Optimist Regattas

10 races over 4 days and the results for the 2009 African Optimist Championships that were sailed in Richards Bay, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa are in:

The top 10 places went to:

1st: James Oliver (Australia)
2nd: Zakaria Khoualed (Algeria)
3rd: Alex Lehtinen (South Africa)
4th: Milly Bennett Australia)
5th: Tarick Nielsen Tanzania)
6th: Imene Ouneyssa Cherif Sahraoui (Algeria)
7th: Mohamed Raouf Ben Naceur (Tunisia)
8th: Marcello Marcia (South Africa)
9th: Tiran Long (South Africa)
10th: Denis Pierre (Morocco)

Final Results from the Optimist African Championships (PDF - 49.18 Kilobytes)

Final Results from the Optimist African Championships (PDF - 49.18 Kilobytes) - SORTED by Country.

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Discuss the Optimist Africans Regatta in an OPEN forum HERE.

8 races down and the last day of sailing today, Saturday 18 July 2009.

The top three places belong to:

1st: James Oliver (Australia) on 12 points
2nd: Zakaria Khoualed (Algeria) on 20 points
3rd: Alex Lehtinen (South Africa) on 26 points

With only three of the top 10 places being held by South African sailors it certainly looks as though the stranglehold that RSA has held on the top places in the African Optimist Championships in the past has been broken.

DAY 3 Results from the Optimist African Championships (PDF - 47.18 Kilobytes)

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Discuss the Optimist Africans Regatta in an OPEN forum HERE.

Team results from Optimist Africans:

1. RSA1
2. Angola
3. Tunisia/Australia
4. Algeria
5. Tanzania
6. Mauritius
7. RSA2
8. Kenya
9. Zim

Also Day 2 results can be found here.

The Optimist fleet managed to get three races in yesterday, 15 July and it is now official, as they have sailed the required minimum of five races.

The fleet sailed in challenging conditions on the South Side of the harbour, again approximately 2.5 nautical miles off shore. The winds varied from 15 to 18 knots South West with big swells.

A number of breakages necessitated sailors retiring before the rest of the tired fleet of Optimist sailors returned at 4:00 pm., grateful for the assistance of the Magic Sailing School in retrieving their boats.

For supper last night was sheep on the spit followed by a disco afterwards.

At the African Countries meeting last night it was confirmed that Kilifi, Kenya will host the 2010 African Championships in July next year and that Tunisia will host the 2011 African Optimist Championships in September that year.

The jury were kept on the hop, honest and justified their daily bread as they had to hear 4 protests after yesterday's sailing.

Today is a lay day and many of the teams have gone paintballing and intend to shop afterwards.

We believe that Juror Peter Johnson is intent on seeing a leopard so Dave Booth has taken the jury along to Hluhle Game Farm. My main concern is that the other jurors also want to see more wild animals - haven't they had enough seeing the wild animal Optimist Sailors in the Jury room! Of course it is also an opportunity for 'wild animals' to see a different type of 'wild sea animal' as well, so I suppose that it is 'All Good'.

Glynis and Ronnie Baer are off to St Lucia which is a great hippo viewing spot, just hope they don't bring one back to Richards Bay as a companion for the lonely hippo hanging around the club.

Some images from the Optimist Team Racing that took place yesterday, 15 July 2009:

Zakaria Khoualed (Algeria) and Edivaldo Torres (Angola)

Bilal Nedjari (Algeria 630) and Anis Guedmim (Algeria 365)

James Oliver (Australia) - Current Points Leader

Ruben Heard (South Africa 1271) and Marcello Marcia (South Africa 1271)

Mohamed Raouf Ben Naceur (Tunisia 85) and Milly Bennett (Australia 444)

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Discuss the Optimist Africans Regatta in an OPEN forum HERE.

The start of the African Optimist Championships yesterday saw two races sailed (First Day's Results).

The first race saw 4 attempts at getting a clean start amidst moans that the line was too long, but Principal Race Officer, Jimmy Melville soon whipped the fleet into shape and got a second race in before it was time to go home.

Both races of approximately one hour in length, were sailed on the South Side and about 2.5 nautical miles out owing to the presence of a dredger and large swells. Whales were also spotted by the sailors - welcome to Africa!

After the lucky draw the sailors all slunk off to bed (well, to the hotel at least!) at 7:30 p.m.

