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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Posted: 2011-08-11

Successful first edition of the 'International Regatta' in Dominican Republic.

From July 11th to 17th the Club Náutico de Santo Domingo, venue of the next Worlds in Dominican Republic, held the 1st International Optimist Regatta "Dominican Republic has it all". Even when the organisers had the experience of running an IODA North American Championship in 2009, the original idea of this event had been to train for the Worlds, offering both experienced and inexperienced organisers and volunteers the possibility of seeing what a real event was like. The following is the report from Joaquín Pacheco, Managing Director of the Organising Committee of the IODA Worlds.

launching area

We are very proud of the success of this first International Regatta, success which hadn't been so if it wasn't for the help of the Dominican Sailing Federation and the Dominican Optimist Association, as well as of many new friends who, not being directly involved in sailing, surprised everybody and became key pieces of the organisation. Worth highlighting was the work carried out by Javier Uranga (ESP) -PRO at the NAM in 2009 who was hired again for this event- He worked really hard since the moment he arrived up to the very last minute. The same words go to Hernán Salcedo, who was invited as a member of the Jury but helped a lot in many more areas. With their help, difficult tasks seemed easy! :)

We enjoyed the company of 52 competitors from 16 countries, among which were the three past South American Champions: 2009 Alonso Collantes (PER), 2010 Ignacio Varisco (ARG) and 2011 Tiago Brito (BRA).
Worth mentioning was the entry from the UK, with a delegation of 12 competitors and 2 coaches. New Zealand sent a strong team of three sailors, all of them already qualified for this year's worlds, plus Chris Steel (former World Champion 2007) as their coach. The team showed a very high level of preparation and commitment, and clear goals.

The guest of honour in any sailing event, the wind, did not play its role as expected. The maximum average speed during the four days was 8 knots, very unusual for the time of the year. The sailors that had arrived early enjoyed winds of 15 to 22 knots during the previous week but the breeze died right after the practice race day... Until the day after the prize giving, when a breeze of 15 knots marked the beginning of a local clinic ran by Martín Jenkins. Visiting teams gossiped that we had done it on purpose, not to let them train under our real sailing conditions.

start

Notwithstanding the tricky winds, Javier Uranga managed to start and finish 11 races, changing the course when needed. So difficult was the course that every day the leaders were different. The 11 races were won by 9 different sailors.

The overall winner was Matías Dyck from Ecuador, with 59 points, who took over the top of the ranking from Joan Cardona, leader of the fleet up to the previous day.

Our sailors had good results in different categories, being Justina Pacheco the first girl and Juan Martín, her younger brother, the first under 12.

Summarizing, we are very happy with the outcome. It was an invaluable experience to confirm that we have the knowledge and strength to successfully face the challenge of the Worlds next year. But what is most important, this regatta helped us learn a lot and discover the weak points and flaws within the organisation, so that we can work on them during the year we have until next July.

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