2006 Opti Championship
The Optis are Coming!! The Optis are
Coming!!
August 6 - 9, 2006
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! SEE DETAILS
BELOW.
by Ron Breault
The Optis are Coming! This was the headline on our first public
announcement on January 25. A lot of water has passed under the Niantic
bridges since then. On March 18 we received our first entry to the Opti
NEs: Mr. Adrian Hoesch, 13, from Munich, Germany!! So, the Optis are in
fact coming!
We are doing our best to plan this event down to the smallest detail.
This report is an effort to bring the club membership and friends up to
date. It’s a bit lengthy - but equally detailed!
1. Website – Our event website
www.nbyc.org/opti2006 was designed and
built by Kevin Dowd. This is our most important communications tool to
competitors, parents, sponsors, media, interested persons and increasingly
to our own membership. I have received many positive comments about the
website. Be sure you take a look at it. It contains, or will eventually
contain, everything potential competitors need to know about this regatta
– Notice of Race, entry and medical forms, lodging, directions, regatta
venue and racing area maps, marina and launch ramps, restaurants, area
information, who’s coming, a NianticMainStreet area info link, and
more.
Right now the necessary registration forms can be downloaded from the
website, filled out and mailed in. We are planning to have online
registration available by late April.
Heidi Dickerson Hogan designed the event logo on our website, the same
one you see at the top of this page. This logo links all of our event
materials. We are running this regatta with an extraordinary level of
support from the town of East Lyme. The event logo links the scallop shell
of East Lyme, the NBYC burgee and the Opti pram symbol. Heidi’s logo
design does a great job of bringing together these symbols and under this
banner we can work together to make a great regatta.
2. Race Committees – Our RC Chairmen are Jim Hall,
Championship Fleet (300+ boats) and Wick Haylon, Green Fleet (novice
sailors – 75+ boats). One of their first responsibilities was to prepare,
with input from many others, the Notice of Race which is now posted up on
the website. This contains our schedule in addition to all the basic race
information needed by competitors. Their committees have met to line up
the necessary RC people and the 25+/- needed boats, prepare lists of what
they will need – marks, flags, scoring materials, communications gear,
etc. We still have a lot to do but we think we are in pretty good shape.
We have also engaged the services of a PRO (principle race officer)
experienced in running races for large Opti fleets, to help run the races
on the Championship course. His name is Ron Hopkins from Providence, Rhode
Island.
Because of the very large number of boats expected, and the limit of
100 boats on the starting line at one time, the Championship fleet is
divided into divisions identified by colored banners at the masthead.
These different divisions will alternate racing against each other. In
effect, each "race" will have several starts, at least 3, maybe 4, with 2
divisions in each start. This makes for complicated scoring and we will
use a computerized program, the St Pete Scorer, which was designed for
this situation. We hope to use marinized laptop computers with phone cards
to do the scoring out on the water. We will do a feasibility test sometime
in April.
3. Judges – Larry White is our key local judge and is working
with Means Davis, our Chief Judge, to line up the 10 judges we need for
this event. Six judges have already committed. Means, who lives in
Acworth, Georgia, has a lot of experience with large Opti fleets. The
judges will be in 5 boats closely monitoring the racing and will play a
very important role in maintaining ‘law and order’ out on the course. We
have commitments for 5 non NBYC boats for use as judge and/or safety boats
if we need them.
4. Site – As most of you know, thanks to Dick Morris’ efforts, we
are running this regatta at McCooks Park and Hole in the Wall Beach - this
site should turn out to be a super place to run the regatta. Primary event
parking will be at Rogers Field behind St John’s Church on West Main
Street. This requires a lot of coordination with East Lyme Park and Rec.
Dick is handling this for us and is in constant contact with Park and Rec.
Also, we are coordinating plans with the people organizing the Town Band
Concert on August 8 as that is the same night we are planning our event
barbeque, the free drawing for a race equipped Opti and dolly, and other
prizes.
5. Unloading/Parking - John Brousseau is in charge and he
needs YOU! We have developed an Opti unloading plan at the North side of
the Hole in the Wall tunnel, a car parking plan for Rogers Field, a power
boat trailer parking plan at Boats Inc and Port Niantic, and an Opti
parking plan for the lawns on McCook. We will need lots of volunteers in
this general area. We expect to get volunteer help from the Police Junior
Explorers but we need NBYC people. Two specific problems are getting our
attention – traffic control the morning and early afternoon of Sunday,
August 6, and early Monday morning Aug 7. Think about 350+ SUV’s many with
trailers, loaded with excited kids and alpha type parents trying to be
1st to register!
EL Park and Rec has a plan to pave the parking area at the north side
of Hole in the Wall Beach, which should be complete by Aug 6. This will
not interfere with our plans – this should improve the situation.
