Three races were sailed on the first day of racing. The breeze in Montagu Bay was light, around 8-10 knots at the start, but decreased during the afternoon. Some wind shifts required some course corrections and the decreasing wind, which dropped to around 6 knots, made it necessary to shorten courses during the day. Congratulations to Edward Hirsch (SUI 1973) from Switzerland, who was the winner today, followed by Diego Jose MARRERO-CUEVAS (PUR 86), and Felipe STRASSBURGER (BRA 4278)!
Team "Europe" could already achieve places among the top 10 in their respective groups (yellow, red, blue). Vic even on place 5, Levian with 8, 9 and 10! Jasper with his best place 17 and Maud on place 24 achieved remarkable results in the midfield. See the full Day1 results list here. A fantastic first day in light winds and glorious sunshine, congratulations to all sailors! The photo series from day 1 can be seen at Matias Capizzano.

The second day offered the sailors "light air" again. The easterly wind from this morning with almost 9 knots weakened to only about 6 knots for the second race. The temperature was quite high at 86 degrees, or 30 degrees Celsius, and most sailors returned ashore a little tired after the day's racing. With a dip in the pool, there was huge fun for all! The photo series of the 2nd day can be seen at facebook Optiworld / facebook Matias Capizzano.

Team Race Tactics: The Tactical Sailing(TS) Team wishes you clever "tactical manoeuvres" for tomorrow's team races! 
Tricky tactical tips for your team, such as attacking, hindering, giving 'space' or forcing 'space' are included in the TS Trainer Toolbox, see here.

Watch the tactical manoeuvres for the Team Race in our youTube playlist, click here and watch the pathes the boats sail!

Mixed weather! The day of the team races started with a light breeze of 5 knots, which died down to just under 2 knots around lunchtime. In the afternoon the breeze picked up to around 8 knots, followed by a nasty weather front that brought torrential rain and some dangerous splashes of water! Fortunately, the competition had just finished and our Royal Bahamas Defence Force was on hand to get the boats safely back to shore! Congratulations to Team USA for their outstanding performance at the North American Team Championships and to the equally victorious Argentinian Team ARG for winning the Nations Cup!
Team EU, GER, BEL, NED were not allowed to participate in the Team Race - no mixed nations. France FRA 2983, FRA 2811, FRA 2794, FRA 3032 and Switzerland SUI 1962, SUI 1888, SUI 1929, SUI 1973 sent their teams into the race.
Download here the diagram of flights. © Facebook Capizzano Photography.

The fourth day in Nassau brought a brisk northeasterly breeze of 15 to 18 knots, gusting to over 20 knots, accompanied by choppy water, which was a challenge for some competitors, especially the bronze fleet. Despite this, three races were completed today. In the overall standings, Puerto Rico is holding on to first (PUR 81) and second (PUR 86) place with excellent sailing, while Charles Julien USA 22183 is in third place. The forecast for tomorrow's exciting final day is for 12 to 14 knots with a chance of light rain, which hopefully will hold off until the closing ceremony in the evening!
In Team EU, Levian and Vic are in good position ahead of Maud and Jasper, who were troubled by the fierce winds of over 20 knots. Familiarity with the local weather conditions gave the members of the local team from the Bahamas an advantage, Mary Jacqueline NASH (BAH 77) even managed to sail at the front in two races despite the fierce wind, finishing 7th and 9th in her group! © Facebook Capizzano Photography.

Isabella Calzadilla-Allora (PUR 81) from Puerto Rico is the International North American Champion after 10 races!

Isabella Calzadilla-Allora and Diego Jose Marrero-Cuevas of Puerto Rico continued their strong performances to finish first and second in the gold fleet. Charles Julien of the USA was third, Ruben Sulty of France fourth and Miles Cundey fifth. With only a one-point difference between second, third and fourth place, it really was an exceptionally hard-fought final. 
From Europe, Ruben Sulty from France came fourth and Capucine Deltel seventh. Levian Buescher from Germany was able to achieve the excellent 11th place.
© Facebook Capizzano Photography.

Isabella Calzadilla-Allora (PUR 81) from Puerto Rico is the International North American Champion after 10 races!

It was an exceptionally hard fought finish for 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions!
The final day in Nassau produced some great sailing conditions with about 12-14 knots of breeze out of the east accompanied by broken cloud and temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius. The forecasted rain held off and two races were completed to end the competition.

