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Community Corner

Avon Sailor To Race In Bahrain Competition In March

Seven of the finest Optimist sailors in the nation will be representing the USA at the prestigious 2014 International Optimist Dinghy Association's Asian Championship in Al Jazeer, Bahrain from March 28 through April 6. This is a highly competitive, invitation-only regatta, which is organized by the Bahrain Maritime Sports Association. Only one of those competing sailors is from Connecticut, 13-year-old Jack Howard of Avon.

The Optimist, or Opti for short, is a single-handed dinghy made of fiberglass, which was designed for sailors under the age of 16. It is best known for its unique sail shape. The Opti is sailed in 120 countries and there are 160,000 registered worldwide, 20,000 in the United States. At the London Olympics in 2012, approximately 80% of all skippers were former Opti sailors who, like Jack Howard, have competed nationally.

To prepare for the 2014 Asian Championship, Jack has been traveling to Florida every other weekend to practice with his Argentinean coach, world-class sailor Robby Bisi. He also attended the U.S. National Team Training in Miami, Florida with some of the top Opti coaches in the country. As the weather gets warmer during March, Jack will practice further in Portsmouth, Rhode Island along with his team - the Fort Adams Sailing Team (FAST).

Jack, his sisters Hannah and Sarah, and his parents, Kim and Ed Howard, live in Avon. They spend July and August at their summer home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where they belong to the Hyannis Yacht Club. Jack began sailing at the club when he was 4. At first, he sailed just for fun. When his coaches noticed how quickly he was developing his skills, they suggested he think about moving into competition.

In 2010, Jack became the youngest sailor in Southern Massachusetts Sailing Association history to win the coveted Gran Prix Championship. The Grand Prix is a series of six regattas that includes 175 sailors, aged 9 through 15, from 45 yacht clubs in southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Jack competed in a number of regional regattas in the summer of 2012. He finished at the top of his age division in the Hyannis Regatta, the Beverly Junior Regatta, the Stage Harbor Optimist Challenge, the Edgartown Junior Regatta, the West Dennis Opti Championship and the Stone Horse Opti Challenge. He won both the Hyannis and Beverly Regattas and was awarded the Most Outstanding Sailor Trophy for 2012 by his home yacht club in Hyannis.

In the summer of 2013, Jack traveled to Largs, Scotland for the British Nationals - where he finished 21st overall and was the 2nd American. In the fall of 2013, Jack's performance at the West Coast Championships in San Pedro, California earned him an invitation to represent the United States at the March 2014 IODA Asian Championship in Bahrain.

Even though he's firmly focused on Bahrain, Jack is also thinking about possible Olympic competition down the road. With his amazing sailing record thus far, that dream isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

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