#OPTIWORLDS – Irish Youth Sailor Sophie Browne of Tralee Bay SC and the Royal Cork YC has settled into her pre Optimist World Championships training regime at Napier Sailing Club on the beautiful Hawke's Bay on the East coast of New Zealand's North Island.
Having recovered from the long journey to the event and the jet lag, the 14 year old Kerry sailor has already shown some continuing form, following her top girl prize and 4th place overall at the Trofeo Ciutat de Palma in early December.
Sophie has finished The Pre Worlds Harken Invitational Optimist Regatta, at Napier Sailing Club, New Zealand taking 21st place overall from 214 starters representing 33 different countries from all over the World in yesterday's final rounds of the Harken Invitational Regatta at Napier, New Zealand.
The Optimist World Championships start tomorrow at the same venue. The sole Irish representative at the event, Sophie Browne, is among a very strong female line up for the start of tomorrow's Optimist World Championships which include, 4 very strong girls from Singapore who have shown good form and have performed well at the pre World's training event, a girl from the Dominican Republic, Justina Pacheco, who has also been very well regarded in the lead up to the World's and several other girls who may well dominate at this year's Worlds.
The invitational Harken Regatta which precedes the Worlds as a training event, at which the top New Zealand Optimist Sailors including Leonard Takahashi-Fry turned up to have a crack at the best Optimist Sailors from all over the World, got off to a challenging start for many of the lighter international sailors competing when the Race Officer set four races starting in 10 knots of breeze which shifted 90 degrees and built to 15 – 20 knots, with a nasty lumpy sea, before shifting back.
Sophie's experience from the Atlantic coast of County Kerry stood to her as she secured 4 top ten results out of the large fleet on the first day and at the conclusion of the Pre Worlds event finished 21st overall out of 214 boats participating.
Many teams have used the Invitational Regatta as a way to acclimatise their sailors to New Zealand sailing conditions on Hawkes Bay and the challenges of racing within a large fleet format where more than 200 boats were competing within a fairly tight area.
Francisco Ducasse from Chile was the overall leader after the first four races at the end of the first day and ended up 6th overall at the end of the two day event, while the Singapore girl Kimberly Lim was overall winner with her team mate Ryan Lo in second place and the Brazilian Rodrigo Luz in the third place on the podium. Justina Pacheco from the Dominican Republic finished 10th overall at the pre World's event
Sophie Browne was pleased with her performance ending in 21st place overall out of 214 boats in her training event in advance of the World Championships.
She will carry the Irish Flag at the opening ceremony in Napier tomorrow.
