Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

USA is the only country with 2 sailors in the Top 10 and even in the Top 5 of the Gold Fleet While the finalists in team racing provided a good idea of which countries are strong in Optimist sailing, a look at how many boats the various countries have in the gold fleet is even more significant. The Gold Fleet is made of 66 sailors, and racing in that fleet will determine who will be the 2018 Optimist World Champion. Here are the numbers: With 5 out of 5 Sailors in Gold Fleet - Italy - Israel - Thailand With 4 out of 5 Sailors in Gold Fleet - Brazil - Switzerland With 3 out of 5 Sailors in Gold Fleet - France - Greece - Ireland - Singapore - Sweden - USA These 11 countries alone have a total of 41 out of 66 sailors in the Gold Fleet. Data:  http://2018worlds.optiworld.org For regular up to date information, join our Facebook group!  https://m.facebook.com/groups/1975892209332056?tsid=0.5012495351733612&source=result

After 5 qualifying races, USA star Optimist sailor, Stephan Baker, is already comfortably in the lead at the IODA North Americans in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. With 4 bullets and a 4th, he has a nett total of 4 points, versus 16.0 for Caroline Sibily (ISV) and 20.0 for Sebastian Kempe (BER).  There is a total of 149 participants in this IODA championship.  The two next USA sailors are respectively 4th (Peter Foley) and 6th (Sara Schumann).  First Canadian sailor is Carling Davies from Toronto, in 40th position.

Like last year, several of the best US sailors will attend Optimist CORK in Kingston on August 9-12. Among them, none other than North American, South American and USA champion - Stephan Baker (see picture) Stephan Baker is one of the favorites for the Optimist Worlds to be held in Cyprus shortly after, along with the reigning Optimist World Champion Marco Gradoni from Italy. In 2017, Stephan Baker won Optimist CORK in front of three other US sailors: Peter Foley, Liam O'Keefe and Sara Shuman. 5th and first Canadian was Jackson Macaulay out of Halifax. There was a total of 128 competitors in the championship fleets. http://www.cork.org/past-results/results2017/optimist/optimist_results.htm

The American won the championship, with another show of domination over his competitors. Argentinian Santino Marcatelli and Brazilian Lorenzo Balestrin completed the podium. First girl is Maria Gracia Vegas from Peru, who placed 9th overall. First Canadian is Jackson Macaulay, who placed 82nd overall (26th in silver fleet). See results here: http://2018southamericans.optiworld.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall — see more pictures: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213839292230351&set=pcb.10213839294030396&type=3&theater