#OPTIWORLDS – Irish Youth Sailor Sophie Browne of Tralee Bay SC and the Royal Cork YC has settled into her pre Optimist World Championships training regime at Napier Sailing Club on the beautiful Hawke's Bay on the East coast of New Zealand's North Island.

Having recovered from the long journey to the event and the jet lag, the 14 year old Kerry sailor has already shown some continuing form, following her top girl prize and 4th place overall at the Trofeo Ciutat de Palma in early December.

Sophie has finished The Pre Worlds Harken Invitational Optimist Regatta, at Napier Sailing Club, New Zealand taking 21st place overall from 214 starters representing 33 different countries from all over the World in yesterday's final rounds of the Harken Invitational Regatta at Napier, New Zealand.

The Optimist World Championships start tomorrow at the same venue. The sole Irish representative at the event, Sophie Browne, is among a very strong female line up for the start of tomorrow's Optimist World Championships which include, 4 very strong girls from Singapore who have shown good form and have performed well at the pre World's training event, a girl from the Dominican Republic, Justina Pacheco, who has also been very well regarded in the lead up to the World's and several other girls who may well dominate at this year's Worlds.

The invitational Harken Regatta which precedes the Worlds as a training event, at which the top New Zealand Optimist Sailors including Leonard Takahashi-Fry turned up to have a crack at the best Optimist Sailors from all over the World, got off to a challenging start for many of the lighter international sailors competing when the Race Officer set four races starting in 10 knots of breeze which shifted 90 degrees and built to 15 – 20 knots, with a nasty lumpy sea, before shifting back.

Sophie's experience from the Atlantic coast of County Kerry stood to her as she secured 4 top ten results out of the large fleet on the first day and at the conclusion of the Pre Worlds event finished 21st overall out of 214 boats participating.

Many teams have used the Invitational Regatta as a way to acclimatise their sailors to New Zealand sailing conditions on Hawkes Bay and the challenges of racing within a large fleet format where more than 200 boats were competing within a fairly tight area.

Francisco Ducasse from Chile was the overall leader after the first four races at the end of the first day and ended up 6th overall at the end of the two day event, while the Singapore girl Kimberly Lim was overall winner with her team mate Ryan Lo in second place and the Brazilian Rodrigo Luz in the third place on the podium. Justina Pacheco from the Dominican Republic finished 10th overall at the pre World's event

Sophie Browne was pleased with her performance ending in 21st place overall out of 214 boats in her training event in advance of the World Championships.

She will carry the Irish Flag at the opening ceremony in Napier tomorrow.

#OPTI – In a further boost for Irish Optimist hopes at this year's world championships, Kerry's 14-year old Sophie Browne finished in the important top quarter of the pre-worlds event, taking 21st from 214 starters in today's final rounds of the Harken Invitational Regatta at Napier, New Zealand (See promo video below). The world championships start tomorrow at the same venue.

Browne, the sole Irish contender is among a strong female line up for the start of tomorrow's Optimist World Championships. The invitational Harken regatta precdes the worlds and it got off to a challenging start for many international sailors competing.

Many teams have used the Invitational Regatta as a way to acclimatise their sailors to New Zealand sailing conditions and the challenges of racing within a large fleet format where more than 200 boats were competing within a fairly tight area.

After a slight delayed start due the last minute sign up from a large number of sailors, the weather was perfect for a good day sailing, between 8 - 10 knots sea breeze. After race 2 the wind picked up to 15 - 18 knots, as predicted, and made some rough sailing.

214 sailors from 33 different countries headed out to sea this morning, all keen to get into it.

Provisional results show that the only male in Team Singapore won the first race. The second race was won by Chilean girl Franasco Ducasse and the third race was won by American sailor Marshall William who finished first in the last race with Chilean girl Franasco Ducasse the overall leader after four races.

The sailor holding the second position overall is another female, Justina Pacheco from the Dominican Republic.

The IODAI Optimist Trials concluded in Dun Laoghaire this weekend at the Mitsubishi Youth Regatta with a fine win for Sophie Browne. The Tralee Bay Sailor raced a consistent series with blinding boatspeed to pip long term leader Sean Donnelly (NYC). The purpose of the trials is to select teams to represent Ireland at the World, European and German Championships. The Royal Cork continued its recent history of fine results with 7 of the 18 available places being filled by club members.

By winning the trials, Browne has now taken up the option of travelling to New Zealand in December 2011 to represent Ireland at the Optimist World Championships.

