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Optimist News Sail Information || Optimist News || Optimist Tuning Guide || Contact Optimist Experts || Order
See also: 2007-2008 Regatta Reports | 2006 Regatta Reports | 2003-2005 Regatta Reports
OPTIMIST 2011 JUNIOR GOLD CUP
Wade Waddell of West Palm Beach, FL took top honors at the 2011 Junior Gold Cup using the CZero5 Optimist Sail. The 40 boat fleet comprised of sailors from 17 different nations, and 22 Bermudian Optimist racers. 11 of these sailors are previous/current winners of their respective National Championships. Wade led the regatta from the beginning, posting a “1, 1” on the opening day in the windiest races of 25 knots sustained. Wade is not the biggest kid on the course, however his heart, determination and skill have brought him to the top of the fleet in some of the windiest venues this year. Wade will be leading Team USA at the Worlds in Napier NZL in December.
Full results and complete report: http://www.argogroupgoldcup.com/renre-jr-gold-cup-mainmenu-57/reports-and-results Photos of the event: http://s864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/somerscooper/2011%20Jr%20Gold%20Cup/ For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact our Opti experts.
OPTIMIST 2011 FINLAND NATIONALS
North Sails Team Blue Head Coach, Juan Carlos Romero and US Team Blue sailors Wade Waddell and David Hein traveled to Finland to practice with the Helsingfors Segelsallskap (HSS) sailors for 3 days and to participate at the 2011 Finnish Open Championship that took place in Turku from August 12th through the 14th.
Time went fast during our long days of practices with the Finnish Team and now it was time to pack our boats and travel by car to Turku on Thursdays for the 3 day competition. 110 sailors from several countries like GER, NED, FIN, SWE, EST, ESP, GBR and the USA gathered at the Turku Yacht Club to race on Baltic Sea waters for the National Championship title. Variable and shifty conditions, with wind speed readings that went from 4 to 15kts ruled this race course…challenging conditions.
For Results go to:
For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact our Opti experts.
OPTIMIST 2011 US NATIONALS Wade Waddell (Palm Beach, FL) was crowned the 2011 Optimist US National Championship of 222 competitors this past weekend to add to his list of 2011 trophies which include: 2nd 2011 Valentine’s Day Regatta, 1st US Optimist Team Trials, 5th North Americans, 1st US Team Racing Nationals. For the US Nationals Trophy, Wade was using the CZero5 cross cut sail, as was the US Nationals Runner-Up Conner Harding. Richard Schuurmans finished 6th overall using the DZero6 cross cut sail. Sophia Reineke was 3rd place in the Girls Division using a P5. The regatta was sailed out of Houston YC in a wide range of conditions. For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact our Opti experts.
OPTIMIST 2011 TEAM NATIONALS
Lauderdale Team 1 win the 2011 Team Race National Championship!
Lauderdale Team 1 win the 2011 Team Race National Championship in dramatic fashion on the 3rd and final day of racing at Houston YC. Also known as “Wade and the Girls” have earned a berth to represent USA at the Berlin Team Race Event in October…Wade Waddell (CZero5), Alie Toppa (DZero6), Liza Toppa (P5), Sophia Reineke (P5) and Martina Sly entered Tuesdays final day of racing in 5th place. With their backs against the wall, Wade and the Girls dominate the top teams (Team Gnarly, Team M) winning each of their races convincingly in 1-2-3-4 combinations! Excellent photos/coverage of the remaining events may be found at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/US-Opti-Sailing/138942536154313 For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact our Opti experts.
OPTIMIST 2011 VALENTINE'S DAY REGATTA
On Valentine’s Day weekend, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in Florida ran a USODA Optimist Team Trial qualifier event. This is the last qualifying event before all team trial eligible sailors go to San Francisco, CA to compete for a spot on a US international Team, such as Worlds and Europeans among others. On Saturday the 13th the Valentine’s Day Regatta at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club gathered over 200 sailors from all over the country. Florida sailors experienced tough conditions when they encountered winds that ranged from 12 to 15kts from the NNE and air temperatures on the mid 50s.
With the wind shifting left at the beginning of the day when the wind velocity was holding above 12kts and then shifting persistently right when the pressure dropped to 6-8 the race committee managed to run 5 races. At the end of the first day of racing Wade Waddell, one of our team blue and Lauderdale Yacht Club sailors, sailing with a C05 was leading the result sheet. On Sunday the wind kept shifting right and the pressure kept dropping until it died completely after the first flight of the 3rd race of the day was finished but the 2nd flight was still sailing around the course. Unfortunately, the RC had to abandon both flights and decided to send us all to shore. The regatta was over and after getting two bullets on that day, Richard Schurmmans, another one of our Team Blue sailors sailing a D06 took the lead from Wade and won the event. Both sailors, powered by North Sails, went to these past Worlds in Malaysia and they’re now preparing themselves to next Team Trials. Congratulations to Wade and Richard and good luck on your upcoming events!
