Optimists at Carsington

Published 11:44 on 21 Nov 2018

Over the weekend of 17th and 18th November the Optimist Class (IOCA) held their winter championships at Carsington Sailing Club. This was smaller than their usual events but even so 100 boats entered and had a great event. Although cold, the wind was kind with a north-easterly breeze varying between 6 and 15 knots over the 2 days.

The entry was split into the main fleet and a regatta fleet for those newer to competition. The main fleet managed to get 11 races in and the regatta fleet got the 12 planned races. The main fleet race officer started them on the "U" flag and the competitive fleet had a lot of boats over the line forcing a few general recalls. The RO (Charli Hadden) inevitably resorted to the black flag and got more away. We did get a huge 23 black flagged boats at the beginning and 48 U or black flagged over the event. The sailors including the 18 regatta fleet all had a great competition.

They had travelled from all parts of the UK.

All the results can be seen on the Optimist Class web site.

I believe however that the highlight of the weekend was the atmosphere. Lots of Club members pitched in to help both in advance and over the event and they combined really well with the Optimist Class volunteers. Ceri and his team got the ribs on and off the water really slickly and the Optimist beach team launched and recovered the competitors without problem. The work done laying stone alongside the slip and jetty moving really paid off.

A couple of quotes are appropriate from the visitors.

"What a marvellous club this is, and what great team you have. We had beautiful 11 races over two days, all back to back and under great sailing conditions. The galley fed us great food at reasonable prices, and the ribs were loaded off and on again at the blink of an eye. Well done to you all and thanks for hosting us, the Oppie fleet".

The Class Association wrote: "I have had three very complimentary emails from parents saying how much they like the club and the enthusiasm of the CSC members. Usually we get not compliments following an event."

The Chair of the Optimist Class Association wrote: Please could you pass on my sincere thanks for all the hard work and hospitality from everyone at the club during our Winter Championships. I had so many complements (and more this weekend) from members who attended the event about how much they enjoyed themselves and how much this was down to your club and members. There were so many small things that you'd organised and were noticed - and that wasn't just the amazing cakes!
We very much hope that you will welcome us back in the future and look forward to seeing you all.

Finally a big thank you to all the Club for providing the event and contributing to the clubs reputation.