Mitsubishi Optimist National Championship 2009

A report by Aoife Hopkins (age 10)

The Mitsubishi Optimist National Championships 2009, hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club, had a fantastic turnout of over 240 sailors .The juniors successfully completed the 12 race series allocated for the main fleet. The senior fleet, however, only managed 11. The Regatta fleet, designed for younger and beginner sailors had 69 sailors this year.

There were lots of international sailors and some came from the UK, Australia, India and America.
The Indians were freezing as they didn’t have any wetsuits but parents in the George kindly lent them some.

Day 1: The event kicked off to a windy start as forecasted, leaving many sailors struggling in the heavy winds. The main fleet got three races in on the first day. Due to heavy winds the regatta fleet only got one race in that day and they had lots of capsizes !

Day 2: Again the second day was just as windy as the first day and had a 10:55 warning signal, so the launching was quite early and some people had their coaches rig their boats while they changed as they were to late down at the club! Later on in the day when we all came in and were de-rigged and changed there were really cool street performances. 

Day 3: Windy, as usual! Juniors and seniors each got 3 races in. Regatta fleet got out both morning and afternoon. After sailing we all had a go on the bucking bronco, bungee and football games it was great fun. 

Day 4: Last day, everyone was tired but kept going.Again juniors got three races but sadly seniors only got two. Prize giving was delayed until about half seven which meant a lot of people had to travel home in the dark but the prizes were really great. Thanks so much to everyone in the Royal St. George.