IODA rep, Dave Booth was sent out early this morning to check the conditions and came back shaking his head as the swells were taller than him - Dave is a good 2 metres tall.

The call was then made to rather have Team Racing today in the inshore sailing area right off of the Zululand Yacht Club. Great for spectators. Team racing officials can look forward to an action packed day as they run a scheduled 36 races in a Round Robin elimination format in which all teams are taking part.

Glynis tells me that the hippo is still hanging around and the Zimbabweans are taking it's presence in their stride as they are quite used to sailing around hippos and crocodiles. Although it is quite a blast for some of the more foreign sailors who have never seen such a beast.

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Discuss the Optimist Africans Regatta in an OPEN forum HERE

The results from the first days sailing at the 2009 African Optimist Championships are in.

The top three places are currently held by:

1st: James Oliver, Australia on 2 points with two firsts
2nd: Alex Lehtinen, South Africa on 6 points with a 4th and a 2nd
3rd: Zakaria Khoualed, Algeria on 9 points with a 3rd and a 9th

Click HERE for the full results (PDF - 62 kilobytes).

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Discuss the Optimist Africans Regatta in an OPEN forum HERE

The Opening Ceremony of the 2009 Optimist Africans being held from the Zululand Yacht Club in Richards Bay, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, went off without a hitch yesterday.

All the teams were bussed to the small craft harbour where they boarded various small boats and proceeded to the Zululand Yacht Club Marina carrying their country flags and dressed in team uniforms. After embarking the sailors were introduced individually to the assembled dignitaries and spectators.

The Mayor of Umhlatuze District, incorporating Richards Bay, The Honourable Zakhele Mnqayi welcomed the sailors to the Championship and wished them fair winds and good sailing.

The blessing of the waters ceremony was presided over by David Savides who kept a watchful eye on the sailors as they poured water from their home country into the massive urn provided for the occasion.

Traditional Zulu dancers and a Marimba Band provided entertainment whilst hungry sailors fell onto the traditional eats provided in the tent.

Then it was back to the hotel for weary excited sailors who were on an early curtain call for the first day of racing, with the first bus leaving at 7:30 a.m. today.

Helped by members of the Magic Moments sailing school, launching took place at 9:45 a.m. today and Bridge Officer Jimmy Melville chose the South Shore area as the place for the first set of races today. After 4 attempts the first race finally got underway in a rising wind.

Currently the wind is blowing at around 18 knots North North East.

All the coaches and judges are firmly settled on brand new Rubber Ducks and hard at work.

Daily breakfasts are provided by the Zululand Yacht Club ladies committee called the Salticrax (The ZYC is not without humour, I am told!).

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Mayor of Umhlatuze - Zakhele Mnqayi

South Africa Sailor Trent Bingham adds to the Mixing of the Waters

The Algerian Team raise their flag

The Angolan Team raise their flag

The Tunisian Team raise their flag

The South African Team march in with their flag

The Zimbabwean Team raise their flag

The Tanzanian Team raise their flag

The Mauritian Team march in with their flag

Racing Canned for the Day

The scheduled practice race today, Sunday 12 July 2009, for the Optimist Africans 2009 was cancelled due to inclement weather and high winds.

The opening ceremony was, as a consequence moved forward to 3:00 p.m when the Mayor of Umhlatuze will welcome the sailors, officials, parents and spectators to the Africans 2009. The mixing and blessing of the waters brought by the various teams will take place at the Zululand Yacht Club in Richards Bay.

Helping the sailors launch and retrieve their boats are members of the Magic Moments Sailing Academy. The Magic Moments Sailing academy is a Zululand Yacht Club initiative that trains orphans from the "House of Shalom" orphanage. These children are coached by Bushy Greef and their mission is to;

1. Have fun
2. Be introduced to sailing
3. Experience Sailing and Club etiquette
4. Increase boat maintenance skills.

....... all in order to to lead to further opportunities in life.

The Magic Moments Team that are assisting at the 2009 Optimist Africans

The first race will take place on Monday 13 July and the WindGuru seems to be looking on the venue with favour with predictions of a 10 knot Northerly at 11:00 a.m., kicking slightly to the east and rising to 14 knots at 2:00 p.m. An air temperature of 25 degrees and sea swell of 1.4 metres should ensure a good start to the regatta.

