Mendota Yacht Club Opti Racing

The Mendota Yacht Club will be hosting an Opti racing series.   Races will be held in Warner Bay at 2:00pm on the Sunday afternoons listed below.   Please contact Jamie Hanson for more information  Jamie.Hanson@tasconline.com

June 16, 23.   July 7, 14, 21, 28
Aug. 4, 11, 18, 25.

See you on the water!

2013 Opti Regatta's

Listed below are the 2013 area Opti regattas.

LOPN                                            June 20th Thur.        Okauchee YC WI
Lake Beulah Sailing School Reg.     June 24th  Mon.
USODA Midwest Champ.              June 29-30th  Sat.    Gull Lake Mn
Upper Midwest Jr. Olympics           June 30- July 2         Wayzata YC Mn
USODA Girls Nationals                  July 10th                   Grosse Point YC MI
Kaszube Cup                                  July 9-10                  South Shore YC Racine WI
Geneva Lake Sailing School            July 10th Wed.       
USODA Nationals                          July 11-14th              Grosse Point YC MI
No Tears                                         July 22 Mon              Nagawicka YC  
ILYA Championship                         July 28-30th              Beulah YC
Pram Power                                    Aug 9th Thur              North Lake WI

Red, White & Blue Chip

Waiting for the wind

Madison sailors Will Hanson and Meta Simon competed in the invitation-only Optimist Red, White and Blue Chip regatta hosted by the Lac La Belle Yacht Club. Forty-eight sailors completed three races in light wind over the two day event, August 13-14. Full results available on La Belle's website.

A rainy day at Pram Power 2012

North Lake Sailing School's Pram Power Regatta was held on Thursday, August 9. After a sweltering summer and no rain, sailors at Pram Power were greeted with a cool, rainy day. This was surprising given the weather of the summer of 2012 up to that point and also that the three previous years at Pram Power were the hottest days of those summers. Pram Power is a mix of fun with crafts and activities and sailing -- 3 races for senior fleet and 2 races for junior fleet. Fritz Simon was the lone Madison sailor and raced in the junior fleet. Fritz was fast out of the blocks winning race #1 in a steady drizzle and finished fourth overall in the event. The highlight was the giant jar of gum balls he received for winning a race!

116 Optis at ILYA Championship

Three Madison sailors competed in the Inland Lakes Yachting Association Optimist Championship regatta on Pewaukee Lake, July 30-31. The young sailors experienced classic Pewaukee sailing in shifty conditions over the two day event.  Fritz Simon and Will Segersten competed in what might have been a record 53-boat Green fleet, finishing 8th and 12th overall after a total of six races. Meta Simon sailed in the Red, White and Blue fleet against 62 other competitors, finishing 24th overall and 3rd in the White fleet. The highlight of the event might have been the dunk tank at the Monday night party where sailors were able to send their sailing school instructors into the tank. Full results can be found at www.ilya.org/ilya-regatta-results.html

All Smiles at 'No Tears' - Quinn Senke wins Sr Fleet

Six Madison sailors competed on Monday, July 23 in the "No Tears, No Guns, No Protests" ILYA regatta on Big Cedar Lake near West Bend, WI.  In spite of the heat, the Cedar Lake Yacht Club put on a great regatta as the winds built from 6-8 mph in the morning up to 15-18 mph by the end of the day. The last race tested everyone's boat handling skills, and in the end, the senior fleet sailed 5 races and the junior fleet completed 3 races. Two Madison sailors, Quinn Senke and Will Hanson, enjoyed their first regatta race wins in the senior fleet. Quinn won the senior fleet regatta and Will finished 3rd overall in the senior fleet. Great job!  Colin Senke, Will Sergetsen, Micah Hanson, and Fritz Simon raced in the junior fleet with Fritz and Will finishing in the top ten juniors overall.  Congratulations to all sailors!  A great day for Madison Optis!

Results to follow once they are posted at ilya.org.  More photos on Picasa

Red, White and Blue Chip - here they come!

