The regatta featured two totally different days with totally different conditions. Monday was a bright sunny day with light air and three races were sailed. Tuesday on the other hand was overcast and rainy at times with heavy air ranging from 20 to 25+ with some gusts even higher. Despite the conditions four races were completed. The conditions on Tuesday tested even the most experienced sailors. While there were many breakdowns the conditions did little to hinder the enthusiasm of the young sailors. Something to remember is that Opti sailors must be under the age of 16 years old and the average weight is a little over 100lbs!  The Silver Division is for sailors who are less experienced and their ages tend to be younger and weights are even lighter than in the Gold Division but their enthusiasm is just as great. 

Opti regattas keep two sets of scores. One is the over-all scores which is how you have done against all the other sailors. The other is by fleet. The white fleet is for the youngest, blue the middle and red is the oldest. The Gold Division and Silver Division were scored separately.

In the Gold Division it was a one-man show as T.J. Tullo won first place over-all and the blue fleet with a total of 8 pts. T.J. won four races and counted two second place finishes in seven races. Each sailor got to throw out their worst finish and T.J. threw out a fourth place which most competitors would have loved to have on their scorecard! 

Finishing in second place overall was TRYC team mate Pat Curran who finished in first place in the Red Fleet with 20 pts. Also from TRYC, who had six sailors in the top ten, was Todd Hawkins who completed the regatta with 21pts which was good enough for third place. The top finishers from LBI were SCYC's Royce Weber, fifth over-all & third in the blue fleet, and Kyle Rogachenko who placed eight over-all and fourth in the blue fleet.

In the Silver Division five points separated the top five finishers! In first place with 27 points was Ashley Van Horn from Stone Harbor. Then in second with 29 pts. was Spencer Elliot from Raritan Yacht Club and team mate Kathryn Rossbach finished third with 31pts. Tied for fourth with 32 pts. were  Stone Harbor's Toria Harr who won the tie breaker over Shore Acres Yacht Club's Marty Masterson.
 
 
 

There were two perpetual trophies given out as well. The first was the Weber Trophy that was donated by the Weber to the winner of the White Fleet in the Gold Division. Roger Weber who was also chairman of the regatta presented the trophy to Jerry Tullo from TRYC. On hand were several past winners, Spencer, Ryland and Royce Weber and Mike Spark. Then the NJ State Championship Trophy was presented to Thomas Tullo.

For information, more photos and complete results check out the SCYC web site www.scyc-nj.org. You can also find information for the upcoming fall regattas on the site as well.
 
 
 

Thomas (T.J.) Tullo from Toms River Yacht Club PHOTO: ANDREW WARREN