After the Opti: What about the Open Bic?

Wondering what Russel Coutts was busy with lately, the surprise was significant to find out that he is now actively promoting ... the Open Bic!

So, these days, Coutts is not into another America's Cup Campaign, costing millions and millions of dollars, reserved for the very rich, the professional sailors, the elite of the sport, the very few - but ... in promoting a dinghy, costing ... just some US$3000 - less than a race-ready Optimist!

And he is achieving success, fast. He helped growing the junior sailing program of the Manly Sailing Club - one of the smallest clubs in the Auckland region - from a few sailors to now 90 and the number keeps growing!

He may also have had some influence on the success of his own son - Mathias Coutts - who was crowned Open Bic world champion (U13) at the 2017 worlds held last August on Garda lake in Italy. (see interview of father and son)

The Open Bic is not yet well established in Canada. But a few clubs have adopted it for their youth sailing program, including the Nepean Sailing Club out of Ottawa, which has a fleet of about 35 Open Bics.

Is the Open Bic a possible transition boat towards the Laser,  C420, 29er, etc.  It's something that we will look at in this blog - as the boat is having substantial success in various locations, with active fleets in countries such as the US, France, Italy, New Zealand, to name just a few.

Here is an article about Coutts' involvement in the Open Bic.

The big read: Russell Coutts happy to change tack

And here are selected videos, showing that the boat allows for convential racing, team racing and for more fun type of activities - something strongly promoted by the Open Bic class.





Check the Open Bic official website

https://world.bicsport.com/open-bic.html

Check the Open Bic Class website

http://openbicclass.org


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