VI’s Rayne Duff slips down Gold Fleet Rankings @ Opti Worlds

September 3, 2015 by
By VINO
Rayne Duff IVB 911 loses speed in a close tack to cross the line a few inches behind the lead boat to place second in today's Gold fleet race 6 of the Opti Worlds Championships. Photo: OptiWorld

Rayne Duff IVB 911 loses speed in a close tack to cross the line a few inches behind the lead boat in race 6 of the Gold Fleet on day 5 at the Opti Worlds Championships, Dziwnow, Poland. Photo: OptiWorld

Virgin Islands’ sailor Rayne Duff, sailing in the Gold Championship Fleet at the Opti Worlds in Dziwnow, Poland today Thursday September 3, 2015, slipped to 60th from his overnight 32nd placing after 9 races.

At the close of day 5, Duff was in 32nd with his best effort being a second place finish in race six. He had a total of 60 points to be well off the leaders, but in striking distance of a top ten finish.

Duff was nearly able to cross for first, but tacking close under the lee bow of ITA, without enough speed to hold him off, he crossed the line a few inches behind in second.

However, Duff did not score any points in races 7 or 8 and finished 44th in race 9 to fall to 60th place overall.

In other races, Duff finished 18th, 15th, 8th, 8th and 9th.

Duff  raced against 272 competitors in race 6, all ranking in the top five of their country.

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Sam Morrell wins Smythe Trophy

August 10, 2015 by
Sam Morrell (pictured right ) wins the single handed Smythe Trophy at the 2015 Chubb U.S. Junior Championships. Photo: Provided

Sam Morrell (pictured right) wins the single handed Smythe Trophy at the 2015 Chubb U.S. Junior Sailing Championships. Photo: Andy Morrell

BVI’s 16-year old Sam Morrell competing at the 2015 Chubb US Junior Sailing Championships, won the Smythe Trophy U.S. Junior Single handed Championship which was sailed in the Byte CII fleet.

The event, which took place in Cape Cod from August 2 -6, 2015, was hosted by the Wianno Yacht Club, Osterville, Massachusetts.

Approximately 100 of the U.S.A.’s top youth sailors competed for the renowned Smythe Trophy, Bemis Trophy, and Sears Cup in single handed, double handed, and quadruple handed competition.

The battle for the Smythe Trophy came down to the wire, as leader Sam Morrell (Redhook, USVI) tried to hold on to his one-point lead over Joseph Hou (Newport Beach, Calif.).

“I tried to match race him today to the bottom half of the fleet,” explained Morrell. “On the downwind he passed me and other boats, but he finished sixth and couldn’t place worse than fifth in order to pass me for the lead in the standings.”

Morrell went on to win the championship by just two points. He finished strong on Wednesday with three consecutive wins.

Hou dashed out to an early lead in this fleet on Monday by winning the first four races of the championship.

Morrell, who placed third last year, said “I trained really hard this year. The conditions were better for me here. Everything started to break my way, especially at the end of the regatta. The first half of the regatta I was trying to re-learn the Byte. I’m really stoked to win and Joe is such a good sailor.”

As the winner of the single handed event, Morrell will earn early acceptance to the U.S. Youth Sailing Championships should he decide to apply.

Morrell, placed third in last year’s Smythe Championships in Michigan. He has also represented the BVI in the 2014 Youth Olympics in China.

Final Standings: Top 5
1. Sam Morrell, St. Thomas Yacht Club, 5-2-3-2-1-4-1-1-1-[18]- ; 20
2. Joseph Hou, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, 1-1-1-1-2-2-5-[7]-3-6- ; 22
3. Gerard Eastman, Seawanhaka Corinthian YC, 3-4-9-[10]-7-3-2-4-2-9- ; 43
4. Jack Bitney, Minnetonka Yacht Club, 6-3-2-[18]-5-1-7-5-5-10- ; 44
5. Lucas Pierce, Santa Barbara Yacht Club, 8-6-4-3-3-7-6-9-[12]-2- ; 48

Full results

Watch the Chubb Jr. Championships 2015 Recap

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VI youth sailors at Optinam 2015

July 7, 2015 by
Virgin Islands Team at the The Optimist North American Championship, Optinam 2015, Antigua. Photo: Matias Capizzano

Virgin Islands Team at the The Optimist North American Championship, Optinam 2015, Antigua. Photo: Matias Capizzano

The Optimist North American Championship, Optinam 2015, gets underway today, Tuesday, July 7, 2015 in Antigua with four Virgin Islands’ sailors competing against 23 other countries. The event, which runs from July 5 – 13, takes place out of Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbour.

