Matilda waltzes to superb series victory

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s Optimist Summer Series produced a thrilling finale at the weekend, with Matilda Nicholls claiming overall victory.

It was the culmination of three weekends of intense racing featuring 55 sailors and the perfect prelude to this week’s IODA North American Championships (Optinam) in Bermuda.

Racing on Saturday was held in the Great Sound with breeze of 12-16 knots from the south. 

In the first race of the day, Campbell Patton, 12, took control but had Joe Arrowsmith, 11, finishing in hot pursuit ahead of Nicholls, 11, George Buckley, 12, and Yannick Hillier, 12. 

Race two saw Chase Cooper, 15, in charge, with Arrowsmith turning in another great performance in second and Adriana Penruddocke, 13, Nicholls and Camille Chin-Gurret, 13, following her home.

Felix Cutler, 11, also had a  great race, finishing sixth just ahead of Bermuda National Champion Benn Smith, 14. 

The final race of the day was won again by Cooper, with Buckley second and  Nicholls third. Peter Dill, 15, and and Digicel Squad sailor Micah Raynor-Thomas, 12, rounded off the five. The last day of the series saw lighter winds and Singapore sailor Samuel Neo (SIN119) — runner-up at the 2012 World Championships — leading at first mark. Cooper, Buckley and Nicholls led the fleet home in that order.

Race two saw a major switch in wind and personnel as Alice Reeves, 14, seized the lead and held on to claim victory.

The final race of the day saw Buckley take his opportunity to chalk up a win — he was followed home by Ceci Wollmann and Yannick Hillier.

RBYC Sailing Director Tom Herbert-Evans said: “The intention of this regatta was to give the Bermuda team for Optinam a chance to prepare for the main Optinam Regatta and for the many sailors not in the team to have a chance to experience sailing on an IODA Championship Course against a number of top quality Optimist sailors — we certainly achieved that. 

“We have been working hard all year to help all our sailors improve, it was great to see so many different sailors hit the front of the Fleet at various times during the weekend. It will give the Bermuda sailors a huge confidence boost ahead of the Optinam Regatta and all the other regattas the kids will be attending this summer.”