Fall Opti Race Team Shines-USODA SE Championships!
on Wednesday September 24, 2014 02:48PM
This past weekend, September 19th and 20th, four of our Fall Opti Race Team members, along with their families and Coach David Tunnicliffe, travelled to Lake Altoona, Atlanta, for the United States Optimist Dinghy Association Southeastern Championships.
There were a total of 126 competitors, many of whom sailed with professionally run teams from the top junior programs from across the country, including teams from Coral Reef Yacht Club, Lauderdale Yacht Club, Southern Yacht Club, St. Petersburg Yacht Club, Sarasota Youth Sailing, and private clubs Team For and Prime. Our kids were fantastic! When the dust settled, Boyd Bragg finished 2nd overall and 1rst in Red Fleet! Ian Street finished 15th overall and 7th in Red; John Vail finished 43rd overall and 22nd in Blue, and Reese Bragg was the 23rd Girl! I cannot stress how impressive all of these finishes were, especially since many of the competitors came from Florida where most of the top kids are home schooled to allow time to train and have full time pro coaching. Team For even has a rule that parents may not speak directly to the coach at any time-they must go through a coach liaison. Our team members and their families stayed together in the same lake cottage with the coach!
In addition to the great finishes, Ian was awarded the Friendship Award. One of the competitors from another team was extremely upset when he scored an OCS, which effectively eliminated him. Ian settled the sailor down and convinced him to continue the regatta. The RC rewarded him for his leadership and sportsmanship. This is the third time this year that one of our sailors has been recognized in this way! Many competitors and their families where impressed with our team, and complimented our parents. At the end of the regatta, after the awards, Coach Tunnicliffe had all of our sailors personally thank the RC and on-the-water judges for their hard work.
Annapolis Yacht Club also paid us a great compliment. They were unable to send a coach to this regatta, so they asked that we support their sailors by letting them sail on our team. We were happy to accommodate them. We have often been asked by the premier teams on the Bay to coach their juniors, including, in addition to AYC, Severn Sailing Association and Tred Avon Yacht Club. Most recently we supported their juniors at the 2013 Laser North Americans in Canada.
Next up for the Opti Race Team is the Atlantic Coast Championships on October 11-12 at Brant Beach Yacht Club in New Jersey. We are expecting 10 team members to make the trip! Finally, this coming weekend the Fall Laser Race Team will begin practice. Look for upcoming reports.
GO FBYC!
Mark Hayes, Junior Division Commander
Tags: junior, juniorraceteam, opti, optimist