The VI’s four-member team includes Max Rechilitoff, (red fleet) Kyle Roose, (blue fleet) Nathan Haycraft (red fleet) and Rayne Duff (blue fleet).

Today is the first day of the qualification series (spanning 3 days) and sailors are to race in three groups (“fleets”) of 54 competitors each, starting at 11:00am.

Monday, July 6, 2015 was a practice day and with winds blowing at 13 to 15 knots, was the less windy of the days since most of the teams arrived in Antigua, it was a relief for some and an opportunity to relax for others.
The practice race saw nearly 40 sailors on the course side with a U flag which has been the norm for many years, (even to cross the finishing line in first place is considered bad luck), and only 20 of the sailors in each fleet “finished” the race.

There were only two fleets for the practice race: sailors with odd sail numbers and sailors with even sail numbers.

Shore side activities included finishing the measurement whereby all teams completed the ‘race management’ entry requirements. A short and quiet team leaders’ meeting took place, followed by the first coaches’ meeting, at which the race officers and judges introduced themselves and gave an overview of their goals and expectations from the teams.

The Seaboard Marine Optimist North American Championship 2015 is being organised by the Antigua Yacht Club under the authority of the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA).

There are 162 participants entered, representing 23 countries: Argentina, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Switzerland, Uruguay, USA, US Virgin Islands and Antigua.

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BVI’s youth sailors face fierce competition at St Thomas International Optimist Regatta

June 29, 2015 by

By BVI Platinum

Rayne Duff enjoys a light moment at the St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta Photo: Matias Capizzano

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.

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Local sailors shine at BVI Dinghy Championships

May 21, 2015 by

By RBVIYC

On the start line at the 2015 BVI Dinghy Championships. Photo: Todd VanSickle

On the start line at the 2015 BVI Dinghy Championships. Photo: Todd VanSickle

The Royal BVI Yacht Club hosted the BVI Dinghy Championships at Nanny Cay from May 16 – 17 when BVI sailors were joined by sailors from St Croix, St John and St Thomas.

Racing took place on the Sir Francis Drake Channel just off Nanny Cay with 52 dinghies out on the water. The wind was light and shifty making conditions harder for racing than heavy winds and requiring more skill and patience.

The Optimist Championship fleet, Club 420, Laser Radial and Laser Standard raced on the main course.

The second course was marked out for the Optimist Green fleet (Novice racers) which had 24 boats competing in 14 races. It was the largest number of novice sailors the event has had as compared with last year when there were just 6 boats in the Green fleet.

The light winds suited Mia Nicolosi from St Thomas who had 3 bullets coming first in Blue fleet and first overall. This was the first time she had beaten her brother Teddy, and BVI sailor, Rayne Duff. Mia said “it felt good to have beaten them rather than them always beating me.”

Sam Morrell won the Radial Class and Colin Rathbun took the Full Class honours.

The event was sponsored by Hellmann’s, Road Town Wholesale Trading, Nanny Cay and Moorings.

The BVI Dinghy Championships is the third and final event of the VI Triple Crown which includes VIODA in St Thomas, and Cruzan Open in St Croix. The overall winner of the VI Triple Crown was Rayne Duff,  BVI.  Julian van den Driessche from St Thomas placed second, and Lake Sanford form St Croix placed third.

Results
Optimist White Fleet
1st Nathan Haycraft – BVI
2nd Caroline Sibilly – St Thomas

Optimist Blue Fleet
1st Mia Nicolosi – St Thomas
2nd Rayne Duff – BVI
3rd Mateo Di Blasi – St Thomas

Optimist Red Fleet
1st Teddy Nicolosi – St Thomas
2nd Victoria Flatley – St Thomas
3rd Julian van den Driessche – St Thomas

Optimist Overall Results
1st Mia Nicolosi – St Thomas
2nd Teddy Nicolosi – St Thomas
3rd Rayne Duff – BVI

Club 420
1st Ethan Hanley – St Croix
2nd Sarah Hardee – St Croix

Laser Radial
1st Sam Morrell – BVI
2nd Thad Lettsome – BVI
3rd Jason Putley – BVI

Laser Standard
1st Colin Rathbun – BVI
2nd Mark van den Driessche – BVI

For full results please see Regatta Network
http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=9844

Filed Under: Sailing

Duff, other youth sailors impress at Cruzan Regatta

April 29, 2015 by

By BVI Platinum

Rayne Duff was the overall winner in the Optimist championship fleet at the Cruzan Open Regatta, St Croix. Photo: Provided

Rayne Duff was the overall winner in the Optimist championship fleet at the Cruzan Open Regatta, St Croix. Photo: Provided

Rayne Duff was the overall winner in the Optimist championship fleet finishing 21 points clear of 2nd place and also winning Blue Fleet as Virgin Islands youth sailors tackled the Cruzan Open Regatta in St Croix last weekend.

