The 2024 Optimist World Championships were held in Mar del Plata in Argentina in December. New Zealand was represented by Matteo Barker, Nathan Soper, Will Fyfe, Blake Duncan and Blake Batten, with Tiago Brito supporting as Coach.
From the knowledge gained of the venue it was clear that the team needed to prepare for big waves and stronger winds. The most common thing you here whenever you compete at an event anywhere in the World is that it is “never normally like this”. However Mar del Plata being on the Atlantic coast proved this theory wrong and it became very clear that big wave sailing and strong winds was very much the normal.
The preparations in NZ were more spread out than normal with the Worlds run in December. This meant a couple of trips to New Plymouth were possible to sail in waves, and then the North Island Optimist Champs in early November was another good opportunity.
Measurement as always at the IODA events is very thorough. It also illustrated that as a fleet in NZ we are not well enough educated on some of the finer details around what is and what isn’t allowed on the boats. The major surprise though was the Guiletti masts, which a number of sailors were using in the training, have been determined to be not class legal.
With sailors from 52 countries the Opening Ceremony was a very colourful affair. From Latin dancers through to each team being presented to their chosen theme song it was great entertainment. The 5 boys decided to perform the Haka led by Nate, and this stole the show. They did an amazing job and impressed many of the other teams.
The racing format was three days of qualifying with two races per day, followed by two days of teams racing, then three days of finals racing. With a fleet of 225, the fleet was split across three fleets for the fleet racing.
Day 1 of qualifying was big waves and 20 plus knots so definitely a tough way to kick off. Blake Batten (13,19) and Nate (19,18) had strong first days in very demanding conditions. Matteo (18, 30), Blake Duncan (34, 42) and Will (42, 54) managed to survive the first day well.
Day 2 was quite a contrast with a much lighter breeze and decent size leftover waves. Will (15, 10) had a strong day with Blake Duncan (24, 8) and Matteo (27, 28) also staying consistent. Nate (33, 66) and Blake Batten (56, 54) also kept themselves in contention for the top 75 to be in Gold Fleet for the finals.
The final day of qualifying was sailed in a medium but building breeze. Matteo (9, 22) and Blake Duncan (14, 40) did enough to qualify for Gold fleet with two good races. Nate (62, 43), Will (48, 33) and Blake Batten (45, DSQ) couldn’t quite pull strong enough results together on the final qualifying day and narrowly missed out on the Gold fleet.
With the fleet racing positions of the top 4 sailors combined, this seeded NZL 18th going into the two days of Teams Racing. It is a complicated format with 48 Teams participating across two courses. The best explanation that was given to me is that if you lose two races on the first day you miss out on day 2 and the top 16 sail offs. The racing was held inside the seawall which made for great viewing with both courses very close to the spectators. Nothing quite like hearing the views of the sailors with different protest situations!!
We raced Hong Kong in our first race and beat them comfortably which was a great confidence boost. We then raced against Italy who are one of the strongest teams. They sailed very well and handed us our first loss. We then raced against Norway which we won comfortably. This then put us in a must win race against the higher ranked French team to advance to the Top 16 the next day. The boys sailed a great race and were comfortably leading with only 100m to the finish line when the breeze shut down and the race was abandoned. This was incredibly frustrating as there had been plenty of other marginal races sailed up until that point. The resail was a close fought race, but unfortunately this time the French team prevailed which meant that we did not advance. The boys were really disappointed as they had sailed really well in the races we had.
It was great for our boys to watch the second day of the Teams racing from land just to see and understand the level and quality of the top international teams. You can see just how well practiced in teams racing they are, and the level of boat handling of the top sailors is quite incredible. Spain came out on top with a great showing over Singapore in the final.
For the finals of the fleet racing the fleet was again greeted with a very strong day 1 with 18 knots quickly building into the mid 20’s. In the Gold fleet, Matteo (16, 30) started off well, and Blake Duncan (63, 72) had a couple of hard races. In the Silver fleet, Blake Batten (2, 8) and Nate (14, 9) both had strong days with Will (44, 27) putting together two solid races.
Day 2 of the finals was a stark contrast with a much lighter wind. Racing was delayed for a few hours ashore while they waited for the wind to get established on the race course which meant only one race could be completed. Matteo (26) and Blake Duncan (33) had good consistent results, and in the Silver fleet Nate (8), Will (10) and Blake Batten (29) all had strong results.
The final day was a push for three races, but with the cutoff time and a few general recalls only two races could be sailed. Matteo (40, 30) and Blake Duncan (45, BFD) had tough finishes to the event in the 12 – 15 knots. Nate (45, 4), Will (56, BFD), and Blake Batten (52, BFD) all struggled with consistency.
Overall Matteo placed 36th, Blake Duncan 66th, Nate 82nd, Will 104th, and Blake Batten 111th.
The biggest take away as an interested spectator was firstly the standard of the sailors through both Gold and Silver fleets. The NZL sailors certainly find it challenging to manage the big fleets when the standard of sailing is so high, and in the tight situations at the top mark and finish line is where we have the biggest areas of improvement. The top 20 Gold fleet sailors are racing in these big fleets most of the year and you can see how well they read the different situations and their fleet management is incredible.
In general our sailors were competitive with speed against the majority, although on the breezy days there was a huge difference across the fleet. Many of the top sailors were 50+ kgs and really quick on the upwinds.
This was another event where I am sure the NZL boys would have loved to start the regatta after the last day with all the valuable lessons learned. Unfortunately that is the challenge we face with so few big fleet events in NZ.
The experience for the 5 sailors is something they will never forget. The friends they make and memories from all the sailing in some extreme conditions was really cool. Of course the primary focus is on swapping clothing with the other teams and the boys managed to swap some great items.
It was privilege to be able to be the Team Leader with the 5 boys, Tiago, and our Country Rep, Nigel Soper. I also need to thank all the help and support that Michelle Duncan, Scott Fyfe and Noeline Soper provided to keep the boys going throughout.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at Murrays Bay for the Auckland Champs 25 – 27 January.
Dean Barker – Team Leader
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