Opti sailing is great. And some kids will start sailing the Opti as young as 5 year old. It's an amazing evolution, when they are learning new skills, participating in their first green fleet races, but also meeting many new friends. The years go on, and then, the kid is ... growing ... reaching adolescence, and getting better and better at sailing. And then, the Optimist, which was just a bit of a big toy, is becoming a demanding race boat - and physical fitness becomes increasingly important . And physical fitness is getting even more important when the Opti sailors moves to a larger boat - the Laser, the 420, the 29er or another dinghy class. In Canada, you can't count on sailing time on the water for your kid to get fit, because of the very short sailing season. In fact, this is a problem also in countries with much longer sailing seasons. So kids need to get fit for their sailing, and train at the gym and/or do other sports to best prepare for sailing. Sailing
