USODA Midwinters, November 18, 19 and 20 2006.
November 18, 19, and 20, 2006. USODA Midwinters, Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA. The USODA Midwinters is a big event. Between it and Team Trials, they are the toughest US Optimist regattas. The Midwinters, like team trials is an international qualifier. The Midwinters qualifies for the South American Continental Championships (at Niteroio, Brazil), The International Easter Optimist Regatta in Braassermermeer, Holland and the Lake Garda Optimist Class Meeting at Riva del Garda, Italy. The San Francisco Yacht Club sent a group of nine sailors to the USODA midwinters. Lead Coach Richard Feeney Accompanied Jack Barton, Walker Bohannon, Tally Buckstaff, Scott Buckstaff, Lauren Cefali, Will Cefali, Greg Dair, Nevin Snow, and Patrick Snow. Other West Coast Sailors were Kaitlyn Baab from FAST/SFYC, Beverley Elmer and Stewert Renehan from SYC and Abby Hartmann from MNYC.
Friday, November 17, 2006. Friday was a measuring and practice day. Measurement did not start until 2:00PM so the decision was made to practice in the morning and early afternoon, and measure in the afternoon. The winds were not bad, low teens and not too much chop.
Saturday, November 18, 2006. Saturday was the first day of racing, and a tough day of racing it was. The winds were very light. In the words of one optimist sailor, a big hole with random puffs. If you like sailing with your knees on your chest,…this was your lucky day. Luckily only two races were sailed. The third race was abandoned, not so lucky for Greg Dair though who stole a pin end start with lefties rolling in. The race committee has seen these kids before and went to the I flag right away.
Sunday November 19, 2006. Sunday was a whole different day. Sailors were greeted to a nasty 18 knot northern wind. With a harbor start of 9:00AM, it was plenty cold. This is why they call it the midwinters. Lake Pontchartrain was serving up a big dish of steep chop and big white caps. This is a time where parents hope the child protective services aren’t looking. But Lake Pontchartrain’s bark was worse than its bite. It was cold but not as windy as it looked, thanks to the shallow waters which helped generate the nasty chop. The winds started out close to 20 knots but dropped to 12 and then back to 15 by days end. Four races were sailed, with nearly all the starts under a black flag.
Monday November 20, 2006. Sailors were greeted to chilly morning, 42 degrees, with a brisk 23 knot wind out of the North. The windspeed and temperature combined to provide a windchill factor of just over 30 degrees! The 9:00AM harbor start was postponed to see if the winds would drop a little. They did and the sailors left the dock at about 9:30 AM. Monday proved to be the windiest day of all. It blew a steady 20+ knots all day. The chop from the shallow waters was nasty providing breaking waves throughout the course. Definitely a day for the big kids. All our sailors headed onto the course without hesitation to try their luck on this last day. Will and Jack swamped and capsized respectively and headed in after finishing the first race. The rest of the team stayed on the water and finished the final two races. Patrick Snow gets some special recognition, he was hesitant about going out, but stayed on the water all day. What a day it was, three windy cold races, but the sailors returned to shore with huge smiles. Three races were sailed, and with a rush to get in the last start before 2PM, all starts were held under a black flag.
Southern Yacht Club was completely destroyed by a fire during Hurricane Katrina barely over one year ago. Despite this devastating event SYC, was fully functional and through its impressive race committee work, proved why it is one of the most respected Yacht Clubs in the United States today. The race committee sweated the details and kept the course square while working with a steadily left shifting breeze. Their attention to safety was equally as impressive, and included offshore medical coordination and on water medical services.
For a really great video documentary of the event go to http://www.t2p.tv/
Click here for the video
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