Challenging conditions at RLymYC's annual Optimist Open Regatta
The Lymington Optimist Open took place at Royal Lymington Yacht Club on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th May 2022. This annual regatta is a popular event, with 73 entrants in Main Fleet and 33 in Regatta Fleet, attracting sailors from as far as Sunderland and the Channel Islands.
The line up included all of the top Optimist sailors who have been selected to represent Great Britain this summer, including 5/5 of the Worlds Team, 6/6 of the Euros Team, 11/11 of Dev1 Team, 11/16 of Dev2 Team and 13/20 of the Junior Irish Team! A great line up for a cracking event for all participants in both Main Fleet and Regatta Fleet.
In spite of the warm sunshine, Saturday proved to be very challenging with the northerly breeze shut off by the sea breeze. Regatta Fleet headed to Oxey Lake which proved to have perfect conditions with sufficient breeze and little tide.
The larger Main Fleet needed a much bigger race area and so had no option but to head further offshore. Conditions were really tough; inshore the breeze had forty degree shifts, further offshore there was too much tide in spite of the more stable light breeze.
These conditions for Main Fleet were difficult, providing an all but impossible job for Race Officer, Roger Wilson. The only race of the day saw just nine boats finish within the time limit. PRO called it a day.
On Sunday the cooler weather and weaker tides allowed Main Fleet racing to succeed in 8-10kts of breeze. The fleet managed 4 races, allowing a discard to come in to play (allowing those DNF on Saturday to discard).
Regatta Fleet, with double gold medalist Sarah Ayton as their Race Officer, completed 11 races over the weekend, with spectators enjoying a great view from the Sea Wall.
All sailors were ready for their late lunch supplied by RLymYC as soon as they tallied off, which was almost as popular as the ‘beer tokens’ for the volunteers to enjoy in the Club’s bar!
Congratulations to all sailors who took part, the final results were:
Main Fleet
1st - Archie Munro Price (RLymYC)
2nd - Dirk Rogers (RLymYC)
3rd - Lila Edwards (Parkstone YC)
4th - Dylan Creighton (Cardiff Bay YC)
5th - Freya Hutchinson (RLymYC)
(Top under 11 sailor - Jonny Rogers (RLymYC)
Regatta Fleet
1st - Isla Hutchinson (RLymYC)
2nd - Sean Di Salle (Gurnard SC)
3rd - Rupert Garlick (Burghfield SC)
4th - Ruby Coster (RLymYC)
5th - Chloe Davis (Parkstone YC)
Prizes were awarded to the winners by Olympians Sarah Ayton and Nick Rogers.
Many thanks to over 80 volunteers both ashore and afloat and to Harken who provided caps and t-shirts as prizes.
Dan Howe, Fleet Captain of the RLymYC Optimists “It was an honour to welcome so many Optimist sailors and their families to Lymington for the weekend. The light winds and Solent tides challenged both the Race Management and competitors but the smiles on the faces of the sailors as came ashore told us everyone had had a good weekend.”
Photos: Adam Gosling and Paul French
