There were 53 optimist sailors who came from the various islands of The Bahamas to compete in the Bahamas Optimist National Championships 2020. However, it was Joshua Weech who won the top award for a fourth straight year. The event was postponed last year and finally held February 27-28, 2021 in Elizabeth’s Harbour in George Town, Exuma.
It was hosted and organized by the Exuma Sailing Club.
With Weech capturing his fourth national title, he is now tied with Spencer Cartwright for the most optimist national titles in the country, and still is age eligible for another optimist nationals.
The seventh championship race was a thriller. Weech, Craig Ferguson and Kaemen Floyd were separated by just four points going into the last race, but Weech led with seven points.
All three sailors are from the Bahamas National Sailing School (BNSS)/Nassau Yacht Club (NYC).
For Ferguson to win, he needed to be in the top three and put one boat between himself and Weech. Three-time champion Weech wouldn’t let that happen. In the end, there was one point separating these three sailors. Weech finished with 11 points, and Ferguson and Floyd had 12 points apiece with Ferguson winning the tiebreak.
All the sailors were met by challenging conditions of three to four feet chop, with 20 miles per hour (mph) winds. The wind gusts went as high as 30 mph. The chop and winds continued all weekend.
The Green fleet raced on day one, but did not sail on day two due to the extreme conditions.
The Championship fleet battled it out until the final seconds of the very last race in the series.
The Royal Nassau Sailing Club’s Matthew Reid and Cameron Eldon were fourth and fifth respectively.
The top female was Mary Jac Nash from the Lyford Cay International School.
Tanaj Manos from the Exuma Sailing Club (ESC) prevailed in the Green fleet. His teammates, Miles Mason and Sonny Ampleman, were second and third respectively.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/joshua-weech-wins-opti-nationals-2020/
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