Friday afternoon the 18th of April a practice race was held to give the competitors a chance to get used to local circumstances. Saturday and Sunday they were split up in 6 groups, competing amongst each other.

On Saturday all three scheduled races were sailed in a cold wind from ENE around 18 kts with gusts up to 23 kts which made it quite hard for some competitors to stay aboard. Temperatures of 8 degrees Celsius, clouds and some sunny spells resulted in a typical Dutch spring day. Every race took about 1 hour to finish and between the second and third race the competitors enjoyed a short lunch and warming up break. At the start of the third race there were as many as 22 OCS’s and BFD's (both disqualifications for premature starting).

Sunday had two races planned. It was a sunny day with temperatures around 14 degrees Celsius and wind from Easterly directions, about 10-12 knots with some gusts and big shifts making it a demanding day for both the competitors and the racing committee. At the first race some of the groups were too eager to start, which resulted in 15 BFD's but the other sailors had a nice two laps race. The fifth race of the event took some time to start but after some generall recalls and postponements the race finally started with no less than 41 BFD's in the first fleet. Racing was difficult with the shifting and gusting wind, but the fleet stayed close together with over 80 finishing Opti's within 7 minutes.

Monday, the final day of the 18th International Easter Optimist Regatta brought us sun and comfortable temperatures (around 20 degrees) but very light winds from SE directions with big shifts. Based on the results of the five races of Saturday and Sunday the competitors were divided in a gold, silver and bronze fleet, to sail the final two races in these summer conditions.

The first final race started at 10:00hrs and Hannah Mills (GBR), leader after 5 races, did a good job by finishing sixth while her biggest rivals like Gijs Pelt (NED – second after 5 races) and Patrick Follman (GER – third after 5 races) got stuck in the second half of the gold fleet.

Before the last race could be started the race committee had to postpone due to lack of wind. After all the last race started around 13:30hrs with some more black flags and for the bronze fleet a shortened course. Well begun is half done, so Hannah Mills could sail her discard race, finishing 72, and won the 18th International Easter Optimist Regatta with a strong lead. Oskar Taurel (SWE) had a good last day which brought him from 8th place after 5 races to second place overall, before the first Dutch and second female competitor on the podium, Rikst Dijkstra.

Source: Bas van Grieken