Experience at International regattas helps Rhône Findlay, winner of the Gold Fleet, dominate.

At mid-week the weather forecasts was not good for the scheduled 2008 Sint Maarten Optimist Open Championships sponsored by SOL N.V that was planned for Saturday 8th November. The organisers were on the verge of canceling due to low wind predictions, when late on Thursday, Windguru was consulted and the forecast had improved. On Saturday morning as the boats which transported the competitors from Anguila and St Barths tied up at the jetty of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, the wind had picked up nicely promising an excellent day of sailing and competition. Soon the equipment was unloaded and all the children were occupied rigging their boats in preparation for the regatta . This was the largest Inter-Island Optimist regatta that the St.Maarten Yacht Club had ever organised, with 24 entrants, the regatta was limited by the availability of boats. The sailors were divided into a Silver and Gold Fleet.  Nine competitors sailed in Silver fleet most of whom are juniors or the less experience racers. Fifteen Competitors sailed in the Gold Fleet these were the older and more experienced sailors. 

The first race of the Gold fleet Rhône Findlay was recalled for having crossed the line early in his enthusiasm to get going. This did not deter him as he was able to catch up to the leaders by the second mark and was in the lead at the third mark. From that point on, Rhône led the Gold Feet, managing to cross the finish line all but once in front. In Rhône's own words "I really had to work hard, I was worried about Jolyon, Saskia and Steven who often beat me, as well as Louis Ollo from St Barths who is very good, so I just watched the water and watched the sail and more than ever I watched the wind. I did not stop concentrating once."

Rhône is no stranger to international regattas having won the Anguillan Inter-Island Optimist Regatta last February, and having represented Sint Maarten and the Netherlands Antilles in St Thomas at the Caribbean Optimist Championships in June, the Volvo Musto British Open Championships in Wales in July, and the Volvo Swiss Open Championships on Lake Geneva in August this year. In some of these competitions there are as many as 400 participants and most are held at sea where swells, waves and currents have to be taken into consideration. So, as far as Rhône is concerned, the Simpson Bay Lagoon  is the ''best'' as it allows one to give all ones' attention to the wind shifts.
 
Louis Ollo from St Baths, and Jolyon Ferron were the greatest threats to Rhône's dominance; had he dropped concentration or failed to produce excellent starts these two boys, along with Steven Looser and his sister Saskia Looser would have jumped in to replace him. As it was, the competition between the four of them was intense with Jolyon just losing to Louis by 1 point and Saskia losing to her brother also by one point. The competition was intense and the results show that there is little more than a wind shift between the first five finishers and the luck of the Wind Gods is what determined the outcome.

The Silver fleet sailing a shorter course produced results competition just as intense. The winner of the first race was Sint Maarten's youngest female hopeful Johanna Looser, with a tremendous performance beating St Barths' Julian Delguidice and Kevin Greaux to the finish line. Then, after a very surprising second in the second race, Sint Maartens' youngest little star sailor Alec Scarabelli seem to get the hang of it, and in races 3, 4, 5 and 6 and Alec produced four consecutive bullets. Julian Delguidice, from St. Barths, had an excellent day with four second places, a fifth and a fourth, which put him in second place for the regatta. Brin Herve edged out Sint Maarten's favourite young Johanna Looser by one point to finish third in the regatta.

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