2 sailors from WYC entered the 2019 Optimist Nationals championship hosted by the Sandy Point Yacht Club in Hobart: Leigh Harvie in Green fleet (beginners) and Hugo Vandame in Open fleet (more advanced sailors). Very good performance for both: Leigh finished 14th of 40 after 9 races. This was his first Nationals. Hugo finished 37th (incl. 6 sailors from overseas) of 138. This was his 2nd Nationals. Last year, he finished 120th for his first participation. We must admire these young sailors for their endurance and efforts through a championship. The Open fleet sailed 12 races in very challenging conditions: strong tide in the Derwent River, changing winds (speed - 5 to 25 knots many times during 1 race – and direction), long upwind (0.6 to 0.8NM), long start line, hectic mark rounding, three 1h races per day often, etc. Very impressive! Hugo had a slow start on Day 1&2 with races in the 30th. Much better on Day 3 with 13, 3 (very pleased with himself) and 9. After 7 races, he qualified to the Gold fleet in 36th position. This was a good achievement as last year, he did not make Gold fleet. Day 4 was a tough day with races between 20 and 25 knots all day. Missed opportunity on a regatta where he was 15th (close to the downwind gate) before he nose-dived. As a result, he finished 55th. On the last day, Hugo managed to perform a good race (14th) in strong wind and an average one (44 – poor start, no choice to go far left of the course and the wind shifted right). He had a similar situation in race 8, rounded nearly last but managed to get back to 32nd position. All in all, Hugo thinks he could have done better but he is pleased with his regatta. The conditions were very tough for the Green fleet sailors. There was a lot of waiting around for the winds to drop, and one day they were sent out only to be immediately recalled when strong gusts caused carnage with the fleet and sailing was abandoned for the day. On the first and third days of racing Leigh struggled to keep water out of his boat with winds gusting over 25 knots so he spent more time bailing than sailing. He had a good second day, placing 6th, 9th, 12th and 5th out of 40 with conditions around 15 knots. Overall, he placed 14th, which is a good result considering the difficult conditions.