News Optimist South American Championships

Optimist South American Championships

We have a new champion

31 March

Yesterday after 10 hard races, Gabriel Lopes emerged triumphant to become the South American Champion 2013.

Gabriel was 16 points ahead of Fausto Peralta (ARG) who was just ahead of his team mate Valentin Queirel. Clara Vignat, also from Argentina, was the first girl.

The overall winner was Ivan Shestopalov (USA).

| Results | Pictures by Capizzano | Event website |

29 March

Today there were 3 more races which resulted in significant changes to the leaderboard. Ivan Shestopalov (USA) now leads, 7 points ahead of Gabriel Lopes (BRA) who had a poor race 9. Many of the top 20 sailors had at least one poor race today, except Fausto Peralta (ARG), who with a 6, 2 and 4 moves into third place.

| Results | Pictures by Capizzano | Event website |

28 March

Today is a rest day for the sailors and the competition continues tomorrow with fleet racing.

27 March

The new champions celebrate! Constanza Ruffinelli ARG 3112, Clara Vignati ARG 2995, Valentin Queirel ARG 3220, Joaquin Zanardi ARG 3147 and Manuel Garcia ARG 3495

The South American Bettanin Team Racing Championship, had an all Argentine final. Team ARG1 had arrived at the finals undefeated, after beating Ecuador, Uruguay, Brazil and their country fellows in team ARG2.Their opponents, ARG2 had to go the longer route, sailing three more races before arriving at the finals.

The finals saw ARG1 winning the first race. The start of the second race had the Race Committee signal an individual recall and a sailor from team ARG2 returned to the starting side of the line but.... the flag wasn't removed. The finishing places indicated that ARG1 had won the race, hence the championship, but the OCS had been for ARG1!! As a consequence a third race was run, with victory passing from one team to the other every minute, but finishing positions 1, 4, 5 and 6 gave the much craved for victory to ARG1. This was team racing at its best!

Third place was for Chile 1. Brazil finished fourth, with teams BRA1 and BRA2 defeated by Chile and Argentina in the quarterfinals.

| South American Results |

The Banrisul Nations Cup had only three teams from USA, two from Mexico and one from Bermuda, which allowed teams ECU3 and PER3, who hadn't qualified for the South American team race, to enter this competition. Bermuda and Mexico made it to the quarter finals but had a strong contender in USA. The three teams from USA took control and USA2, USA1 and USA3 finished first, second and third respectively.

Winners of the Nations Cup Team Racing - USA 2.

Sophia Reineke USA 16959, Ivan Shestapolav USA 15535, Emma Kanetti, Henry Burnes USA 19452 and J C Hermus USA 10873

The races had been scheduled to start at 10:00 but the light and shifty winds didn't allow the RC to start on time and races were postponed until 1100. The Nations Cup finished after 15 races in mostly light winds. The South Americans, however, had 31 races that went on till much later and sailors were able to enjoy a breeze of 10 knots in some of the last races.

| Nations Cup Results |

Yesterday there were another two races and Gabriel Lopes (picture above), now has an 8 point lead over Ivan Shestopalov, USA. Tiago Quevedo, Brazil, had an excellent day and moved up from 30th place to 6th with two 1sts and his worst result from the first race now discarded.

Today is the team racing. Argentina 1 are the highest seeded team of 16 in the South American Team Racing Championship and USA 1 are the highest of 8 teams in the Nations Cup.

| Results | Pictures by Capizzano | Event website |

25 March

Today the sun came back to Porto Alegre where the South-South Easterly winds blew from 8 to 10 knots, allowing for the completion of three good races.

Brazilian sailors Gabriel Lopes and Pedro Zonta sailed well and climbed to first and third position in the ranking respectively. Gabriel won two of the three races of the day and finished eighth in the third, accumulating, together with yesterday's third place, 13 points. Ivan Shestopalov from the USA had a good performance except for the second race of the day, in which he finished 24. Pedro finished 14, 13 and 3 and is 7 points behind Ivan.

Chasing Pedro, just one point behind, is Chase Cooper from Bermuda, who just won the Sailing Week of Mar del Plata at the end of last February. Among the girls, Francesca Foronda, (Peru), 5th overall, has a lead of four points over Audrey Giblin who lies 6th.

Tomorrow the regatta continues with three scheduled races, the first of which counts for the qualification of the countries entering the Team Racing event which takes place on Wednesday.

| Results | Pictures by Capizzano | Event website |

Only one race was completed yesterday Sunday 24, the first day of official races in Porto Alegre. Fog and no wind until midday, forced the Race Committee to postpone the start of the first race. Once started, all was well until the sailors neared the gate and the wind rotated 80 degrees and the RC decided to abandon the race. Once the wind had stabilised and the course was adjusted to the new direction, the race was re-started in 10 to 12 knot winds but by the time it was finished, it was too late for a second one.

Brazil had a good start to the event with Luis Dotta finishing in first place in the yellow fleet. It was a difficult race for Luis, who had a close battle with Dylan Ascenicios from the USA. "I was fighting with the American sailor who was close to me but he made a mistake while on the second beat and I was able to cross the line in first place", commented Luis.

Ivan Shestopalov, a 13 year old sailor from the USA, won the race in the blue fleet and also commented on the day's race: "The race was very challenging but I was able to keep calm and on focus, and took advantage of every situation. The changing wind was the main challenge but I did a good job. I enjoyed sailing in Guaíba, which, apart from being beautiful, offers good sailing conditions".

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better conditions.

| Results |

24 March

A relaxed and happy atmosphere prevailed on Friday 22nd during the Opening Ceremony of the Optimist South American Championship 2013 at the host club Veleiros do Sul, Brazil. Nearly 500 people including competitors, officials, authorities and supporters, gathered for the ceremony.

The event is attended by 144 competitors from 14 countries: Argentina, Netherlands Antilles, Bermuda, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, USA, US Virgin Islands, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The practice race took place yesterday Saturday 23rd. As usual, not all the sailors made it to the water, some because they took the day off to be ready for the big start today, some because they had arrived just in time for measurement; and, of the ones who did go sailing, only a few crossed the finish line, avoiding the bad luck it is said you get if you win the practice race.

The race committee divided the fleet into two groups of 72 sailors each, who started separately on the bay of Guaiba. Many teams took advantage of the 12 knot winds blowing from the South to remain out training.

The championship continues today with the first three official races starting at 1300.