The weekend of November 10, 11 & 12, the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club hosted the 7th annual Popular Securities International Optimist Regatta. Twenty-six sailors from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands sailed nine races over three days in varying conditions at this competition, the second of three qualifying regattas held throughout the year, in order to be selected for the South American Championships, North American Championships, and the Optimist Worlds.
As you can imagine competition was intense since only the top five sailors from Puerto Rico with the best scores in the three qualifying regattas get to attend the South American Championships and the Worlds; and only nine sailors from Puerto Rico get to qualify for the North American Championships next year.
Optimist sailors typically race on the Green, White, Blue or Red fleet based on age and experience. For qualifying regattas the White, Red and Blue fleets race together as the “Advanced” fleet and qualifying is done based on the overall race results regardless of which fleet the sailor belongs to.
Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and to Raul Rios for winning both the South American and North American Championships this year (both out of 185 sailors) and also to Jose J. Nigaglioni for finishing Seventh at the South American Championships.
Also, congratulations to the Puerto Rican team for winning the Team Racing in both the South American and the North American Championships and the Florida State Championships this year. Quite an accomplishment for such young sailors!
For complete results: Contact Quino Nigaglioni at quinoniga@gmail.com.
Capt. Tony Miró is a life-long sailor, photographer and web developer who lives in Puerto Rico with his family. He enjoys sailing aboard his Hunter 376 ¡Nada Mas! www.sailboatspecs.com
Overall Results
Skipper Club Fleet
Rios-de-Choudens, Raul CNSJ Red
Aponte, Ivan PISA Red
Barrows, Ian STYC Blue
Monllor, Fernando I. PYFC Red
Nigaglioni, Jose J. PYFC Red
Results by Fleet
Red
1 PUR5395 Rios-de-Choudens, Raul
2 PUR859 Aponte, Ivan
4 PUR4557 Monllor, Fernando I.
Blue
3 ISV8008 Barrows, Ian
6 PUR5595 Perdomo, Juan C.
8 PUR1 Aponte, Victor
White
19 PUR1111 Ramirez, Fernando
20 PUR5200 Martinez, Manuel
21 PUR397 Reguero, Andre
Green
1 PUR4557 Monllor, Miguel
2 PUR10628 Lehardy, Raoul A.
3 PUR11 Aponte, Aura
