The Malta Young Sailors Club held their seventh Foundation Day Regatta sponsored by Gauci Borda & Co. Ltd local representatives of GILL recently.
The two day weekend ranking regatta which took place in St.Paul’s Bay, home of the Malta Young Sailors, involved the Optimist and Laser Classes. Each Class was divided into separate divisions, in the Optimists this is split between the Open and Cadet Class, while in the Lasers between the Standard, Radial and 4.7 Classes.
In all there were 20 Optimist sailors and 15 Laser sailors taking part making for a beautiful fleet of 35 sailing dinghies.
The weather on the Saturday was a gentle 8-knot breeze from the WSW which allowed the race committee to hold four back-to-back races on the Olympic Triangle course.
On the Sunday only two races were necessary to complete the programme. Again the good weather allowed for a very smooth procedure so much so that IJ Peter Valentino Sr, judging on the water, was not given too much to do since no protests were lodged during the regatta The racing was indeed so close that Peter did have to intervene since there were many ranked positions in tied place. Eventually and in consultation with the Race Officer, Commodore John Ripard Jr, and the sailors themselves, as well as the generosity of the sponsor, it was decided to leave the tie unbroken as it appeared to be the fairest result for the sailors.
The Optimist Class on Day 1 was clearly dominated by Karl Cremona who still had to fight hard to keep away Sean Borg, Ella Fleri Soler, Gabriel Pace, Thomas Zammit Tabona and Will Camilleri, all of whom displayed a high level of skill and tactical sailing.
Karl and Will missed Day 2 as they were to travel to Holland for an Optimist Clinic and Regatta at Brassemeer. This opened the fight for top place between Ella and Sean and whilepositions were changing all the time over the races it was Sean who prevailed.
In the Cadets, Thomas sailed extremely well to win with young Edward Fleri Soler and Sarah Manduca following. The overall shield goes to Sean Borg as the winner of the Optimist Open Class.
Final results
Optimist Open: 1st Sean Borg; 2nd Ella Fleri Soler; 3rd Thomas Zammit Tabona.
Optimist Cadets: 1st Thomas Zammit Tabona; 2nd Edward Fleri Soler; 3rd Sarah Manduca.
Optimist Girls: 1st Ella Fleri Soler; 2nd Luisa Manduca; 3rd Julia Ripard
Laser Standard: 1st Peter Valentino Jr; 2nd Neil Borg; 3rd Darren Cauchi.
Laser Radial: 1st Christophe Podesta; 2nd Andrew Selvagi/Zak Borg/Jan Rossi; 3rd David Dall
Laser 4.7: 1st Benji Borg; 2nd Matthew Fleri Soler; 3rd Liz Apap Bologna/Aaron Staniland.