Scotiabank Optimist Regatta

Sailing fast and hitting the wind shifts “just right” is what led 11-year-old, Wiley Rogers, from Houston, Texas, to win the 19^th annual Scotiabank International Optimist Regatta, held out of the St. Thomas Yacht Club, U.S. Virgin Islands, June 24 to 26. “The waves and wind are what I like about sailing here,” says Rogers, who led going into the last day and held his lead in spite of 2010 defending champion, Jorge Gonzalez from Puerto Rico, winning the last race and closing the score gap to a mere seven points after 11 races. “I also like meeting so many kids from other countries. Jorge is very good and very fast upwind. He has been like a brother to me the last three years I’ve sailed in this regatta.”

Gonzalez finished second, while St. Thomas’ Scott McKenzie placed third overall. McKenzie was also the top scoring U.S. Virgin Islands’ sailor.

Seventy-nine sailors ages 8 to 15 years from 10 nations – Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Trinidad & Tobago, the United States and all three U.S. Virgin Islands – set sail in this Virgin Islands’ Sailing Association sanctioned event. Eleven races were completed for the Advanced Red, White and Blue Fleets and 19 for the Beginner Green Fleets.

Gonzalez’s finish earned him a first place in the 13- to 15-year-old Red Fleet.

“I hadn’t sailed for two weeks before this regatta, so I felt nervous at first,” says the 15-year-old Gonzalez who will compete in the Optimist North American Championships in Long Beach, California, next week. “Then, I started sailing and going fast. But, it wasn’t that easy to win this year.”

Eleven-year-old Rogers also won the 11- to 12-year-old Blue Fleet.

Interestingly, Rogers’ 9-year-old brother, Zane, bested the 10- and under White Fleet.

“Sailing in the clinic really helped me in the regatta,” says Zane Rogers, who credits his father for teaching him how to sail. “It helped me learn to get front row starts.”

The Scotiabank International Optimist Regatta marked only the second regatta that St. Thomas’ Christopher Sharpless had ever sailed. Still, the 10-year-old handily won the Beginner Green Fleet against 28 other sailors from a host of locations.

“My goal was to really try hard because I really wanted to win,” says Sharpless. “My coach definitely pushed me hard and trained me well. It was a lot of fun.”

Fifteen-year-old Justina Pacheco, from the Dominican Republic, finished as Best Female and fifth overall.

“I’ve been training very hard, four days a week,” says Pacheco, “who earned Top Girl and 7^th overall at the Optimist South American Championships in Chile in April. “Here, I looked at the wind and waves and tried to make the best calls. It paid off.”

Puerto Rico’s Miguel Monllor won the Pete Ives Award, given for a combination of sailing prowess, sportsmanship, determination and good attitude both on and off the water.

Meanwhile, Trinidad & Tobago’s Abigail Affoo won the Chuck Fuller Sportsmanship Award.

The regatta’s Principal Race Officer, Ken Legler, who is also the Head Sailing Coach at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, was impressed with the fleet. “All the kids handled their boats well, surfing downwind and wave jumping upwind,” Legler says.

The Scotiabank International Optimist Regatta has been sponsored by Scotiabank almost since the event’s inception. The week started off with the Sea Star Clinic, run from coaches from OptiSailors.com, and included the one-day Sea Star Team Race on Thursday.

RESULTS (Top 3)

RED FLEET

1. Jorge Gonzalez, Puerto Rico (40)

2. Justina Pacheco, Dominican Republic (70)

3. Mack Fox, USA (80)

BLUE FLEET

1. Wiley Rogers, USA (33)

2. Scott McKenzie, St. Thomas, USVI (53)

3. Sam Morrell, BVI (69)

WHITE FLEET

1. Zane Rogers, USA (283)

2. Juan Martin Pacheco, Dominican Republic (331)

3. AnaClare Sole, USA (351)

GREEN FLEET

1. Christopher Sharpless, St. Thomas, USVI (45)

2. Jack Finley, St. Thomas, USVI (97)

3. Santiago Pacheco, Dominican Republic (105)

For full results, visit www.regattanetwork.com and for more information about the regatta, visit www.styc.net

Please also visit the Scotiabank International Optimist Regatta on Facebook!

