OPTIMIST REPORT
MANY BOATS PARTICIPATING IN ALL LEVELS OF COMPETITION
The RPAYC centreboard division has been incredibly active over the last six or so months with many boats participating in all levels of competition . Kicking off the action were the Optimist National titles held back in January , at Georges River 16ft Skiff Sailing Club . RPAYC had a large number of young sailors attend especially in Green Fleet , with many attempting their first big regatta .
It was a very successful Nationals for our Club with Jono Tuite making the Youth Development Squad and Daniel Links and Fletcher Walters for making the Australian Team . Jono will be sailing in New Caledonia later this year , Daniel competed in the Asian ’ s in Sri Lanka and Fletcher is competing as I write this , in the North American ’ s in Antigua .
In March , the State Titles were held at South Lake Macquarie Sailing Club , where once again , a lot of fun was had both on and off the water . It was a great , well run regatta at a fabulous venue with the opportunity to get some pre regatta coaching with Adam Beashel thrown in .
Following the States , an unprecedented number of young RPAYC Opti sailors headed across the ditch to New Zealand in order to compete in the New Zealand National Titles hosted by Kohimarama Yacht Club . The experience of sailing against a different cohort in different conditions to what they are used to was incredibly worthwhile for all of our young sailors , so much so that most are heading across to do it all again next year in Napier ! A lot of fun was had by all , including the mums !
The Club Icebreaker series has been very popular and successful so far , with a large number of boats competing from all classes . It is fantastic seeing sailors of all ages and abilities getting out there on the water and having a go . Our Opti sailors are doing extremely well and often finish on the podium .
Recently RPAYC hosted the East Coast Championships which was a resounding success , with many boats travelling from other clubs to compete . Once again RPAYC did very well with several of our Open and Intermediate Opti Fleet finishing in the top few boats .
The Centreboard Portuguese Beach Picnic event for the year was a fantastic success and extremely well supported . It was difficult working out who had a better time , the kids , or the dads who competed in the annual Driftwood Cup which was won by Tony Bellingham . Opti sailors , Bayley Taylor and Eva Attwood had a blast as they steered Pretty Woman to first place in the race across to the beach , with both girls enjoying having a crew to boss around !
Our Opti Sailors have just wrapped up QLD Youth week held at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Manly Brisbane , where we have once again performed extremely well . More than 200 boats competed in a variety of classes out on the waters of Waterloo Bay with approximately 25 young sailors from RPAYC travelling from Sydney to Brisbane for the event . Despite a complete lack of wind for most days , our Opti sailors did really well with Jono Tuite claiming a spot on the podium in Open fleet with a second place and in Intermediate Fleet , Oscar Verity just beat Bayley Taylor to the podium with a , well deserved 3rd place .
Immediately following Queensland Youth Week , after a lay day spent at Dreamworld , a handful of our RPAYC juniors stayed up north for Sail Brisbane with Daniel Links getting up on the podium in 2nd place .
KAREN TAYLOR
CENTREBOARD
YACHTSMAN 57