Page 13 - Jan-Feb 2020

2019 OPTI SEASON IN REVIEW
Ellen Heron Howell
This season was another successful one for the RCYC Optimist Race Team. For many sailors the year kicked off in Florida at the March Break camp in Miami with pre- season training before launching boats in Toronto the following month. This was the first year sailing out of RCYC’s new Youth Sailing Centre at Parliament for spring and fall. Lead by Lauren Laventure and Jean Treadwell, with a lot of sweaty equity from members and parents, the site at Parliament was cleaned up and outfitted with a portable classroom for video playback and chalk talks, and shipping containers for change rooms. Shared with the Ontario Sailing Laser team, as well as RCYC’s Radial, 4.7, Grand Prix and 29er teams, the Parliament site has been a great opportunity for the younger Opti kids to connect with older youth sailors in other classes.
This season, Jared Collinson and Lorenz Magaard- Romano, with help from Charles Savard, coached a tight-knit group of about a dozen sailors, boys and girls aged 11-14, who consistently showed up with smiles, eager to learn how to sail fast and have fun. There were plenty of podium finishes and a lot of laughs. Highlights from the season:
RCYC hosted the CODA May Sailor and Coach clinic and welcomed over 50 Opti sailors to the Club. Starting in May the team competed at six local regattas through September (Lilac Regatta, RCYC Opti Regatta, Fogh Boorman, Steerers, Four Sisters, and Cornish Hen)
Favourite week of the summer? The July training week in Kingston.
Travelling team members competed at five additional regattas: Great Lakes Champs (Erie, PA), US Nationals (Detroit, MI), CORK International, Canadian Opti Champs (Ottawa) and Fall CORK.
Lindsay Davies and Piper Howell competed at the 2019 Optimist North American Championship in Nassau, Bahamas in October.
Matias and Andreas Koechli and Ford and Hudson Amery represented RCYC at the 2019 South Carolina Optimist 3 x 3 Team Racing Invitational in November.
The season isn’t ever really over, with kids attending chalk talks at the City Clubhouse and opportunities to train and compete in the winter months in Florida. All are excited about next spring and another summer of fun and skill development, as well as friendship with their RCYC teammates and other young sailors across the country, and in some cases, around the world.
If your son or daughter is interested in Opti racing, please contact Lauren Laventure and we’ll see you out there in spring 2020.
Photo: TSGphoto.com
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 • KWASIND 13
SAILING