Optimists at Spa Youth Regatta 1997 July 5th-9th

What success, 1st overall (Paul Campbell-James), 1st girl (Nicky Barnes) and 6 in the top 14 for the British, from a fleet of 101 Optimist from 9 different countries. The standard was high with the Dutch, Belgium, American, Polish, Czechs and British full Worlds teams attending and also some of the Worlds sailors from Ireland and Germany.

With winds never really exceeding a force 3 the very strong tide proved to be very significant, particularly for the Optimist. For some races the boats hardly were making headway over the water. The British coach Rob Wilson was very helpful to the British team with the tide.

For the first day 2 races were held. Mark Powell shot off the start line to be second at the windward mark. Paul was hot on his heels and eventually won the race, followed by Stefan Hyde from Ireland. Elliot Willis reached 5th and Mark eventually held on to 7th. The tide caused a huge bow on the off-wind legs as sailors experienced the extreme tide for the first time. In the second race of the day black flags were necessary as the tide was sweeping the boats over the start line. Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes and Elliot reached the windward mark 2nd and 3rd. The race was won by Francis Proot from Belgium with Paul 2nd, Stefan Hyde 3rd and Laurie 4th.

The following day saw 3 races and a long day on the water. The wind was dropping and the second race of the day was outstanding for the Brits gaining 4 of the top 5 places and a 7th from Alex Cherry. The race being won by Elliot with his brother Myles in 4th, Paul 3rd and Laurie 5th. At the start of the third race the sailors had to be going full speed to cross the start line, many took up to 7 minutes to get over the line as the tide kept whizzing them away from it. For Alex and Elliot, however, this was not a problem and they took the early lead. Eventually the race was won by Paul, with Francis Proot 2nd and Elliot 3rd.

By the third day the wind had dropped off to virtually nothing and the scheduled 3 races were eventually reduced to one which was held when the tide was at its weakest. It still went to 2 black flags and just to make life difficult the tide changed direction and speed between the attempts to start causing chaos and more than 20 sailors were black flagged. Nicky Barnes got a cracking start but lost it on the second beat which, with the tide, could be laid on one tack. The course was shortened with Paul 2nd and Nicky 3rd.

On the next day 3 races were held to try and catch up the schedule. Slightly more wind and the top 3 overall each achieved a win (Paul, Stefan Hyde and Francis Proot). Elliot had a 2nd and the competition was really beginning to take shape.

The second discard would come in on the final day and a refreshing breeze came in to produce the best sailing of the week. At the windward mark it looked like the Brits had it made with most of their sailors in the top 20. Eventually Paul was 2nd, Elliot 3rd, Laurie 6th ,Mark 9th and Nicky 10th. It made no change to the overall results, however, with Paul winning.

Results:

1st, Paul Campbell-James (GBR 15pts); 2nd, Stefan Hyde (IRL 31pts); 3rd, Francis Proot (BEL 32pts); 4th, Elliot Willis (GBR 39pts). Other British: 7th, Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes; 8th, Nicky Barnes; 11th, Alex Cherry; 14th, Mark Powell; 23th, Myles Willis; 32nd, Nick Cherry; 33rd, Ed Green; 48th Matthew Jenkinson; 55th, Gemma Fitzjohn-Sykes; 89th, Susanne Bennell.

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Last modified: May 12, 2002