2014-15 US National and Development Teams at Team Trials earlier this month.
National Team: Sam Bruce (2nd year), Maddie Hawkins, Walter Henry, Michael Pinto, and Thomas Rice (3rd year)
Development Team: Harrison Bailey, Jordan Bruce, Ian Jezak, Michelle Lahrkamp, Brendan Little, and Madeleine Rice
Enjoy the experience!
24 SailStrong team members attended the 2014 USODA Team Trials at Stamford YC May 1-4. The event presented a range of conditions with winds from 5 – 20+ knots, and strong currents from the tides on Long Island Sound. 9 races were sailed over the four days. The current lead to many more OCS and Black Flag penalties for being over early at the start than is usually seen in an event like this but the sailors that managed to start cleanly were able to maintain the best scores, especially with some sailors carrying multiple starting penalties.
Our sailors worked very hard in preparation for this event and positive results were to show for many of them, though we too fell prey to the starting penalty.
Maddie Hawkins lead the team finishing 14th overall and 4th place Girl. She was followed closely by Michael Pinto 16th and Sam Bruce 20th. We had 6 sailors in the top 50, 14 in the Top 100, and all our first time Team Trials sailors finished well even in the windiest conditions on the last day.
Team Results (217 boats)
Maddie Hawkins 14th, 4th Girl, Michael Pinto 16th, Sam Bruce 20th, Thomas Rice 27th, Walter Henry 43rd, JC Hermus 47th, Ian Jezak 59th, Harrison Bailey 61st, Michelle Lahrkamp 66th, Jordan Bruce 67th, Brendan Little 70th, Madeleine Rice 78th, Clayton Johnson 97th, Nick Chisari 98th, Dana Haig 114th, Reed Menszer 115th, Emma McInnis 120th, Chapman Petersen 130th, Jack Farrell 142nd, Torrey Chisari 145, Liam Randall 192nd, Colleen Obrien 197th, Harrison Menszer 200th, Brendan Lord 209th
SailStrong Youth Racing 