For more information on the new Optimist CrossCut sails, click here.
OPTIMIST US JUNIOR OLYMPIC REGATTA
Wade Waddell 1st at the US Junior Olympics On the weekend of Dec. 11-12 the Optimist US Junior Olympics gathered 57 sailors from all over the country at the Martin County US Sailing Centre in Jensen Beach, FL. On Saturday the sailors encountered light winds that ranged 4 to 6kts and a current that made it hard for this competitive fleet to stay below the starting line. It took the RC several general recalls and “Z” flags to have the fleet start correctly, but at the end of the day they managed to run four good races in very shifty conditions. For Sunday the wind forecast on different models predicted a lot of wind produced by a new cold front that was heading our way. And as it was expected, the first race of the day was sailed in 12kts sustained and from there the wind picked up through the last three races of the day reaching the 25-28kts with 32kts gusts. One of our Team Blue members, Wade Waddell, sailing with the new C05 cross cut sail proved to be the best sailor under these challenging conditions. The winner of the 2010 USODA Team Trials, and a US Optimist World Team member won the last three races which positioned him on 1st place overall at this event. Way to go Wade, we’ll be following your races at this coming world’s in Malaysia at the end of the month. Fair winds!
For more information on the new Optimist CrossCut sails, click here.
OPTIMIST NORTH SAILS IN SINGAPORE
I recently traveled to Singapore to introduce our entire line of Optimist Sails to the Singaporean National Team. As you know, the new cross-cut sails, the C-Zero-5 and D-Zero-6 recently won (1st, 2nd) the 2010 North American Championships. We are now looking to connect with more top-level sailors and coaches around the World. Our goal is to educate the sailor and coaches about the technology North Sails is using to develop the very best Optimist Sails. Comprised of some of the fastest sailors, and the best coaches in the World, The Singaporean Team welcomed us with much excitement. For your reference, in the 2010 IODA Asian Championship sailed in Thailand, Singapore placed 5 sailors in the top 10 with Kimberly Lin (SIN) winning the event.
The following morning, everyone was very excited to go sailing and test the new sails. We encountered light winds ranging from 4-8 knots and the sea state was very flat. These were great conditions to test the light air performance of the sails. After helping on land with the rigging and perfect tuning of our sails (two of each model), I let coaches Fernando “Happy” Alegre and Javier “Foco” Figueroa lead the practice and have their team, consisting of about 25 sailors, begin the testing. We started with several rabbit starts where we matched sailors of similar weight and skill level together to compare performance…there was no doubt our Czero5 and Dzero6 cuts were definitely on the top of their game. At the end of the first day on the water, all of the feedback was very positive: “more power”, “better pointing”, “wider angle of attack”, “faster on the downwind”. Each sailor on the Team tried the new sails. They were able to hold their lanes better, with faster speed forward. They were able to make significant gains to windward. On the 2nd day, the wind conditions increased to 12 to 15kts with considerable chop. We made some subtle tuning changes according to the wind conditions. More speed testing, rabbit starts some practice races and again for day 2…our sails performed better than any other sails out there! Even some of the less experienced sailors on the Team scored some Top-5 finishes in the races. When we asked them they said: “I find this sail easier to trim and power it up when I needed”.
The Singaporean team and their coaches are going to keep doing more testing before they make a decision on the sails. They will start traveling with the team to venues where they can practice under similar conditions to the ones we’re expecting at next Worlds in Langkawi, Malaysia. Following this trip there is no doubt that we have developed the very best cross-cut sails on the market. Thank you for allowing me to introduce this technology and new North Sails designs to the Singaporean Sailing Federation.
For more information on the new Optimist CrossCut sails, click here.