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

The launching area for the Optimist Africans 2009 - a gathering place for upright birds with binoculars glued to their eyes and cold Fanta Browns at the ready!

Richards Bay and the Zululand Yacht Club are a hive of activity as the Optimist Africans Committee prepare the venue and welcome sailors to South Africa for the 2009 African Optimist Continental Championships.

As of today 5 teams have arrived at the venue; Mauritius, Tanzania, Algeria and South Africa. For the last three days the South African team have been training at the venue.

Penny Ma, from Zou Intermarine has been hard at work preparing the boats which all have white hulls, grey decks, dark and light grey stripes on the transom and boat covers. Two of the South African sailors, Ruben Heard and Josh Woolard will be sailing charter boats and the rest of the team will be sailing their private Optimists.

I believe that the Australian parents will have to re-asses their wishes that they sent to their sailors and, especially the warning to not step in Elephant poo, as a hippo was spotted in the lagoon close by, so sailors; "Don't step in the Hippo poo!"

The practise race is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Sunday and the WindGuru is predicting a 4 knot westerly, rising sharply to 15 knots Southerly at 2:00 p.m. Air temperatures are predicted in the low 20 degrees centigrade. At 5:00 p.m. on Sunday evening the Mayor of Umhlatuze will welcome the sailors, officials, parents and spectators to the Africans 2009.

Registration will take place from Saturday morning and measurement will be done under the watchful eye of Hans Thijsse.

The jury consists of Mohammed Azoug (Algeria), Peter Johnson (United Kingdom, Andrez Peres (Spain), Geoff Myburgh and Alan Keene (both from South Africa). These fine gentlemen will be keeping a beady eye on the sailors and Bridge Officer Jimmy Melville for the duration of the regatta.

The first race is on Monday 13 July and the wind predictions for the rest of the week are mostly for light in the morning increasing significantly in the afternoon, from all directions on the compass, except for Tuesday which looks as though it may favour the heavy wind specialists throughout the day.

Penny from Zou Intermarine

Africans Sailing Area

Zou Intermarine Optimist Charter Boat

Click Here to wish your Optimist Sailors Good Luck in the African Optimist Championships.

Mike Pammenter was the youngest of the young guns on Telefonica Blue which came 3rd in the Volvo Ocean Race and he was bowman.

Despite his tender years, Pammenter has some previous offshore experience on big boats. Three years ago he was a crewman on the 98-foot super maxi Maximus, which smashed the round the Isle of Wight record at Cowes Week.

The Volvo, he says, is the ultimate challenge. "For me this is a big thing, I mean, this is the start of hopefully many major sailing events to come and I am just really looking forward to the opportunity of racing around the world with a lot of awesome guys and a great team."

Hello Guys,

Firstly I must say well done for reaching it this far and being able to represent South Africa at the African Championships. It is an excellent achievement to be able to tell your friends and family that you will be sailing for South Africa. Not too many people get the privilege to represent South Africa. So before the regatta has even started you must be proud of what you have achieved to date.

By now you would have done all the sailing, training and preparation needed to race in the Regatta. So just remember that when the first race starts on the 12th of July, you will be ready. The best way to start a regatta is relaxed and confident in your ability and your preparation.

Like yourselves I also sailed optimists in South Africa. I was born and grew up in Durban. I sailed as a junior for Point Yacht Club in all the regattas around the country. I must say that I was never good enough to represent South Africa at such a young age. But I enjoyed my sailing and always made sure that I was enjoying myself. From optimists, i moved onto Dabchicks and then 29ers. From there I started to sail small Keel boats. All the time I was enjoying my sailing, which is the most important thing. Just last week I finished the worlds toughest sailing race. Its called the Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo Ocean Race is a race around the World and it took 9 months to complete. The race took us into some of the roughest Seas in the world. We even sailed around Cape Horn. The Volvo Ocean Race is something that I have dreamed of doing since I was your age and sailing my optimist in Durban Harbour. So just remember that dreams can come true for anyone. As long as you put your mind to it and never ever give up!!

So good luck for the regatta, my thoughts will be with you and I will be checking your results on the Internet. Make South Africa. and me proud!

Cheers

Mike Pammenter

Michael Pammenter, bowman, Antonio Cuervas-Mons, pitman, Pablo Arrarte Elorza, trimmer, Daryl Wislan

Send your messages of encouragement to the Optimist African Championships 2009 Sailor of your choice here.