From the 19th to the 24th of April, Hugo Vandame travelled to Auckland to participate to the New Zealand Optimist National championship. He was representing Victoria amongst a team of 12 young sailors.
New Zealand is known for its good sailors – they start very young and many progress all the way to the America’s Cup that New Zealand won several times – hence a very tough competition.
141 in Open division and 62 in Green division entered the Nationals: 170 from New Zealand, 20 from Australia, 9 from Tahiti, 3 from New Caledonia and 1 from Singapore.
The first 5 races were qualifying races to split the fleet in 3 fleets – Gold for the top sailors, Silver and Bronze. Hugo started the competition well, ranking 21 of 141 after few days.
With those good qualifying results, he managed to get into the gold fleet. On day 3, the finals started and 2 races per day were scheduled for 3 days.
Day one of the finals was an average day for Hugo and the fleet did not sail on day 2 due to lack of wind.
On the last day, the schedule was brought forward to catch up and complete the remaining 4 races. Meaning a long day racing, close to 6h out on the water. The sailing conditions were challenging with many shifts, current and breeze building up to 18-20 knots.
Hugo finished 41 of 141. The championship was won by George Lee Rush, kiwi who competed at the last world championship in Cyprus and finished 36 (off app. 200).
Hugo’s next international event is in October when he will represent Australia at an international regatta in Thailand.
