Simon Gomez Ortiz of Colombia wins 2018 USSCA North American Championship
by International Sunfish Class Association 6 Aug 2018 03:27 BST
30 July - 4 August 2018
Sunfish dinghies © Manhattan Yacht Club
Simon Gomez Ortiz of Colombia stared the week with a warm-up by winning the USSCA North American Youth Regatta and finished it off by beating a 69-competitor field to win the 2018 USSCA North American Open Championship. This year's regatta was a 3-day event held on Lake Michigan near Waukegan, IL and hosted by the Lake Bluff Yacht Club (www.lakebluffyachtclub.org).
Conditions varied throughout the event from light and shifty winds to moderate conditions with a variety of sea conditions. Throughout the 9-race, 1-throwout regatta Ortiz showed good consistency gathering a total of only 46 points. The top three were rounded out by Annie Haeger (52 pts) of the US and Hector Guzman (62 pts) of Mexico.
This year's regatta brought sailors from 9 different countries and 16 US states to the US Midwest in part because it is part of the country qualifying process for the 2019 Pan American Games. As a result of the regatta Colombia, USA and Mexico were qualified to the 2019 Pam Ams Games which will be held in Peru.
Other trophy winners for the regatta included Eric Oetgin of Georgia as top Master (over 40 yrs) and Mark Kastel of Wisconsin as top Grand Master (over 60 yrs.).
Full results can be found here.