The following sailors were selected by the trial process to represent Ireland at the European Championship which will be held in Portugal in July 2011: Sean Donnelly, HYC, Peter McCann RCYC, Harry Whitaker RCYC, Eoin Lyden RCYC, Jil McGinley RCYC Cliodhna Ni Shuilleabhain KYC and Megan Parker SSC

The team selected to travel to the German National Championships include Robert Dickson HYC , Daire Cournane KYC, Sean Waddilove Skerries SC, Richard Hogan HYC, Adam Hyland RSGYC, Ronan Cournane KYC, Sean Gambier Ross KYC and Fergus Flood HYC, Aoife Hopkins and Alacoque Daly Tralee Bay SC.

In addition 10 sailors were chosen for the Irish under 12 squad who will compete in the Optimist UK National Championships.

IODAI Trials 2011 Entries: 53 Races Sailed: 14 Discard: 3 Provisional Results

Series Place	Sail No	Fleet	Helm	M/F	Prize Age	Club	Series Points
1	1368	Senior	Sophie Browne	F	14	TBSC/RCYC	29.71
2	1438	Senior	Sean Donnelly	M	14	NYC	31
3	1439	Senior	Peter McCann	M	14	RCYC	46
4	1440	Senior	Harry Whitaker	M	14	RCYC	50
5	1441	Senior	Eoin Lyden	M	14	RCYC/BSC	68.29
6	1355	Senior	Robert Dickson	M	13	HYC	98
7	1410	Senior	Daire Cournane	M	13	RCYC/KYC	100
8	1433	Senior	Jil McGinley	F	14	RCYC	101
9	1437	Senior	Sean WADDILOVE	M	14	SSC/HYC	103
10	1442	Senior	Cliodhna Ni Shuilleabhain	F	13	KYC	110
11	1375	Senior	Richard Hogan	M	13	HYC	111
12	1413	Senior	Adam HYLAND	M	14	RstGYC	118
13	1411	Junior	Ronan Cournane	M	12	RCYC/KYC	125
14	1443	Senior	Sean Gambier-Ross	M	14	KYC	134
15	1315	Senior	Fergus Flood	M	13	HYC	135
16	1407	Senior	Conor O'Beirne	M	13	RStGYC	148
17	1436	Senior	Daniel RAYMOND	M	13	NYC	161
18	1341	Junior	Ewan MCMAHON	M	12	HYC	174
19	1425	Senior	Douglas Elmes	M	13	RCYC/WHSC	177
20	1335	Senior	Scott Levie	M	14	LDYC/KYC	179
21	1348	Senior	Megan Parker	F	13	SSC	183
22	1154	Senior	Ciaran Finnegan	M	13	WHSC	203
23	1305	Senior	Sandy APLIN	M	13	RStGYC	215
24	1298	Senior	Bill Staunton	M	14	SSC	218
25	1361	Senior	Aoife Hopkins	F	13	HYC	252
26	1369	Senior	Adam D'ARCY	M	13	RCYC	252
27	1340	Senior	Alacoque Daly	F	13	TBSC	264
28	1307	Senior	Anna Kelly	F	13	RCYC	267
29	1234	Senior	Mark Bolger	M	14	RSGYC/BSC	272
30	1422	Senior	Chloe Eggers	F	14	RStGYC	279
31	1349	Senior	Conor KNEAFSEY	M	14	NYC	283
32	1302	Junior	Harry Craig	M	12	RStGYC	289
33	1012	Junior	Niamh Henry	F	12	RStGYC	297
34	1412	Senior	Eva DONWORTH	F	15	RCYC/BSC	330
35	1337	Senior	Donagh O'Buachalla	M	14	TBSC	330
36	1372	Junior	Isabelle Delamer	F	12	HYC	349
37	1314	Senior	Alexandra Walsh	F	14	RStGYC	351
38	1243	Senior	Charley Breen	F	13	RCYC	357
39	1225	Senior	Peter Healy	M	14	KYC	358
40	1229	Senior	Maeve O'Sullivan	F	15	RCYC	390
41	1353	Senior	Thomas Moore	M	14	SSC	393
42	1421	Junior	Evie Byrne	F	12	NYC	395
43	1415	Senior	Caitlin Waters	F	15	RStGYC	400
44	1217	Junior	Rebecca O'Shaughnessy	F	12	RCYC	414
45	1360	Senior	Nicole Hemeryck	F	13	NYC/ HYC	416
46	1148	Junior	Eoghan O'Buachalla	M	12	TBSC	417
47	961	Senior	Claire O'Sullivan	F	13	RCYC	421
48	1266	Junior	Scott O'Sullivan	M	12	KYC	438
49	1408	Junior	Kate Lyttle	F	12	RStGYC	465
50	1402	Senior	Lucy McCutcheon	F	14	RStGYC	470
51	1250	Senior	Anna Potterton	F	13	WHSC/HYC	497
52	1247	Senior	Conor Totterdell	M	15	NYC	542
53	1414	Senior	Alexander GILLETT	M	13	RStGYC/LDYC	594