News IODA South American Championship 2011

IODA South American Championship 2011

We have a champion!! Tiago Brito from Brazil has just been crowned South American Champion 2011.

April 23: final races and Closing Ceremony

The first IODA event of the year has come to an end with Tiago Brito from Brazil as the newly crowned Optimist South American Champion 2011.Tiago sailed consistently througout the event, collecting 6 first places, a third, a fifth and an eighth, scoring a total of 14 points, 10 fewer than the second overall.

Photo © capizzano.com

After two days without races, everybody was eager to have a last opportunity to sail in Algarrobo. And the weather did help this time. The sun finally made its way through the morning clouds and a breeze developed from the South while the sailors were already sailing to the racing area. The race committee had decided it was better to wait for the wind outside and start immediately instead of having to wait for an hour on shore after displaying Delta flag.

A perfect timing and coordination allowed the Race Committee to run the three races scheduled for today, adding up to a total of 9 races with one discard.

In the overall ranking Tiago was followed by local sailor Francisco Ducasse and Diogo Pereira from Portugal. In the closed event the third place was for Victor Damitio from Argentina.

At the closing ceremony prizes were given to the first 15 sailors in the overall ranking, the three first sailors from South America and the first 5 girls in the overall ranking.

We would like to thank Pablo Cisternas (Chairman of the championship) and his team for the effort in running this successful event and especially to Pia Bertossi and Joyce Pullen, secretary and score keeper respectively, for a well done job. We would also like to thank the IODA representatives Quino Nigaglioni, Nuno Reis and Alen Kustic for their invaluable help.

This was the third IODA event in which tracking of the races was offered. The nine races were tracked with no major problems and we expect to offer the service in the coming Europeans in Tavira, Portugal, and in Singapore during the Asian Championship.

Overall preliminary results

April 22

There was no racing today due to adverse weather conditions. In the morning, it was the rough sea at the entrance of the harbour, with reefs that made it dangerous for the sailors to go to the racing area, and the authorities' decision to close the harbour, that forced the Race Committee to postpone the races up to 1300. As the day progressed the wind started to decrease in speed but the reefs were still there at 1300 and a new postponement was announced. By 1500 then the wind had dropped considerably and the Race Committee displayed AP over A abandoning all the races for the day.

We expect better conditions for tomorrow, when three races are scheduled to finish the event with 9 sailed races.

Team Racing

Going afloat in a grey morning

Wednesday was the team race day. It started later than planned due to lack of wind in the morning but as the wind built up through the day, the Race Committee managed to complete all the races of the two parallel events: the South American Team Race Championship(SAMTR) for teams from South America, and the Nations Cup (NC) for teams from outside of South America and South American teams that hadn't qualified for the SAMTR.

The sailing conditions in the end were perfect for this format of racing and sailors enjoyed 10 knots of wind in sunny skyes.

In the Nations Cup it was USA 1 who took victory, followed by US Virgin Islands and USA 2.

Team members of winning teams:

• USA 1: Romain Screve, Will Logue, Matt Kaplan, Jack Parkin, Wade Wadell
• ISV: Colin Brego, Scott Mcenzie, Christopher Murphy, Paige Clarke
• USA 2: Sean Brennan, Ben Kern, Adele Whitmeyer, Alie Toppa, Richard Shuurmans

And in the South American Team Race Championship Peru conquered the title for the fifth time in a row. Congratulations Peru!! Second and third were Chile 1 and Argentina 1.

Winning Team PERU celebrates. Photo © Capizzano.com

Team members:

• Peru 1: Alonso Collantes, Renzo Sanguinetti, Sergio Silva, Javier Arribas, Almudena Arce
• Chile 1: Francisco Ducasse, Tomás Ugarte, Santiago Ugarte, Vicente Jiménez, Exequiel Grez
• Argentina 1: Ignacio Varisco, Rodrigo Zalazar, Martín Cloos, Víctor Damitio, Lucila Fagnani

Results SAMTR | Results NC | Team Members

April 19

Today the wind has been too light to race and the boats have been held ashore. Nuno Reis, IODA event measurer here in Algarrobo took the opportunity to interview Tiago Brito who gave us his views on the event in general and about his performance yesterday in particular.

Tiago Brito Photo © Nuno Reis

"Today (Monday) there was less wind than yesterday, the swell was not as high and the temperature was a bit warmer. Anyway I do well in any wind condition as my weight is good. I had good starts in the three races, I started on the starboard race committee boat and sailed to the left of the course, controlling the fleet, arriving at the finish line in third, first and third places in each race respectively. The sailors that did well in today’s races were Diogo from Portugal, the Chilean Ducasse and the former champion Ignacio Varisco. In general the level of the fleet is quite similar that’s why starts are very important."

Unfortunately the wind failed to appear today and there was no racing. Tomorrow is the team racing, so fingers crossed for more wind.

Argentinian team waiting to go afloat Photo © Nuno Reis

April 18

At the halfway point of this Championship, Tiago Brito of Brazil tops the overall standings on seven points. In the six races sailed so far Brito has sailed exceptionally well, winning Races 1, 3, 5 and 6, coming third in Race 4 and discarding his fifth place finish in Race 2.

Tiago Brito leading the fleet after 6 races Photo © capizzano.com

Behind the Brazilian, on 15 points, is Portugal’s Diogo Pereira who has two race wins to his name but came sixth in race 2, fifth in race 3, second in race 4 and 11th in race 5. With 16 points in third place is Chile’s Francisco Ducasse.

| Results | Tracking |

April 17

The races have started!! Three races were sailed today in superb weather conditions. The sun has been shining in Algarrobo for the last couple of days, blessing the sailors with warm air temperatures. In comparison though, the waters of the Pacific Ocean are bitterly cold and every drop on the skin is like ice.

Many sailors arrived early at the club, ready to set up the boats for the first day which started with the coaches’ meeting at 10am, after which sailors were allowed to go afloat at 10.30am. One and a half hours later was the starting signal of race 1A and the championship was underway. The wind kept building during the day starting with 10 knots and ending the day with 20 knots during race 3. The ideal conditions kept everyone happy.

The fleet launches at the start of the first day

There are 12 fleet races planned as well as a day of team racing.

For those who will follow the event from home, 183 tracking devices have been shipped and are running now in Chile. Tracking is provided by IODA and hosted by TracTrac, a leading tracking company. You can view the races online by visiting the event tracking page and downloading the user manual to learn about the viewer and its configuration.