A good start and a first-place finish in the final race proved a win for the USA National Team, with sailors representing yacht clubs in Florida, Maryland, Virginia, and Rhode Island, in Thursday’s TOTE Team Racing Championship. The Championship is one of three events sailed out of the St. Thomas Yacht Club (STYC) this week. The three-day TOTE Clinic, which concluded on Wednesday with a point-to-point distance event modeled after the Volvo Ocean Race, preceded it and will be followed by the 32nd International Optimist Regatta (IOR), taking place from Friday to Sunday.
Seven teams of five sailors each participated in the TOTE Team Racing Championship. The champion USA National Team members are Constantino Conrad, St. Petersburg Yacht Club, Florida; Trey Waters, Annapolis Yacht Club/Eastport Yacht Club, Maryland; Daniel Skutch Tyson, Annapolis Yacht Club, Maryland; Andrew Allgeier, Hampton Yacht Club, Virginia; and Christian Petersen, Saunderstown Yacht Club, Rhode Island.
“Watching the team race ahead of ours was really helpful,” says Allgeier, age 12.
Waters, age 14, adds, “The clinic is where I learned how special the wind is here, especially the Volvo Ocean Race. I used what I learned in the team racing today.”
This is the third year Conrad has sailed in this event. “Practicing starts is what I like best because there are so many boats on the start line,” he says.
Distance sailing is what Petersen enjoyed about the Volvo Ocean Race. “It’s something we can’t do at home because the bay we sail in is small.”
Tyson reveled in the big winds and waves. “It helped me prepare for this type of sailing, he says.
On Wednesday, Maxime McCulloch, representing the Lakewood Yacht Club in Texas, won the Volvo Ocean Race in the Championship Fleet, while Benjamin Lima, from the Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, won the Volvo for the Beginner Green Fleet.
“I liked that there were four gates before the race finished in the third leg,” says Lima. “This is usually the setup for the Championship fleet, and I’d never run one like this. Afterward, I liked being able to ring the bell at the club.”
Looking ahead, STYC’s Hunter Reinbold, 12, says he’s ready for the start of the IOR. “I like the starts best,” he says, about his favorite part of the racecourse. “They are so competitive, but in a fun way.”
Finally, it’s clinic training with several different coaches that STYC Patrick Mitchell will use to benefit his in IOR racing. “I’m looking forward to the racing and what I’ll learn, because I have a few more years to sail this regatta before I age out.”
Nearly 90 8- to 15-year-old sailors representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, several U.S. states, and Argentina started the week by training in the three-day TOTE Clinic, held from June 9 to 11. Top local and international coaches ran the clinic.
The 32nd IOR gets underway on Friday with nearly 90 junior sailors representing both Championship and Beginner fleets. The Championship fleet is divided into age groups: White (age 10 and under), Blue (ages 11 and 12), and Red (ages 13 to 15). Depending on the weather, the race committee plans to conduct 10 or more races over the next three days. Results will be posted at www.regattanetwork.com/event/29124#_home
The Awards Ceremony takes place on Sunday at 3 p.m. at STYC. Trophies will be awarded to the top five sailors in each fleet: Red (ages 13-15), Blue (ages 11-12), White (ages 10 and under), Green (beginners), and the top three sailors overall by score. A Perpetual Trophy, introduced in 2017, has been inscribed with the overall winner’s name for the past 29 years. Additional trophies include the Peter Ives’ Perpetual Trophy, the Chuck Fuller Sportsmanship Award, and the perpetual Founders Trophy, awarded to the Top Female Sailor.