2010 NORTH AMERICANS
Video of Christopher and Duncan during a Team Blue Sail Testing:
2010 VALENTINES DAY REGATTA USODA Valentine’s Day Regatta
Great event for all Team Blue sailors! Congratulations to Dane Wilson, Eliot Caple, Wade Waddell, Sean Brennan, Conner Harding and Ethan Lounsbury for placing in the top 10 overall (1st, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th respectively). Our Team Blue sailors sailed at their best; our new radial cuts (P4 & P5 radial cuts) and the H08s were definitely the fastest sails out there and performed great under all different wind conditions that ranged 8 to 30kts during this past weekend in St. Pete. Where more than 150 sailors from all over the US came together to compete at this prestigious event to win a berth to compete at the USODA 2010 Team Trials. On late Friday, before the regatta started some of the teams that were practicing out on the bay had to come in earlier than planned because of the cold front that came in. The breeze picked up immediately and around noon on Saturday it reached it peak (22-24kts sustained and gusting up to 30kts). It was a real challenge for the light and less experience sailors. We saw a lot of optis with their rigs down and anchored just below the starting line and some other sailors sailing around the course on “survival mode”. Definitely a great racing experience for all those who were still racing and working their boats hard to keep it as flat as possible and with that reduce the weather helm and prevent the pressure on their rudders. Other technique that we witnessed among the sailors on the top of the fleet was their ability to sail and bail their boats during the whole 45 minute races. Two races on Saturday, under these conditions, seemed to be enough to the Race Committee of the event. Sailors were exhausted after all this hiking and bailing, and some coaches too after they had to performed some “rescue missions” to keep everybody afloat. On Sunday, the wind drop to 8-12kts during the morning and we had four races, perfect conditions for one of our Team Blue sailors Eliot Caple that managed to put three bullets on this last day of racing sailing with her P5 and with that led the girls division. Dane, a very consistent sailor from California won the 5th race and after the 6th race dropped a 3rd place which put him on the top of the result sheet winning the Valentine’s Day Regatta with just 12 points! Way to go Dane and all Team Blue Sailors!
CLINIC WRAP UP:
I was responsible for the boat speed aspect of the training and we worked a lot on changing gears and sail trim. Many sailors have been taught to trim the sail to the corner of their boat and leave it there. With the amount of chop we had, it was essential to ease the mainsheet a few clicks to get the boat going again. During the chalk talk, we pointed out that sailing upwind can be a lot like shifting gears in a car. Everyone in the clinic was too young to drive, but they could still grasp the idea that you have to start in first gear and you can’t shift directly to 5th. As the boat gradually builds speed, you can shift to a higher gear and go for pointing. In sailing, you can’t stay in 5th gear too long or the vehicle will stall. And when the boat slows down after some bad chop or coming out of a tack, a downshift is required. You need to shift back to first gear sail trim (eased out a little past the corner of the boat) to get the boat moving again.
2009 ORANGE BOWL
Day 1 - In the 226 boat Optimist Red/Blue/White fleet, there were so many competitors that they split the start into two. Lauderdale Yacht Club’s Christopher Williford won one and Arthur Fortune from the French island of Guadeloupe and representing the Yacht Club of Cannes won the other. Day 2 - The leaders through day two again reflect the international flavor of the Orange Bowl. Starting with the Optimists, Ft. Lauderdale brothers Christopher and Duncan Williford are managing to stay ahead of Brazil’s Gabriel Esltrodt and current Optimist World Champion Sinclair Jones from Peru. Day 3 - Two Peruvians rose to number one and two in the 223 boat Optimist Red/Blue/White class, with Javier Arribas in first and 2009 Optimist World Champion Sinclair Jones in 2nd place. The Williford brothers from Ft. Lauderdale are holding on to the 3rd and 4th spots.
For more information about the New Optimist sail designs
2009 SOUTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact our Opti experts.
2009 PACIFIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIP
North Sails had a great performance at the 2009 Optimist PCCs with winds varying from light to medium.
Great photos at www.rockskipper.com For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact our Opti experts.
2009 MID-ATLANTIC MIDGET REGATTA
2009 ST FRANCIS HEAVY AIR REGATTA This past weekend St Francis Yacht Club hosted the Optimist Heavy Air Regatta. In a lead-up to the regatta, I flew out to coach the Optimist Heavy Air Clinic. The clinic was well attended with 23 young sailors braving the conditions at the St. Francis Yacht Club city front. There were 53 participants in the Heavy Air Regatta and Will Cefali, sailing with a North L-08 he got in 2006, bested the fleet by 12 points. Fridays races were canceled when the wind meter reached 35 knots. Both Saturday and Sunday had breeze in the 20+ knot range. This is a great result for North Sails with the Nationals coming up soon in the windy venue Cabrillo Beach that is nicknamed “Hurricane Gulch”. For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact North's Opti experts.
2009 GREAT PLAINS CHAMPIONSHIP
Results of Team TCYC:  Dustin Brennan 1st overall and 1st in Red Fleet  Dane Byerly 2nd overall and 1st in Blue Fleet  Ian Beck 3rd overall and 2nd in Blue Fleet  Macey McCann 4th overall and 3rd in Blue Fleet and 1st Girl overall Josh Dochoda 5th overall and 4th in Blue Fleet Sophie Kerr 7th overall and 3rd in Red Fleet Marshall McCann 8th overall and 1st in White Fleet Ford McCann 9th overall and 2nd in White Fleet Campbell Ross 10th overall and 4th in Red Fleet Eleanor Bush 13th overall and 6th in Red Fleet Kyle Dochoda 14th overall and 4th in White Fleet Max Guerriero 15th overall and 5th in Blue Fleet Kelly Cole 17th overall and 6th in Blue Fleet Dougie Byerly 20th overall and 6th in White Fleet Abigale Beck 1st Place Overall Green FleetThe next regatta is at Corpus this weekend. I look forward to it. For more information about the Optimist sail designs, contact North's Opti experts.
