2010 NSW Optimist Championships.......70 on-line entries already

9:25 PM Mon 22 Mar 2010 GMT

'Optimist training on Pittwater - 2010 NSW Optimist Championships' Warwick Crossman Click Here to view large photo

The NSW Optimist Championships at Northbridge Sailing Club (27th-28th March) is shaping up as another great Optimist event. On-line entries are approaching 70 boats with more signing on every day, potentially making this the biggest gathering of Optimists in NSW to date.

Last weekend 28 local sailors trained under Tom Brewer at Middle Harbour Yacht Club in preparation. Tom was assisted by Hannah Natrass which meant that the NSW sailors benefited from the experience of being coached by not one, but two former Australian Optimist Sailing Team (AOST) members with World Championship experience.

Current members of the Australian Optimist Sailing Team will be arriving in Sydney later this week from Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia for two days of intense training at MHYC and will be competing in the NSW Championships at Northbridge SC afterward. Several younger NSW sailors are relishing the opportunity to test themselves against some of Australia's best Optimist sailors and establish a claim for inclusion in next year's team.

Eight members of the Australian team will be flying out of Sydney on Monday 29th March to represent Australia in the New Zealand Nationals at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula.

by Warwick Crossman