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The final day of the championship was nail-biting! Race 15a was completed by
12h30 in shifting winds but several attempts to sail the other four divisions
were abandoned as the Race Committee and sailors waited in 32° heat for the huge
swings to give way to the incoming northerly. Eventually the last divisions
sailed in a fresh breeze, and all divisions completed race 15.
 By chance Julian was in the same start as the overnight leader Griselda Khng
(SIN). His target was to finish in the top nine and two points ahead of his
rival. This he did with very little to spare and emerged as champion by just two
points. Julian Autenrieth from the Bayerischer Y.C., Germany is the 2006 IODA
World Champion. The Latin American sentiment was consoled by the well-deserved
bronze taken by Edgar Diminich of Ecuador who, at 55kg, contradicted the idea
that this was a regatta for lightweights.
Champions of girls' sailing may regret that we do not have a female champion to
follow Tina Lutz's 2005 win but it is notable that 7 of the top 21 sailors were
female.
Also of note was that all of the Singapore team was in the top 15!
Top 15 results:
1. GER11861 - Julian Autenrieth
2. SIN33 - Griselda Khng
3. ECU136 - Edgar Diminich
4. PER284 - Stephanie Zimmermann
5. MAS81 - Rufina Tan Hong Mui
6. NZL4216 - Marcus Hansen
7. ECU118 - Jonathan Martinetti
8. CHI284 - Benjamin Grez
9. ITA6784 - Leonardo Dubbini
10. SIN55 - Russell Kan
11. BRA3036 - Diego Montautti
12. SIN11 - Sean Lee
13. SIN22 - Rachel Lee
14. JPN1145 - Haruka Komiya
15. SIN77 - Timothy Seet
FINAL RSA Results:
| Name |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
R7 |
R8 |
R9 |
R10 |
R11 |
R12 |
R13 |
R14 |
R15 |
Final |
| Brevan Thompson |
68 |
(75) |
13 |
14 |
39 |
58 |
(OCS) |
6 |
62 |
40 |
47 |
32 |
55 |
27 |
31 |
141 |
| Michael Crosland |
28 |
47 |
46 |
47 |
32 |
40 |
22 |
51 |
52 |
20 |
35 |
(62) |
41 |
(63) |
47 |
150 |
| Matthew Shaw |
57 |
(72) |
21 |
37 |
32 |
52 |
(OCS) |
41 |
41 |
37 |
65 |
46 |
48 |
66 |
35 |
173 |
| Scott Stephens |
58 |
(68) |
38 |
56 |
40 |
48 |
45 |
21 |
46 |
52 |
55 |
66 |
55 |
(68) |
(OCS) |
190 |
| Alex Lehtinen |
64 |
(70) |
64 |
58 |
59 |
68 |
(OCS) |
45 |
67 |
69 |
52 |
38 |
49 |
68 |
35 |
208 |
Boats were packed up and handed in and we all made our way to the Radisson,
where a wonderful closing ceremony took place in the Ballroom. The South African
Ambassador, Ben Joubert and his wife also attended the ceremony. The African cup
went to Ahmed Ragab (position 131), and Ahmed had become a firm friend of the
South African team – we were thrilled for him.
After lots of swapping of
gear and many goodbyes and swapping of emails, and promises to write, we
proceeded to bed (or at least to try and get some sleep as we had an early
start). The hotel proceeded to rock throughout the night.
We set off to Buenos Aires the next day and arrived home safely on the 11th of
January.
A final few words. Firstly, thank you to those of you who sent us mail, faxes
and sms’s. When you are so far from home it was great to receive support and
well wishes during this very tough and competitive regatta. A special mention to
Roger Bryant and his wife who welcomed as back at Cape Town International. We
really appreciate the time and trouble that you took to greet us. Thank you too
to Alan Straton who has unfailingly downloaded my reports and photographs.
Next, thank you to my traveling team mates viz.
*
Pete Shaw - our wonderful and dedicated coach, who never gave up
* Sally Shaw, Lynne Crosland & Andrew Thompson – who were always there at every
turn to lend a helping hand. You made it all go smoothly.
Thank you to all our sponsors back home
 Lastly, results were not as we would have wished, and it is my personal belief
that exposure to more international competitions and international coaching will
improve our position on the International scene. Our last involvement in an
international competition at Worlds level was 18 months ago, whereas a lot of
the other top sailors have been attending the Continental championships as well
has other top regattas (it came as a surprise to me that IODA and the sailors’
local sailing bodies sanctioned attendance of their top Worlds’ sailors at
Continentals as well as the Worlds event -in some cases, a number of the IODA
Continentals were attended prior to Worlds i.e. North & South Americans & then
Worlds). What is exciting for us that the next Worlds are in 6 months time. Good
luck to all of you RSA sailors in the Selections process. Also what is of note
is that for some of the top teams, there is heavy Government support and
sponsorship.
The Optimist Worlds Champ is a highly competitive and intense regatta well
attended by 50 countries. As South Africans we had the ability to hang in there
till the very end and to vasbyt! Well done RSA sailors, you did us proud.
From the 2006 RSA Oppie Worlds Team in Montevideo:
Alex Lehtinen RSA1327,
Brevan Thompson RSA 1370,
Matthew Shaw RSA 1369,
Michael Crosland RSA 1368,
Scott Stephens RSA 1339,
Pete Shaw – coach & Alison Thompson - manager,
Contact details: secretary@optimist.co.zaWorlds website: www.optimistworlds.org.uy
Report by Alison Thompson
Optimist Worlds
Photographs
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