INTERVIEW BRADLEY ADAM
Bradley: My starts were awesome. Generally I was at the proper end of the line and had great boat speed. It was my first event using the North H-08 as I grew a lot this winter. (20 #’s) The power from the sail was truly awesome. Basically I was faster than just about everyone around me.
Bradley: Wind Shifts!!! I was on the wrong side of them. I found it a little bit discouraging that some kids had coaches upwind and radioed back to the starting line what the breeze was doing at the windward mark.
Bradley: Gone right on a few of the races. I learned that you don’t need to win every race to win the regatta. I should have been more conservative in some of my starts and been closer to my competition. Unfortunately, with the fleet split into 3 fleets you are not always sailing with your competition. In fact, I never sailed in the same fleet as a few of the kids in the top 5.
Bradley: Starts and boat speed. I won 7 out of the 12 races and 5 of those firsts nobody crossed my bow.
Bradley: The H-08 was really fast but you being the sailmaker could provide better details on the differences. I set the sail up differently than my M-08. My sail ties were about 1mm off the mast at the sprit halyard and gradually had them looser until my top and tack ties which were about 4-5 mm off the mast. I felt this gave me a really nice luff curve and helped enhance my speed. My sail ties around the boom were pretty standard but kept them further off the boom towards the clew where I kept them looser ending with the clew being about 5 mm off the boom. This would allow for my leach to open up quicker in light air and produce more power.
Bradley: I weigh 94lbs. My rake bounces around a lot depending on the breeze and the waves. I always check my rake before I go sailing and set it for the conditions. Sometimes I will adjust it on the water based on speed testing with another sailor. My standard rake is around 110” – 111” for moderate breeze. I look at rake as more of a “feel” thing. If it feels fast go for it.
Bradley: Unfortunately I did not qualify for the worlds. I knew going in to TT’s that was the only event my parents would take me to. So Europeans were out and when Grace qualified for a team I begged my parents to take me with them. She missed out on qualifying for the NA’s by one spot so off we go to Belgium to represent the US at the Flanders regatta. I will continue to sail my Opti this summer and look forward to my summer program at Greenwich Bay Sailing Association in East Greenwich RI. I am planning to sail at the 420 Nationals this summer and full time next year. I look forward to sailing in High School next spring and in college down the line. I would love to go to the Olympics and sail 470’s.
Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions. Congratulations again on an amazing accomplishment. You’ve made Team BLUE proud!
The H-08 sail won the 2007 World Championship in both the boys’ and girls’ division. There is a little less return in the bottom half of this sail making it easier to trim and harder to stall out. Sail like a champion with our fast radial line of Optimist sails!
The order Optimist sails online, click here.
ADVANCED OPTIMIST RACING CLINIC
If interested Please contact the TCYC Sailing Director, Scott Lindley. Interested in setting up a clinic for your fleet? Contact Brian Bissell.
For more information on Sabot sails, contact the North Optimist experts.
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During the last practice day in Helsinki, coaches Juan and Leonardo Dos Santos, HSS and Finnish National Coach and former Brazilian National Coach, conducted a sail testing session with several of the Finnish Optimist World Team sailors and our two Team Blue members David and Wade. By the end of the day, after lots of speed testing drills, it was clear that our two C05 cross-cut sails proved to be faster than the other sails. Furthermore, it was easy for David and Wade to switch from “speed” to “pointing” mode and back without sacrificing significant speed or pointing within the transition and as a result they have proven to achieve substantial gains compared to the other boats.
At the end of day three, the RC managed to run 6 races on the three days of racing and Wade using his C05 and under the coaching of Juan and Leonardo won the overall championship with just 9 points and dropping a 2nd place on the last day of racing.
At the end of the day Bill Fortenberry and I debriefed with the sailors. We discussed the Team’s new experience using North Sails. We also briefly discussed the general principles of ‘how sails work’, as well as the fine tuning and trimming of the new Czero5 and Dzero6 Optimist Sails. 
Today was the 2nd and final day of the Team Blue Valentine’s Day Regatta Clinic. There were 54 kids in attendance and 7 coaches. A wide range of discussion topics were addressed over the two days with a focus on boat handling and boat speed. We started each day with a trapezoid course and broke the fleet into groups. Each group worked on one particular aspect of boat handling or boat speed with one coach and after about 45 minutes, the groups would switch coaches to work on something new. This gave each coach the opportunity to work closely with a small group of sailors. 
Day 4 - 
Bradley: 
What was the winning formula in the races you did win? 
Team BLUE member Wade Wadell made the front cover of Yachts and Yachting Magazine. Wade is sporting our H-08 radial optimist sail. 
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