No Go at Optimist Worlds

Pattaya, Thailand (July 18, 2017) – The second half of the individual series of the Optimist World Championship was abandoned after a midday rainstorm followed by a fruitless four hour wait on the water for wind to return.

“I think it was a good call the race committee postponed the launch, keeping us onshore until after the storm passed,” said USA coach Lior Lavie. “Then we had no wind, but we went out and waited and waited. The race committee made a good decision to send us in because another storm was supposed to come. Unfortunately, after abandoning the races, the wind picked up and the storm did not show, but this was not something anyone can control.”

Croatian coach Tina Mihelic was a bit more wistful. “It is what they decided. We didn’t have any races today, but I think the coaches are not so happy because after we returned to shore, there was nice wind and we could have done at least one race.”

Local Race Officer Neil Dunkley said it is one of the risks in a sport that relies on nature to deliver. “If there is wind, we go racing. If there is no wind, we can’t go racing. It’s that simple.”

Hopes are the winds will return to get racing back on track on Wednesday for the final two days of the record-breaking event, which sees 281 sailors from 62 countries competing this year. The individual world championships series continues to July 20 with fleets split into four based on their rankings after six qualifying races.

For those sailors that will be competing for the world title… click here.

Event details – Entry list – Qualifying results – Facebook

Source: Optimist Worlds 2017