While most of us ate turkey over the Thanksgiving Holiday, 4 of the 14 juniors on our Fall Opti Race Team raced in the USODA Opti Midwinter Championship Regatta in New Orleans.  Before you feel too badly for them, you should know that they had Thanksgiving dinner with their families at the Southern Yacht Club, which boasts one of the premier restaurants in New Orleans; and enjoyed breakfast at the famous Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter!  

 The Southern Yacht Club, on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, is one of the oldest clubs in the United States and is the long time host of the Midwinter Championship.  The Midwinter is especially important in the world of Opti racing as it is used by the USODA to set the international teams representing the United States in spring competitions around the world, including in Asia, South America, North America and Europe.  As you can imagine, the regatta draws the best sailors from around the country.  Only the top place finishers are invited on teams.  Lake Pontchartrain is a fascinating place to race.  It is actually a large saltwater estuary bordering New Orleans, and is 40 miles long and 24 miles wide.  In the autumn fast moving cold fronts often bring big shifty winds, cool temperatures, and steep, gnarly waves.  This year was no exception, with temperatures in the 50s and low 60s, and shifty winds gusting to nearly 20 knots.  

Our kids sailed fantastic, and two were invited to represent the U.S. on international teams!  Benton Amthor finished 25th overall and Boyd Bragg was 43rd out of 243 competitors.  Benton was selected to be on the team representing the U.S. at the South American Optimist Championship in Paracus, Peru in February.   Boyd was selected to be on the team representing the U.S. at the Palamos Optimist Trophy Nations Cup in Palamos, Spain, also in February.  Younger team members Madeline Amthor and Reece Bragg also had outstanding results.  

 Benton and Boyd have yet to decide if they will accept the invitations, or play school sports in the spring.  (And their parents are calling VISA and MasterCard to increase their credit limits, just in case!)  Either way, both will be back sailing on our Spring Team in March and the Summer Team in June.