By Airwaves Writer Heather Kerns
From October 11th to the 13th the 2025 Optimist Midwest Championship was hosted by Geneva Lake Sailing School. This event also served as a qualifier for the following: 2026 Optimist Team Trials, 2025 Optimist Panamerican Championship, 2025-2026 Mid Season USNT & USDT, as well as the always exciting Spring International Teams for 2026.
An impressive 207 sailors signed up for their chance at qualifying. Over the course of the three race days, 91 sailors advanced to the Gold Fleet, while the remaining 116 made up the Silver Fleet.
The overall winner, Walton Macpherson, of the Carolina Yacht Club, sailed an outstanding and consistent regatta—winning four races and dropping an 8th-place finish. The podium was rounded out by Briggs Kossmann (Coach Pulio Sailing) in second and Jaiden Strickon (Team Happy / Performance Sailing) in third.
Throughout the top 10, the drop race played an impactful role with several sailors dropping scores in the high double digits. Francisco Don (CRYC), who finished 6th overall, had a notable scoreline, dropping a black flag and holding onto a 20th, but other consistent races were able to keep him in the top group. This highlights how important resilience and consistency are in large, competitive fleets. The results also reflect the depth of talent across the country, as no single team or region dominated the leaderboard. You can check out the rest of the results HERE.
Congratulations to all of the sailors who competed and best of luck through the international and USNT/DT team selection process.
We’ll see the Opti sailors back in action soon at more regional championships: the Chesapeake Bay Champs October 25–26, 2025 and the Southeast Champs November 1–2, 2025.
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