The Alfred's News Alfreds News November-December 2017 | Page 11

Centreboard News
Opti Chicks Weekend
On Saturday the 11th November, 35 excited girls arrived at The RPAYC ready for a great weekend. The perfect weather
ensured this was the case and all planned activities went
ahead. These including Elliott sailing, Hobie sailing,
Optimist sailing, BBQ dinner, Guest Speakers and movie
night.
On Saturday morning Clare Costanzo and her match
racing team took the girls out sailing on the club Elliots
before they flew off to South Korea. You can follow their
progress http://www.wimseries.com/event/2017-busan-
cup-womens-international-match-race/. The Sailing on
Club Eliott 7's was a first and a unique experience for the
girls, especially the younger ones whose first time it was
on a keelboat.
A huge thank you also goes to Sylvie, Alana, Mina and
Bella who volunteered their time to help on the
weekend. They did an amazing job helping the girls on and off the water. They are such great role models for the younger
girls and it's fantastic to see them still getting involved with Opti
Chicks.
After all the sailing, Nic Douglass (aka Adventures of a Sailor Girl)
came and delivered an inspiring talk and presentation. She was
joined by Annie Wilmot and Tash Bryant who recently won the
Australian Sailing Female Sailor of the Year award. They spent a
lot of time with girls talking about their experiences and future
goals in sailing. More information about
Annie and Tash can be found on asf.org.au/athletes/natasha-
bryant/ & asf.org.au/athletes/annie-
wilmot/ and www.sailorgirlhq.com.
Opti Chicks weekend.
By Karen Williams
A huge thanks goes to Andrew at Boat Crew Gear
(boatcrewgear.com.au) who was the generous sponsor for the
Fletcher Walters takes on the Bermuda Optimist Gold
Cup Regatta
In October I was lucky enough to be invited to the Bermuda Opti Gold Cup. Only one sailor from the top 25 countries is
invited to race against 15 Bermudan sailors.
I was also lucky to be billeted with the Kemps and they were a great family. Their son Sebastian and my Canadian mate Jack
Grogan were in the same house which was sick.
Bermuda is a great place to sail. It blew hard all week and only backed off on the last day of racing. In fact, we didn’t get
under 20 knots til day six, so there were plenty of sore bodies in the boat park.