ABOUT THE SPONSORS

 
Scotiabank.Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With more than 70,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve some 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a broad range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With assets above $526 billion (as at October 31, 2010), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS).

Sea Star Line, LLC.Headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, Sea Star Line offers cargo transportation services from North America to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Islands. Sea Star’s RO/CON vessels are the most versatile in the trade – able to carry the widest range of unique and diverse cargoes. Company operations are certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and Green Office standards, and was selected for the QMS Company of the Year Award. Sea Star recently received top honors as a recipient of the 2009 Logistics Management Quest for Quality Award in the Ocean Carrier segment.

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Ten teams of four sailors each took to the seas off St. Thomas’ east end today to compete in the 2011 Sea Star Team Racing Championships. At the conclusion, it was Team ISV1, made up of U.S. Virgin Islands’ sailors Colin Brego, Paige Clarke, Christopher Murphy and Scott McKenzie, which emerged victorious. This isn’t surprising as the same quartet of sailors finished second in team racing at the Optimist South American Championships two months ago in Chile.

“That win played a major role in our win today,” says Clarke.

Another factor, Murphy adds, “is that we covered the other team and never slowed down.”

McKenzie agrees and says, “We had lots of good starts and good speed.”

Team FOR (Florida Ocean Racing) with Nick Hernandez, Carolyn Corbet, Emmett Ward and Andy Burns finished second, while Team BVI & AHO made up of Mollee Donovan, Sam Morrell and Jason Putley from the BVI and Odile van Aanholt from Curacao, ended third in the Sea Star Team Racing Championships.

Earlier this week, nearly 70 junior sailors competed in the three-day Sea Star Clinic, held June 20 to 22. The clinic was run by internationally-recognized coaches from OptiSailors.com, who included Santiago Galan, Gonzalo Pollitzer, Manuel Resano, Justine O’Connor, and Agustin ‘Argy’ Resano. Local St. Thomas Yacht Club sailor, Paul Stoeken, of Island Sol, assisted with the Green Fleet.

“I learned to start better in races and I learned to tack and gybe better,” says Kathryn ‘Katie’ Caputo, age 10, who took part in the clinic and has been sailing for one year out of the St. Maarten Yacht Club.

Keith McSwain, District Manager of Sea Star Line, says, “We are excited and proud to sponsor the 2011 Sea Star Line Clinic & Team Race. This wonderful event helps to inspire, educate and enrich the lives of our youth while equipping them with invaluable life skills gained from the sailing experience.”

The 19th Annual Scotiabank International Optimist Regatta gets underway tomorrow. Seventy-nine sailors ranging in age from 8 to 15 and sailing from Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Trinidad & Tobago, the United States and U.S. Virgin Islands will compete in this three-day regatta that ends Sunday.

In addition to the hi-caliber racing, shoreside activities included tonight’s Parade of Nations and Welcome Party, as well as a Caribbean-themed night that include fire blowers and finally a beachside barbecue and Awards Ceremony scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday June 26th.

Trophies will be awarded to the top five finishers in each fleet and top three overall. Additional trophies include the Peter Ives’ Perpetual Trophy, the Chuck Fuller Sportsmanship Award and the Top Female sailor.

Lawrence A. Aqui, vice president of Scotiabank for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, says, “As an avid sailor myself, I think it’s incredible to see sailors as young as 8 years old tack up wind with one hand on the mainsheet and the other on the tiller all at the same time sailing competitively. This event has helped to build a sailing dynasty of incredible sailors here in the Virgin Islands.”

Scotiabank Optimist Regatta