Dieter Creitz Wins with a Smile

There are a lot of reasons to highlight 10-year-old (soon to be 11) Dieter Creitz. Sure, he’s a really talented sailor. And he shares his love of the sport with other kids. As a parent, I can only imagine how cool it is to have him an enthusiastic and integral part of his family’s Olson 25 Three Ring Circus. He hasn’t let all his success go to his head, and loves to do other sports as well.

But most of all, he exudes happiness around the water. It’s great to be around. If we could just bottle that….

Right now Creitz is in the middle of a very busy racing season. He just won the White division of the Sunshine State Optimist Championship sailed from the US Sailing Center in Martin County. For all of you who thumb your nose at the boxy, underpowered and overpriced Opti, consider this – over 200 kids from all over the U.S. came to this event, many trying to qualify to go to the upcoming International Events including the Optimist Meeting on Lake Garda which will have 1000-1200 competitors.

Creitz, in fact, was getting a little bored with the Opti, but the Sunshine State Champs appears to have cured that. He’s excited to be going back to Florida for the United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) for the US Team Trials in April. According to his dad Nate, Creitz is up against “professional” sailors. With program budgets exceeding $100K and multiple coaches for some kids, professional is a pretty apt description. This goes way beyond Mommy Boats, which can be bad enough.

But before the team trials, Creitz is headed to Florida with crew Conrad Miller to sail in the RS Feva World Championships. With sponsorship from West Coast Sailing, this team will be waving the PNW and West Coast Sailing flags for this up and coming youth class. The kids are even blogging about it here. Creitz loves going fast, and the RS Feva delivers, as you can see in this short video.

The Sunshine State Optimist Regatta

Creitz is no stranger to big regattas, and it’s a good thing because the logistics of them weren’t easy at this regatta. With over 200 boats, there were four fleets. There was a round-robin between the fleets, so everyone got to sail against everyone else at least some of the time. There were three races per day. There was no gold/silver fleet, the scores are simply tabulated. But within the entire fleet results, kids are scored in their respective age group fleets: White for 10 and under, Blue for 11-12 and Red for 13-14 year olds. Creitz handily won the white division (and was 51st overall) by 29 points over the second place boats.

Nate was just about giddy to watch as his son Dieter applied so many skills to the fleet racing that he’d been learning over the years. “Getting off the line in an Opti race is everything. It was so cool to see him open up the tool bag and use these tools to get off the line. It was the best regatta he’s ever sailed.” Dieter found the fleet a lot more challenging than he’s used to around here. And a key to his success in Florida – hiking harder!

But of course there’s more to the story than just starting and the results. Creitz and his dad arrived in Florida early for two days of practice with the Canadian team before the two-day regatta. And it blew 25 knots every day. Several of the “pro” kids could look forward to unending weeks of training following the regatta.

But our Dieter Creitz needed to make it back to the Pacific Northwest. For skiing. After all, he’s a member of the NW Freeride freeskiing team. Yes, Creitz does jumps and stunts with skis. He’s got the 360 down and is working on the 540. It’s no surprise that a Northwest kid both skis and sails, but to do both so well is a real accomplishment. Asked if he likes skiing or sailing, he says skiing. “I guess I like it better because I only get to do it part of the year. You can sail all year long.”

It all started….

Dieter grew up sailing with his dad and mom Wanda. Dad Nate is a very active sailor and was in his youth, having sailed the US Youth Champs several times and finishing as high as fourth.

One big key to Dieter’s sailing was the “big boat,” the Creitz Olson 25 Three Ring Circus. Anyone racing around Seattle has seen Dieter’s bright smile aboard Three Ring Circus for the last decade. Lately Nate has pared the crew to just the family, having his son drive (seems logical to me!) while he trims and Wanda does bow.

The upcoming Race to the Straits will be the first father and son effort. Dieter has done several, of course, starting when he was six months old. But at this point it seems only fair that he be considered a full half of a doublehanded team. And Wanda? “Well, she knew this day was coming,” Nate explains.

Not surprisingly, Dieter finds himself on other boats occasionally, including the TP52s Glory and Smoke. His days of grinding and calling tactics may still be ahead of him, but Dieter still finds things to do. “I help on the bow and with the hoists,” he explains. And of course he finds himself as the “squirrel” on takedowns, helping get the spinnaker down the forehatch.

Through it all, Dieter’s love of sailing continues. His thoughts on sailing to a non-sailing 10 year old: “It’s a good way to open up, be free, get to travel and hang out with friends.”

And the future?

When a kid like Creitz makes his mark so clearly on the race course, the question has to come up “What next? Olympics?” Nate Creitz knows that possibility is out there, but like his son he has his head on straight and feet on the ground. “We’ll see what he wants to do,” he says. Nate’s not pushing, and doesn’t see any $100K “program” for Dieter. (“I’m not in that tax bracket.”) but he’ll do everything possible to enable Dieter’s dreams as they come. It’s safe to say that Nate and Wanda’s supportive, not pushy, approach to Dieter is a big reason why Dieter’s smiling at regattas.

The PNW sailing community has rallied with support for Dieter. Seattle Yacht Club and West Coast Sailing have both teamed up with support for Dieter. The rest of us can and should just root him on.

Kurt Hoehne

Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.