LYC Optimist Sailors Continue Excellent Summer
August 4-6 and August 14-15, 2009
Newport, RI and Southport, CT
LYC’s Optimist sailors continued their streak of fast sailing, placing three sailors in the top 11 out of 323 boats at the USODA New England Championships, and two sailors in the top five at the JSA Optimist Championships, with Reinier Eenkema van Dijk winning the title.
22 LYC Opti sailors trekked to Narragansett Bay and SailNewport for the New Englands, held August 4-6. 323 boats competed in the championship division and 43 more boats competed in the Green Fleet for novice Opti sailors. Harry Koeppel scored three bullets in the 9-race series to finish second overall, four points out of first place. Drew Gallagher finished fifth and Reinier Eenkema van Dijk finished 11th. Other LYC sailors included Matt Kaplan (30), Casey Klingler (34), Ty Ingram (62), Elizabeth Hansen (70), Forrest Simpson (99), Chrissie Klingler (135), Katie DeVore (200), William Gallagher (235) and Caitlin Webers (294). In the Green Fleet, Jackie DeVore finished third overall, with Christopher Pace (6), Jessamyn Ingram (12), Sophia Linkas (13), Tucker Leicht (16), Grace Fitzgerald (18), Lizzy Clarke (19), Lindsey DeVore (26), Eric Hansen (37) and Daisy DeVore (40) also racing. The New Englands are a qualifier for the 2010 U.S. Optimist National Team Trials, with the top 25% of age-eligible competitors qualifying for next year’s event. For complete results, photos, and video, please visit the event website.
A week later, 11 LYC sailors competed at the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound’s Optimist Championship, the top local regatta for area sailors who qualified over the course of the summer. Reinier Eenkema van Dijk dominated the 155-boat fleet at Pequot YC, discarding a third place finish in the 8-race series to win the title. Reinier is the third LYC Opti sailor to ever win the JSA Opti Champs, following in the footsteps of Paul Tucker (1999) and Alex Takata (2003, 2005). Matt Kaplan finished fifth overall and second in the blue fleet. Chrissie Klingler finished fifteenth and fourth among girls. Other LYCers racing at Champs included Katie DeVore (19), Elizabeth Hansen (21), John Sullivan (24), William Gallagher (35), Tucker Leicht (47), Jessamyn Ingram (68), Andrew Brown (74) and Jackie DeVore (135). LYC had the most boats in the top 25 of any club on the Sound. For complete results from Champs as well as all of the summer’s local Optimist regattas, please visit the JSA website’s regatta page.
LYC will host the Optimist Atlantic Coast Championships October 3-4, with over 250 boats expected to compete.