The Lac LaBelle Yacht Club will host the Optimist Red, White and Blue Chip regatta in mid-August. Like 'blue chip' events in other scow classes, sailors must qualify for an invitation. A sailor can qualify based on his or her place at a local regatta (e.g., Inland Championship, GLSS, LBSS, etc.) or through qualifying races in his or her home club. Madison sailors gathered on Sunday morning, July 22 for a series of four races to determine who will receive the two invitations for MYC. In light to medium winds, Meta and Fritz Simon, Will and Micah Hanson, Quinn and Colin Senke, and Will Sergetsen competed in tight racing that saw the wind switch almost 180 degrees in the middle of the first race.

Congratulations Will and Meta!

Place	Sailor	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Total Pts
1	Meta Simon	1	1	1	1	4
2	Will Hanson	3	2	3	3	11
3T	Quinn Senke	4	4	2	5	15
3T	Will Sergetsen	2	5	4	4	15
5	Fritz Simon	7	3	5	2	17
6	Colin Senke	6	6	6	6	24
7	Micah Hanson	5	7	7	7	26

More photos on Picasa

USODA Midwest Regional Championship Regatta

The United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) Midwest Regional Championship Regatta was held in Cleveland, OH on July 14-15. The Simons ventured east and Meta sailed with an international fleet on the big waters of Lake Erie. With this regatta only about a week before the USODA National Regatta scheduled for Sandusky, OH, several sailors from Canada and Bermuda joined U.S. sailors from various points across the country for two days of sailing in light breeze. Results at USODA.org

Optis with downtown Cleveland in the background

International and U.S. sailors waiting for the wind to fill

Geneva Lake Sailing School Regatta (GLSS)

Wednesday, July 11 four Madison sailors raced in the GLSS on Geneva Lake -- Will Hanson, Will Sergetsen, and Fritz Simon all sailed in the Green Fleet, and Meta Simon competed in the Red, White, and Blue fleet. The sailing was classic Lake Geneva - beautiful water and shifty winds. Green fleet results here and RWB here.

Green Fleet start

Meta Simon sailing 213 in RWB

Madison Opti Racing Week 5

Several families braved the heat for the 5th week of sailing on Friday July 6. Sadly, a dip in the lake did not even provide relief from the heat as Lake Mendota was literally like a warm bath. The young sailors practiced their skills with Will Sergetsen learning the art of holding his tiller extension like a "rock star with a microphone" in proper Opti form.

A few more photos on Picasa

Madison Opti Racing Week 4

Several families came down to Lake Mendota for the fourth week of Opti sailing but were left wondering where the wind was as the lake was calm and the only action was from a few water skiers. But, just when everyone thought it was a lost cause, some weather moving south of Madison kicked up a sudden wind (from 0 to 10 mph on about a third of the lake in seconds).  Andersons, Foghts, and Wennings set about rigging to head out for some sailing.  Sorry -- no photos tonight. We'll have to see what report might come in via email and will update the blog.

USODA Great Lakes Regional Regatta

The United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) Great Lakes Regional Championship Regatta was held Wednesday and Thursday, June 27-28 in Sheboygan, WI. Forty-three sailors from the Midwest as well as the east and west coasts competed in the Red, White, and Blue fleet in spectacular sailing conditions on Lake Michigan. Eight sailors also participated in the Green fleet.  Fritz Simon sailed with the Green fleet, and Meta Simon sailed in RWB along with 15 other ILYA sailors from area lakes including Pewaukee, Geneva, Nagawicka and North.

It was a great event -- conditions on Wednesday brought crazy swells (8 ft plus) and wind building from about 10 mph at the beginning of the day to 18 mph at the end.  Even the locals were perplexed by the waves for the amount of wind.  The kids thought riding the waves was totally cool.  Thursday there was no wind so the six races from Wednesday provided the final result.  Five ILYA kids qualified for the team trials regatta next spring to be held on Pewaukee (Henry Chapman, JP Friend, Joey Biwer, Mark Davies, and Parker Michael).  All of the ILYA kids did a great job in really different conditions than they are used to.  Meta was excited to finish 5th in white fleet and 2nd overall girl.

Full regatta results available from USODA

More photos on our Picasa page (sadly, they just don't do the waves justice).