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Duff ends up 4th in Optimist Regatta

Duff went into the final day tied for first place, and won the first race of the final day, pulling ahead with a slim margin in 1st. The next race, the penultimate race, turned into an intense match race between Teddy Nicolisi (2nd) and Duff whereby they battled each other well over the right lay line, and back, Photo: Provided
Rayne Duff (centre). Photo: Provided
Rayne Duff (centre). Photo: Provided
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Tied in first place going into the last day of the 23rd International Optimist Regatta in St Thomas, USVI, Rayne Duff had a steep learning curve and ended up 4th overall at the event hosted by the St Thomas Yacht Club last weekend.

Duff went into the final day tied for first place and won the first race of the final day, pulling ahead with a slim margin in 1st.

The next race, the penultimate race, turned into an intense match race between Teddy Nicolisi  (2nd) and Duff whereby they battled each other well over the right lay line, and back, to finish 45 and 49 becoming the throw out discard for both, but Duff had already another large discard, compared to Nicolsi and thus the positions shifted to Duff 3rd overall.

The final race saw a repeat of the hard shift back on race 2, and Duff on the wrong sides to finish 17th, wrapping up a strong regatta with a series of needed lessons. 

Duff finished 2nd in Blue (11-12 yr olds) and 4th Overall; and looks forward to returning next year. “I think I sailed much better at this regatta, compared to last year, even though I won last year. Most of the US Worlds Team was present and all of the Caribbean Worlds teams were there, which made it very challenging and smart competition. Up next, North Americans!" 

A bold move to cover his opponent proved a winning strategy for St Thomas, US Virgin Islands’ sailor Teddy Nicolosi. The 14-year-old Nicolosi won the 23rd International Optimist Regatta (IOR), with a 7-point lead and became the first UU Virgin Islands’ sailor to finish first overall in the history of this regatta.

“Rayne (Duff. the 2014 IOR Champion) and I were tied on points going into today,” Nicolosi explains. “In the first race, Rayne moved ahead of me by two points and into the lead. I knew I had to cover him the whole way in the second race to have a chance at the championship.”

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 then had only one other competitor to keep an eye on: his sister, Mia Nicolosi.

“I just had to keep my sister in my sights and not let her get ahead of me and that’s what happened. Overall, it was good starts, good boat speed with some good tactics thrown in that helped me to win,” says Nicolosi.

Teddy Nicolosi not only won the overall championship, but also the 13- to 15-year-old Red Fleet. Mia Nicolosi, who ended second overall, topped the 11- and 12-year-old Blue Fleet and earned the Best Girl award.

“I didn’t think about trying to be the Best Girl, I wanted to be the best sailor. On the last race, I focused on sailing fast. But on the last upwind leg there was a large wind shift and I ended up with my worst score of the regatta, a 13th.”

The VI’s Rayne Duff earned the Pete Ives Award, given for a combination of sailing prowess, sportsmanship, determination and good attitude both on and off the water.

A total of 82 sailors competed in the Advanced Red, Blue and White Fleets and beginner Green Fleet. The Advanced Fleets completed 11 races and the Green Fleet a total of 15 races over the three days of competition. Sailors hailed from 9 nations – Antigua, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Puerto Rico, St Barths, St Lucia, the U.S.A. and all three US Virgin Islands.

The IOR is organized under authority of the Virgin Islands Sailing Association and it is a Caribbean Sailing Association-sanctioned event.

The week started off with the Sea Star Clinic, run by local and international coaches, and included the one-day Sea Star Team Race. The team race was won by Team ISV 1, made up of Teddy Nicolosi, Mia Nicolosi, Mateo Di Blasi, Julian van den Driessche and Victoria Flatley.

BVI's Team of Duff, Nathan Haycraft, James Rajic-Knight, Maxwell Reshetiloff and Kyle Roose, Anya Reshetiloff, Ryan Lettsome, Nicolas Haycraft, Connor MacCallum and Scott Kirk won two out of their five races, but didn’t progress into the semi finals

The Optimist is an 8-foot long single-sail dinghy. This boat is sailed in over 120 countries and is one of only two yachts approved by the International Sailing Federation for sailors under the age of 16. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, 80 percent of all skippers were former dinghy sailors and most started in the Optimist.

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