Opti North Americans 2009

Event report by Alexander Fritz
North American Optimist Dinghy Championships, Boca Chica, Dominican Republic
June 26th to July 9th

After travel by bus to Seattle, flying overnight to Newark, NJ to meet up with some of the other Canadian team members, the final flight took us to Santo Domingo, DR. Boca Chica is just 15 minutes away from the Las Americana’s Airport, in the South West of the Island.

Arriving at the airport, it was hot and very humid. We arrived at the hotel Hoteur, which was accommodations as well as event site in one for all competitors, coaches and parents. While the hotel was older, rooms were ok and more importantly food was good and plenty. We were told not to leave the hotel grounds and in fact it had armed security guards all around, even at the beach where all the equipment and boats were stored. The people we met everywhere were very friendly though.

The Canadian team consisted of 11 sailors, the biggest in recent North American Optimist Championships for Canada, since there was no 2009 Canadian Euro team this year. Our coach was Fran Bellocchio from the Nova Scotia based “COAST” and Rhode Island based “FAST” Optimist teams. Fran arranged a 4-day on-site race clinic to get us used to the sailing area, and conditions. It also allowed us to checkout our boats early and we were first to measure everything.

Some other countries had already arrived for training, some as much as 2 weeks earlier, including from Japan, Germany, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

Where we initially thought we would sail inside the bay, behind a huge protective reef, we learned from the other teams quickly that in fact we would sail on the outside in open waters, which meant a long sail/tow as well as big 2+ meter swell and current. The swell was so bad that some sailors and later many parents on the spectator boats became seasick.

Winds during the training days were light – usually 8-10kn. With the steep swell it was tough to make the boat go fast, sometimes you couldn’t see the marks or other boats would come up on you last second. It was constantly steering up and down the waves.

It was also hot and humid, we all definitely had to hydrate and some of the sailors on many teams had trouble getting used to the conditions, having upset stomachs and trouble sleeping. During the event several sailors even ended up in the hospital for infusions.
The Opening Ceremonies were done on an old Military Base but very nice. Over 200 sailors attended the event from 26 different countries around the world. Overall everyone cared a lot for the sailors, they had even built huts for our gear and to provide shade at the beach and all kinds of food and fruits were plenty.

Racing days were long because of the daily tows out into deep water. Once the regatta started winds actually increased significantly, especially in the afternoon when on some days major local thunderstorms developed. The increased wind unfortunately also increased the short choppy waves developing white caps slapping into our Optimist from all directions and sail & bail was key.

Fran always setup a debrief after dinner with video footage of the day. We learned a lot from that and also laughed about some of our mistakes, its good to see yourself on TV doing things you don’t think you actually are doing, or doing good things you don’t realize. For example Fran had also taped one of my starts where all was going well except the last 5-8 seconds where I accelerated way faster then the boats around me and I got an OCS. Starts were very critical and many sailors were very aggressive.

On our lay-day the Canadian and Swiss teams together booked at trip on open trucks into the interior of the country, which is part rural, part jungle. We went to a big waterfall for swimming and a BBQ. Because it was Sunday it was crowded with local people.

While driving along the often gravel country roads, I was shocked about the poverty we saw and kids begging not for money but school supplies, simple pencils and paper, books. The Swiss team had anticipated that and came prepared. The truck would stop along the small villages and we all together handed out all kinds of things to kids often not even having shirts or shoes. It was certainly quite the contrast to us lucky kids sailing and being able to go to school at home.

Overall the event was very well organized and good facilities, going home I will miss the warm water and beautiful white sandy beach. I learned a lot, made a lot of new friends and certainly improved my sailing, especially the starts in a big fleet.

I also want to sincerely thank the RVYC Corinthian fund, which helps support my training and attending an international event like this. I hope I have the chance to go back to the Dominican Republic, and next time I will for sure bring lots of school supplies to hand out to the kids there.


Results @http://www.optinam2009.org/app/do/results_view.aspx?id=1123