Puerto Rico’s Isabella Calzadilla-Allora and Diego Jose Marrero-Cuevas continued their strong performances and finished first and second overall in the Gold Fleet with Charles Julien of U.S.A. in third, Ruben Sulty of France in fourth and Miles Cundey in fifth. With only a point difference between second, third and fourth, it really was an exceptionally hard fought finish. 
From Europe, Ruben Sulty from France came fourth and Capucine Deltel seventh. Levian Buescher from Germany was able to achieve the excellent 11th place.

In Team EU, the result positions from the previous day (day 4) hardly changed in the final races (day 5), Levin 11, Vic 27, Maud 87, except for Jasper 103. He risked two "early starts" in the 9th and 10th races and ended up on 103. He got the maximum score 53 on his account and the marking UFD in the result list..

Thank you to Royal Bahamas Police Force Band for their outstanding performance!
© Photos by Sigrid Beckmann on instagram @sigridbeckriq

North American International Championship 2022: ?Isabella Calzadilla. ??   ?Diego Marrero. ??   ?Charles Julien. ??
Erin Tomlinson and Sean Raine from the organising committee of Nassau Yacht Club (NYC), a private members' club on the eastern end of New Providence in the Bahamas, were symbolically presented by Sigrid Beckmann with a small "Optimist-Sail" signed by 155 participants in the championship in recognition and thanks for their work.
The IODA flag was ceremoniously handed from Team Bahamas over to Team Antigua in salute of them being host to next year’s OPTINAM. The evening was rounded off by a spectacular Junkanoo Rush performance around the poolside of the Nassau Yacht Club. In perfect timing, the heavens opened and the long anticipated day’s rain began just as the evening drew to a close and the teams boarded their busses back to Atlantis Resort.
© Matias Capizzano instagram  @matias_capizzano
© Sigrid Beckmann instagram @sigridbeckriq

Coach Martin Manrique (ARG) trains with Patrick Tomlinson (BAH 121), he is the reigning national champion at the Bahamas National Championships held in early October. Patrick is 12 years old and has been sailing for 6 years, living in Nassau and sailing with Lyford Cay Sailing (LCS). Patrick has sailed in Europe before and was there at the 2022 World Championships in Bodrum, Turkey.

Coach Pieter van den Bossche (NED) supervised a group from Europe (EU): Jasper Winter (GER 1610), Levian Büscher(1761) and with Vic Rosse (BEL 1200) from Belgium and the Dutch girl Maud van Rooij (NED 3455). An interesting report by Petra Lomp ? can be found here about the training days of the EU-group, the surveying and the weather caprices.

Sailing like in "paradise" - turquoise blue water - Liquid Spirit:
Coach Keir Clarke and Lyford Cay Sailing (LCS) share a stunning video of training in the bay. See youTube video here.

© Fotos from Matias Capizzano or privat

Patrick Tomlinson (BAH 121) is the reigning national champion at the Bahamas National Championships held in early October. He is 12 years old and has been sailing for 6 years, living in Nassau and sailing with Lyford Cay Sailing (LCS). Patrick has sailed in Europe before and was there at the 2022 World Championships in Bodrum, Turkey. His expectations for OPTINAM 2022 are: "I know it will be tough, but I am looking forward to a great competition and meeting sailors from all over the world."
Conry Raine (BAH 180) is looking forward to representing the Bahamas in his last international event in Opti. "I am looking forward to OPTINAM 2022 and seeing all the other sailors from North America."
Jasper Winter (GER 1610) is from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein(NRV) at Hamburg. He is 12 years old, sailed to a remarkable 3rd place at the "Tactical Sailing(TS) Cup 2021" during the German Championship at Chiemsee. His coach Ricky Stadel also knows TS very well and gives him useful tactical tips. 
Levian Büscher (GER 1761) is from the Düsseldorfer Yacht Club (DYC). For Levian (13) it will be his last event in the Opti after a successful season '22- he is Int. German and int. Polish Champion - he wants to continue sailing in ILCA 4.  For Levian, the most important thing is to meet all his friends again and make new ones. He sailed at the 2022 World Championships 2022 in Bodrum, Turkey, and now he's meeting some of them again ?. Levian also knows Tactical Sailing program. With his coach Fabian Kirchhof, he will also train in ILCA/Laser in the future.

Everyone is looking forward to, for example, making new friends, meeting other sailors from "all over the world" and having fun together.