Qualifiers advance at Optimist Team Race Nationals

Pensacola, FL (July 21, 2018) – The marathon on the waters of Pensacola Bay turned into a sprint today as racing on Day 2 of the 2018 Optimist Team Race US National Championship pushed into high gear.

Under the guise of Team Race National Championship Principal Race Officers (PRO) Dwight LeBlanc and John Alden Meade, the twenty-four teams powered through the remaining 13 races necessary to split the fleet into Gold and Silver groups on the Alpha and Bravo courses. The PRO’s then orchestrated a clockwork factory of racing in the next round with starts every four minutes for both fleets.

With the Stage 1 Gold Fleet Qualifying Round-Robins finished by mid afternoon, the top six teams from each course moved to Course Alpha to race up to 66 more races to qualify for the Stage 2 Gold Fleet Knock-out races. The 12 other teams will compete on the Bravo Course.

Teams that qualified for the Gold Fleet Round-Robin #2 from Course Alpha were LYC 1 (Team 19), Chicago Skyliners (Team 4), CRYC Vectran (Team 8), LOOT 1 (Team 17), LISOT GOLD (Team 15), LOOT 2 (Team 18).

Teams that qualified for the Gold Fleet round robin #2 from Course Bravo were LISOT BLACK (Team 13), CRYC Spectra (Team 7), CERT Blue (Team 2), JK Blå (Team 10), LISOT CYAN (Team 14) and LYC 2 (Team 20).

After facing a stiff Southwesterly breeze of 10 knots puffing up to 15, the Gold Fleet completed 40 races and came off the water at 6PM.

If time allows tomorrow, 66 more races will be sailed in the Gold and Silver Fleet Round-Robbins followed by knock-out matches between the top 12 teams in each fleet to decide the title. The Sailing instructions allow for a shorter format to end Stage 1 and move into Stage 2. Race-wins do not carry forward into the knock-outs and all teams may not race and races may take place on one or two courses depending on time and weather.

Racing in the four-day Optimist US Nationals was held July 15-18. The 2018 Optimist Girls National Championship was sailed Thursday July 19 and the 2018 Optimist Team Race National Championship will run on July 20-22.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: Pensacola Yacht Club