Friday:
Friday the 13th of April the Easter Regatta started with the practice race. About 100 competitors started the race after some general recalls, many of them got a penalty for the Z flag and some even got disqualified due to the black flag rule. It was a cold race with windforce  4-5 and just over 50 of the young competitors finished the race. Click here for the results.
Saturday there will be 3 races, the first one starting at 10.00 hrs.

Saturday:
Saturday saw wet snow and hale so where did the sun go? Racing was competitive in varying conditions. The morning started with sun and light winds from Southern directions (8.00 hrs). Afterwards it became cloudy and the first race started in windforce 2 -3. During the second race the wind increased to SSW 4 bft and it started to rain a little. Temperatures were low so the sailors had to work hard to keep themselves warm. Wind increased while the competitors were getting ready for their third race. This race proved to be a real testcase. Being on the water for 8 hours with only a short break, the young sailors were quite cold and exhausted but satisfied.
Afterwards all the competitors and their parents had dinner together while at the same time Dutch television showed a feature during the evening news about twins competing in the Easter Regatta.

Sunday: 
Sundays first race gave us nice conditions for the more experienced sailors. Wind WNW 4-5 with gusts made competition heavy, but it was not as cold as Saturday since there was no rain. The race was two laps and took about one hour and twenty minutes.
The second race of the day (race 5) showed the same conditions but with more wind (21 knots with gusts up to 25 knots) from the North West. Again a two lap race which lasted an hour and a half. Afterwards all young sailors seemed to be exhausted but nevertheless satisfied. 
Based on the results after 5 races (with 1 discard) the competitors will be divided into the Gold, Silver and Bronze fleet. Two final races on Monday will decide who will be crowned winner of the 2001 O'Neill International Easter Optimist Regatta.

Monday:
Two races were sailed on Monday, the first race started at 10.00 hrs. Winds were NW 3-4 bft, and we had clouds, sunny spells and some rain. The two lap race took the young sailors about an hour and a half after which they could go back to the harbour to enjoy their lunch and review tactics for the final race.
At 13.00 hrs race 7 started for the Gold fleet. Winds shifted a little more North and increased to force 4-5. The one lap race for all groups took the faster sailors just over an hour. Many of them still had possibilities to improve their overall scoring so competition was strong. After all Corenthin Demanet (BEL 1003) did what he had to do and sailed a steady race which brought him the overall victory in the 16th O'Neill International Easter Optimist Regatta. Click here for overall results.