Up in the park we will have organized 400+ 10’x10’ Opti parking spaces
where competitors will store their boats at night. These will be lined out
with chalk or paint on the lawns and be serviced by a series of
boulevards, main streets, lanes, etc. These ‘roads’ need a system of names
that give the complex a bit of character. The Committee has a special
prize for the person who comes up with the winning system.
Rogers Field has the capacity to park, in an orderly manner, 350+ cars.
Volunteers are needed Sunday, August 6, 11AM-7PM, and Mon/Tue/Wed 7-9AM
and 3-6PM to keep this orderly. We will also have use of the St John
parking lot on West Main Street for overflow.
6. Opti Launch - John Brousseau and Jim Perkins (Safety
Officer) share this function. Here again, we need volunteers. We have
surveyed the beach and have a launch plan that preserves 33% of the Beach
(eastern part) for town use. EL Park and Rec will improve the present road
leading from the Park to the Beach. We will have 4 Opti launch lanes about
80’ wide, identified by the division colors currently using that lane. A
couple of volunteers on each lane will check out racers as they leave the
beach (and check them in as they return), do last minute safety checks,
"maintain law and order", supervise dolly storage at the edge of the
lanes, etc.
We will launch in waves releasing the various divisions based upon
their scheduled start times. We plan to do our primary boat safety check
on the boats as part of the registration process. We plan to have
wash-down capability for the boats.
7. Temporary Docks - Hunt Foster is heading this up. We have
purchased, for $4000, 12 used but in good condition, floating docks from
Chester Marina in Chester. These will give us the capacity to handle the
expected 65-75 coach and support boats off of Hole in the Wall Beach. Hal
Peatfield is handling the permitting process which already has the Town’s
approval and is now at the DEP in Hartford. We anticipate no problems in
getting a temporary permit. We selected this approach because we believe
that we will be able to use some of the docks at NBYC, saving us capital
$$ in future years. We have met several times with Chester Marina to
organize work space and crane time. Hunt is putting together a work plan
to fit out these docks the way we want them and the work should start by
mid-April. We hope to have 6 or more of the docks done and moved to NBYC
by the end of May with the balance by mid July. We will launch the docks
(the way we always do, off the east retaining wall at high tide) the
1st week in August, tow them to the Hole in the Wall Beach, and
moor them in place. This should be a Kodak moment!
8. Tents – We will have 2 tents up on McCook Park, a 20’x 60’
registration/computer center with judge’s rooms, and a 40’x120’ competitor
tent with tables, chairs, space for official notice boards, standing
around room, and serving tables. The tents have been reserved. We have a
plan for tables and chairs and expect to be able to use NBYC equipment and
borrow the rest from the ELHS. We will require volunteers for moving, set
up, etc.
9. Security/Safety - Dick Morris and Jim Perkins share this
function. We have had some discussion of our security plan but details are
still to be finalized. We will have nighttime guards and will have
wristlets identifying regatta participants. We have to address the holes
in the RR fences.
Many of the coach boats register and are ‘deputized’ by our Race
Committee to act as safety boats. They will carry special flags and their
drivers meet each morning to review race and safety matters. Safety is an
integral part of all these functions and is a continuing work in
process.
10. Public Relations – Franz Edson is our Public Relations Officer.
We have placed an ad with OptiNews and the ECSA Junior Yearbook. Info
regarding the event has been communicated to ECSA, JSA of LIS, USSA, all
NE, NY and NJ YRAs, and USODA. We have had conversations with the Day,
Courant and Lyme Times sports and local community reporters and provided
them with detailed event info. Steve Knauth of Off Soundings has promised
an article. We are working with Niantic merchants on a major
promotion.
13. Banners and Signs - We have a budget for banners and signs and
sponsors will also have event logo signs. We are working with Signcraft
Signs of Niantic, the Niantic merchants group and NianticMainStreet on a
coordinated signage plan. We will have a large banner up on the town
green, another at Hole in the Wall, plus several up in the Park,
participating merchant store signs and traffic/parking signs. All will
carry our logo.
14. Tee Shirts/et al – Heidi is again at work, this time on
a tee shirt design. We will sell a limited quantity for $12 on line and
$15 on site. We plan to give a tee shirt to all competitors and all
volunteers. NBYC members can buy them but we would much rather give them
to you as a volunteer!! We need to have our many racers and guests be able
to easily identify regatta personnel and we are thinking of something like
adjustable arm bands or how about straw hats with logo bands?!!
15. Support Boats - for Race Committee and other assignments – we
will need approximately 25 boats to run this regatta and we are nearly
there. And, of course we have a new RC boat that can lead this effort. We
need to match them up with drivers as well as mission specific RC teams.
As is usually the case we have fewer problems getting on-water volunteers
than on-land volunteers. We will need some larger boats whose skippers are
willing to take spectators. Please get in touch with me if you are
interested
16. Pre-registration/registration - Matt Dowd is the person who
will receive all our registrations and prepare the registration folders.
On August 6 he will hand these off to Steffie Hall and her group who will
be running the Registration tables. Matt is working on the database
programming from which we will generate the info necessary for both our
internal reports and the data necessary for the St Pete Scorer. More on
this area in the next few weeks.
