Thirteen excited Australian Optimist sailors from both the East and West coast made the trip to the 2007 Singapore National Optimist Championship. With 272 entries this was to be one of the biggest fleets for our young sailors to tackle.

A day to get the charter boats organised and get on the water for some training in an 8-knot wind that was fading fast gave the team a taste of the current and the aircraft that constantly flew overhead.

Day one of racing and the drifter quickly built to a challenging 18 knots against the current, creating an Opti swallowing chop. Three races were grabbed in these challenging conditions with Sean Ott and Matt Wearn making an impressive start to the event, always in the top bunch.

Over the remainder of the regatta, light conditions frustrated the race officials and sailors alike. Wind that struggled to top 6 knots, compounded by the fast moving current forced the sailors to spend many hours ashore with racing postponed, allowing for time to make new friends, and it should be noted that the Aussies did perform well in the soccer games that were held to help pass the time.

With a need to hold two more races to complete the qualifying section of the regatta, heats 4 and 5 were held with just enough wind to enable the fleet to sail against the current. As the day wore on and the wind became patchy, the race area was being influenced by aircraft that flew only a stone’s throw above the Opti fleet.

With the day producing a mix of results it was a nervous wait over night for the sailors and coach to find out were they stood with the fleet set to be divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze groups. Fleets were posted, then pulled down, then reposted a number of times as the organisers wrestled to correct some scoring errors. A particularly frustrating wait for Dylan Passmore who had scored well the day before, and Amy Gallagher that had struggled in the tricky conditions, as they lay close to the cut off for the gold and Silver fleets.

Final qualifying results had left Dylan the last to make it to the gold fleet and Amy disappointed to fall just outside the cut leaving her in the Silver but she was later rewarded with the Silver fleet Bronze medal.

Only two more heats were possible as the light conditions continued. Sean Ott finished best of the team in 20th but all of our sailors showed impressive grit and determination in such a fickle regatta. For our sailors the experience of sailing with one of the world’s best teams was invaluable. For those that can I’m sure they will be looking forward to returning in 2008.