Nathan Haycraft won White Fleet and finished 6th overall, while James Rajic-Knight finished 11th and Maxwell Reshetiloff finished close behind in 12th.

The Optimist Green Fleet was won by Ryan Lettsome who finished comfortably 23 points ahead of second place. Anya Reshetiloff finished in 4th place with Nicolas Haycraft in 9th out of 20 boats.

Thad Lettsome finished 2nd in the Laser class and even though he was sailing with a radial sail, he only finished 2 points behind 1st place who was using a Standard Full Rig which is much larger than the Radial.

The first day of the event started off with the race area set just inside the reef in Teague Bay with light, but very shifty winds.

The team responded very well and was able to quickly adapt to the conditions which showed with wins in the first race from Duff, Thad Lettsome and Ryan Lettsome.

The Friday before the event, a Moorings Catamaran, which was generously donated to the sailing team for the weekend by Moorings, was loaded up with 7 Optimists and 1 Laser sail boat before making its 6 hour journey across to St. Croix.

Conditions were perfect for the journey with flat seas and great weather making it a comfortable trip across.

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Youth sailors brave cold conditions at Spring Fling, Miami

March 31, 2015 by

By RBVIYC

Cold and gusty conditions prevailed during the 2015 Spring Fling regatta in Miami. Photo: Provided

Cold and gusty conditions prevailed during the 2015 Spring Fling regatta in Miami. Photo: Provided

A trio of BVI youth sailors brave chilly temperatures and gusty winds in Spring Fling regatta in Miami
Youth sailors, Rayne Duff, Nathan and Nicolas Haycraft traveled to Miami this past weekend to represent the BVI in the annual Spring Fling regatta hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami. The regatta is a major event in the US youth sailing calendar with participants travelling from around the country and overseas to take part.

In preparation for the windy conditions and greater fleet sizes, all three boys took part in a 2-day clinic before the regatta and focused on various drills and start line strategies.

During the weekend in Miami, the temperatures dropped to the low 60s and strong and gusty winds prevailed. Rayne and Nathan, sailing in the gold fleet, were able to hold their own over the course of the weekend with Rayne placing 6th overall and 2nd in Blue fleet, and Nathan placing 41st overall and 2nd in White fleet out of a total of 137 boats.

Nicolas ‘Nici’ Haycraft, competing in his first International event, found the conditions challenging on the first day of racing and was overpowered by the heavy winds but went on to record 14th and 15th place finishes out of a fleet of 53 boats on his second day.

Youth sailors are now preparing for the next big events on the race calendar, the BVI Dinghy Championships which take place May 15-16,  the International Optimist Regatta from June 21-24 in St. Thomas,  and the North American Optimist Championship (Optinam 2015) which takes place this year in Antigua on July 12-17.

"CYM/Intac" racing in the St Thomas International Regatta 2015. Photo: STIR/Dean Barnes

“CYM/Intac” racing in the St Thomas International Regatta 2015. Photo: STIR/Dean Barnes

Closer to home, teenagers Jason Putley and Danny Petrovic joined “CYM/INTAC” as helm and crew respectively in the IC24 class at the St Thomas International Regatta and Sam Morrell sailed on “All In”.

12 races were completed during the 3-day race over the weeekend. On day one of racing on Friday the wind was 20 – 25 plus knots with lumpy seas which made it challenging racing for the IC24 fleet. “CYM/Intac” put in a good performance coming 4th out of a fleet of 20 boats and “All In” placed 13th.

Sailing conditions continued to improve as the weekend progressed with excellent winds for racing on Sunday with 10 – 15 knots of breeze.

 

Filed Under: Sailing

Weekend youth sailing regatta results

February 23, 2015 by
Laser Midwinters East, Clearwater, Florida 2015. Photo: www.sailingnews.us

Laser Midwinters East, Clearwater, Florida 2015. Photo: www.sailingnews.us

Laser Midwinters East, Clearwater, Florida
16-year old, Jason Putley competed in the Laser Midwinters East Regatta in Clearwater, Florida from February 18 – 22.