17. No of Boats – Our planning number remains 350-400 boats.
USODA and other Opti class people are telling us that this will be the
largest Opti Regatta in the country. Informed people tell us not to be
surprised if we exceed 400 boats.
18. Food – This is a highly focused volunteer effort by Dick and
Debbie Morris and gang, and we are now just getting into the detail
planning. We need breakfast stuff and lunches for 3 days for 500+ people.
Plus we are hosting a barbeque dinner for 600+ on Tuesday night. We will
sell barbeque dinner tickets to parents and coaches, and also to NBYC
members. (Here again VOLUNTEER! We would rather you be our guests!).
Competitors and volunteers are free guests at the dinner and get lunches
and breakfast as well. Coaches and parents will have to make or buy their
lunches in town.
Coca-Cola of Southeastern CT will supply all our water and soda. We
have a proposal for sponsorship with a major super market chain for the
supply of breakfast food and lunches for which we have high hopes. We have
some other plans related to food in the works as well.
19. Trophies – Adam Walsh and his Merrill Lynch group are
sponsoring our $1500 trophy budget for Championship Fleet competitors.
This involves 45 trophies – Top 10 Overall, ages 8-10, 11-12, 13-15 and
top 5 Girls. We have arranged for participation awards for Green Fleeters,
plus winners of all individual races. These will be supplied by another
sponsor – Vanguard Sailboats.
20. Budgets and Finance – Harlan Fredericksen heads up the bean
counting department. Right now our best estimate, based on 360 competitors
and some not overly optimistic sponsorship support, looks like a small
surplus.
21. Niantic Merchants – Candy Shapiro heads up our program to help
make this regatta attractive to the town’s merchants. We have met with
NianticMainStreet to coordinate our plans and they have provided us with
an Area Information link for our website and are also working on a Niantic
Restaurant program. The merchants will provide welcome info/goodie bags to
competitors. They have committed to purchase a race ready Optimist and
dolly, to exhibit it in town and organize a free drawing to regatta
related people for visiting their participating stores. The winning ticket
will be drawn on Tuesday night at the dinner. All YOU have to do is be a
volunteer, visit one or more stores, cross your fingers and win a $3500
Opti. We are hopeful that there will be enough money left in the kitty
from this promotion that the Club will receive a donation for its junior
program. As part of this effort The Boat Locker of Westport, CT has
donated a $600 set of Black Gold racing spars and North Sails a $450
racing sail.
22. Restaurants - NianticMainStreet is organizing a town restaurant
program that will motivate competitors, parents, coaches and visitors to
eat locally. This will be linked to our website and also have hard copy
handouts at registration along with a town map.
24. Charter Boats/Site Suppliers – Charter Boats will be available
on site, supplied by McLaughlin Boat Works and Sturgis Boat works
(Winner). The Boat Locker of Westport, CT will have 2 vans on site and
will sell Opti parts and supplies.
25. Sponsor programs - Brian Carey heads up this area with help
from Bill Healy and me. As mentioned already Coca-Cola will supply the
water and soda we need; Merrill Lynch will sponsor our $1500 trophy
budget; Henri Lloyd will provide a $200 gift certificate for their
clothing; The Boat Locker of Westport, CT will donate a set of Black Gold
racing spars ($600 value) and North Sails will donate a $450 Racing sail
for the Opti drawing. Vanguard Sailboats will provide an Opti and dolly at
a deeply discounted price plus donate $450 worth of Opti Mini sails for
Green Fleet participation awards.
And we cannot overlook the support we are getting from Boats Inc and
Port Niantic by letting us use their storage fields for trailer storage;
St John’s letting us use their fields for parking; and of course the town
letting us use McCooks Park and Hole in the Wall Beach. As mentioned above
we have other possibilities for further sponsor support and are working
hard on them.
26. Housing – Hal Peatfield is responsible for organizing housing
that may be needed for some of the judges and a couple of USODA
officials.
27. The NE Opti Committee - The names listed below with * are the
people who have your free tee shirt, your free Opti drawing ticket, your
invitation to a free barbeque in the park with live entertainment, 3 days
of free breakfast and lunch and an inside seat at the most exciting
regatta that Niantic Bay has ever seen!! If you are not already in this
game call one of them and join up. And please feel free to call me
personally if you have any questions. We are all in the book.
Regatta co-Chairs - Ron Breault * & Bill Healy *
Race Committee Chairs – Jim Hall * & Wick Haylon *
Car Parking/Traffic Control/Opti Parking and Launch – John
Brousseau *
Temporary Docks – Hunt Foster *
Public Relations – Franz Edson
Food – Dick and Debbie Morris *
Judges – Larry White
Pre-registration – Matt Dowd
Registration – Steffie Hall*
Website – Kevin Dowd
Niantic merchants – Candy Shapiro
Safety – Jim Perkins