2024 O'pen Skiff North American "Un-Regatta" at Augusta Sailing Club

2024 O'pen Skiff North American `Un-Regatta` opening ceremony © Augusta Sailing Club

Augusta Sailing Club's unsurpassed southern hospitality and O'pen Skiff "Un-Regatta" culture exploded into a frenzy of fun, and a passion for sailing, at the 2024 O'pen Skiff North Americans.

Eighty O'pen Skiff sailors came from as far as Thailand, Switzerland, and St. Vincent to beautiful Clarks Hill Lake, where Augusta Sailing Club maintains their lake-side wooded park over fifteen acres. Most of the families camped on site and the volunteer chefs cooked up a storm with three meals a day served to all families. Every night had a different theme with elaborate carnival activities and live music.

It is called an "Un-Regatta" because it is un-conventional in format, courses, sailing craft, and some of the rules. Wrote one mom, "I am extremely grateful for the FUN you bring back to the competitive sailing arena. The skills you teach the young sailors while making it enjoyable make a lasting positive impact- one that keeps my little dude interested and wanting to continue in the sport."

Despite mostly light winds, twelve races were completed on a variety of courses which included downwind jibe slalom, compulsory boat handling moves, and the Bridge of Doom course obstacle. While the veteran O'pen Skiff sailors thrived in the challenge, newcomers to the class gained valuable experience and improved dramatically over the weekend. The primary goal of some of the newer sailors was just to improve their boat handling balance and master the Bridge of Doom- a goal they achieved.

Lachlan Duer of South Carolina consistently showed his improvement over his four years at the O'pen Skiff North Americans. This year he proved the standard and dominated the racing overall and in the U15 Class. In second overall was Under 12 champion, Gian Christ, from Switzerland. Gian showed huge improvement from his fiftieth place finish in last year's North Americans at Mission Bay, CA. Kai Marks-Dasent, from St. Vincent, placed third overall. O'pen Skiff veterans, Benjamin Mohrman (FL) and Alex Bagnoni (GA) finish 1-2 in the Open Age Group, proving the wide weight range that the O'pen Skiff can accommodate. Winning the young lady's divisions were Augusta's Katelyn Dietert in Open (7th overall), Thailand's Eleanore Wong-Forhart in U15 (8th overall), and St. Vincent's Lily Punnett in U12 (45th overall).

In the freestyle competition, thirty-five teams did their best to impress the panel of undistinguished judges in two or three minute heats. New standards were set with creative costumes and impressive new moves. Switzerland's Luca Schaad showed amazing agility juggling balls while balancing on the capsized boat. Pickle Ball was the theme of two of the top teams. It was an extremely tight decision for the judges, but in the end, the Perez Pickle Pack was selected over Flying Balls, Vincy Boyz, and The Last Pirate. All sailors from the top four teams received Tahe surfboards as prizes.

Event website and results are found here and augustasailingclub.com