Rayne Duff represents BVI at African Optimist Championships hosted in South Africa
Rayne Duff attended the US Optimist Dinghy Association National Championships held in Grosse Poinite Michigan early July, where light winds and current made for very challenging sailing. He finished the first round of racing (qualifications) having posted two first place finishes in groups of 81 sailors with a final score of 9th overall of 242 boats and thus made it to the championship gold medal rounds. Very light and fluky winds favored some sailors in the final rounds but not for Rayne who posted 3 tough results to finish 54th of 242 – which given his age was none the less a very impressive result , posting 5th of the 10 yr s& Under ‘White Fleet’.
Rayne then headed to South Africa to compete in the African Optimist Championships experiencing a total change of climate to wintery windy conditions and raced in strong 20-25kts with large waves at Mykonos. Rayne did a very impressive job holding his own against the very best five athletes from many African nations to finish 34th of 80 sailors – and first of the children born in 2002 – the next child of his same year finished 54th!
Rayne’s best finish in South Africa was tenth although for much of that race he held a 2nd place position only being passed on the final beat by bigger stronger sailors as the wind increased.