A cold front and high winds reaching 35 knots kept the Laser and Laser Radial fleets in on the first day of racing. Two days of brisk breeze followed for the six qualifier races which resulted in Jason being placed in the Silver Fleet, at the top of the scoreboard.

Jason placed fifth and first out of 59 competitors during the final two rounds of the last day of racing to finish with a second place in the Silver Fleet. Overall, Jason placed 61 out of 118 boats.

Click for results.

VIODA St. Thomas

Three young sailors represented the BVI at the VIODA Regatta hosted by the St. Thomas Yacht Club during the weekend of Feb 21 – 22. Taking part without their coach, Max Reshetiloff and Rayne Duff competed in the Blue Championship Fleet while Anya Reshetiloff sailed in the Green Fleet.

There were 10 races in the Championship Fleet, and 11 races in the Green Fleet.

Rayne’s best score was a first place with a top four finish in each race. Rayne placed second overall, and first in the Blue fleet. Max competed for the first time as a Championship fleet sailor and retired from the event after completing the fourth race.

Anya’s best score was a second place while finishing in the top 8 of the Green fleet in every race. She ended the regatta with a third overall placement.

 

Filed Under: Sailing

Youth sailors regatta news

February 18, 2015 by

By: RBVIYC

Club 420 Midwinter Championship Regatta - Martin County, Florida. Photo: Stormchaser Mike Photography

Club 420 Midwinter Championship Regatta – Martin County, Florida. Photo: Stormchaser Mike Photography

Club 420 Midwinter Championship Regatta – Martin County, Florida
BVI’s  sailors, Danny Petrovic and Sam Morrell, competed in the Midwinter Championship Regatta in Martin County from February 15th – 17th. The duo ended up placing 25th out of 51 competitors in the Gold Fleet and 25th out of 102 overall. Their best score in their 11 races was a 4th place.

The two sailors originally race and practice in the 29er and have been sailing the Club420 for only a couple of months.

Laser Midwinters East Regatta – Clearwater, Florida
From February 18 – 22, Jason Putley will be competing in the Midwinters Laser Regatta. He is the only BVI sailor of the regatta and will be in the Laser Radial Fleet. There are 117 competitors and Jason will be coached by former BVI Youth Sailing Race Coach, Chris Watters.

VIODA Regatta – St. Thomas
Three sailors from the Youth Sailing Program will be making their way over to St. Thomas for the VIODA Regatta which takes place February 21 – 22. Anya and Max Reshetiloff, and Rayne Duff will be competing without a coach in the regatta.

Filed Under: Sailing

Tortola Sloops and Youth Sailors participate in Wagner Sailing Rally 2015

February 10, 2015 by

By  RBVIYC

RBVIYC youth sailors with organisers of the Wagner Sailing Rally 2015. Photo: Provided

RBVIYC youth sailors with organisers of the Wagner Sailing Rally 2015. Photo: Provided

On Saturday February 8, 2015 the Royal BVI Yacht Club attended the Wagner Sailing Rally 2015 in Trellis Bay. The Wagner Sailing Rally is hosted in celebration of a Polish Sailor and his family who settled in Trellis Bay, Tortola.

The Yacht Club had the honour of participating in the Wagner Sailing Rally on Sunday in two events. The first was a Yacht Parade which included the Tortola Sloops. Samuel Allen, Noah George, Stephen Ganga, Stephon Ganga, Dawson Van Zoost and Jerome Parkins were invited to join the captains of the Tortola Sloops as crew. The Parade went around Trellis Bay and Bellamy Cay, ending at Bellamy Cay.

The race team was so keen to get on the water and sail that they too entered into the Yacht Parade following the Tortola Sloops around the bay.

The second event involved team racing around Bellamy Cay. The RBVIYC talented race team members included: Max Reshetiloff, Anya Reshetiloff, Kyle Roose, Nathan Haycraft, Thad Letsome, Rayne Duff and Ryan Letsome.

Trellis Bay was extremely full of boats which made the team racing even more tactical and challenging. At the last race even the sailing coach, Katelyn, got into an Opti and sailed as a part of the race team!

At the end of the day the Yacht Club sailors were able to meet the Captain of the Wagner Sailing Rally 2015 and take a picture with him.

Overall, the day was a big success. Thank you to the Alison and Randy George, Commodore Chris Haycraft, all the sailors who participated in the event, and Jamal from Todman Trucking for helping us deliver all the Optis.

Filed Under: Sailing
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