By BVI Platinum
Rayne Duff enjoys a light moment at the St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta
Photo: Matias Capizzano
Top youth sailor, Rayne Duff fought hard, but settled for fourth at St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta and Clinic which was held at St. Thomas Yacht Club from June 15-21.
The first day of races started off at an area set just past Cow and Calf rocks outside of Cowpet Bay with medium to light winds, but very choppy waves which sailors found very difficult to deal with at times.
The team responded very well after the first two races and the kids were quickly able to adapt to the conditions, which showed with wins in the third and fourth race from Rayne Duff.
Day two of the racing was very similar conditions, but after a strong showing from Duff he went in for the day with an overall position of 1st with one day to go.
On the third and final day of fleet racing, the wind picked up dramatically with many of the sailors struggling to cope with the conditions and keep their boats flat.
Duff won the first race of the day, but fierce competitor Teddy Nicolosi of USVI knew he had to cover Rayne and force him into getting some bad results in order to stand a chance of winning.
Nicolosi successfully covered Duff tack for tack in spite of both finishing deep in the pack at 45th and 49th, respectively, in the 62-boat advanced optimist fleet.
Nicolosi’s game plan was to use this poor score as his one throw-out. Unfortunately, Duff had finished 17th in an earlier race and had to keep that double-digit score since his 49th place now turned into his one worst score throw-out.
That put Duff a nearly 20 points behind Nicolosi going into the last race of the regatta.
Nicolosi finished the regatta in 1st place overall with Duff finishing in fourth. For the BVI, Nathan Haycraft finished 19th overall after a strong collection of results on the final day.
James Rajic-Knight finished 48th, Maxwell Reshetiloff finished in 58th with Kyle Roose close behind in 61st. Most of the competitors said it had been one of the most competitive regattas they had ever sailed in.
The regatta also featured team racing. The BVI team won 2 out of their 5 races, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to qualify for the semi finals. 10 kids from the BVI took part in the event with 5 in opti championship fleet and five in opti fleet.
BVI’s Team: Rayne Duff, Nathan Haycraft, James Rajic-Knight, Maxwell Reshetiloff and Kyle Roose, Anya Reshetiloff, Ryan Lettsome, Nicolas Haycraft, Connor MacCallum and Scott Kirk.
The Royal BVI Yacht Club thanked Moorings, Nanny Cay, NAGICO Insurance as well as St. Thomas Yacht Club for running such a successful event.
