Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

Check this video about the Optimist sailing career of Tiago Serra.

"A rule has been passed by the NZOBA that helmets are to become mandatory for sailors competing in association supported events and will be phased in over the remainder of this year. Helmet rules have been implemented in a number of areas outside New Zealand with much success. The NZOBA is currently exploring options with manufacturers to supply reasonably priced helmets to our members at a discounted rate. The target is full helmet wearing by all, beginning in 2018." Check the article: http://openbic.org.nz/helmets/

Southern Yacht Club to host 2018 Optimist Midwinter Championship Also the 2019 Spring International Teams Qualifier. November 22 - 24, 2018 (Check-In & Measurement Nov 21) New Orleans, Louisiana USODA is pleased to announce that Southern Yacht Club (SYC) has been selected to host the 2018 Optimist Midwinter Championship to be held Nov 21-24. The results will be used to determine qualification for 2019 Optimist Team Trials, selections for 2019 Spring International Teams and mid-season U.S. National Team invitations. Southern Yacht Club has successfully hosted the Optimist Midwinter Championship for over 30 years.  Located on Lake Pontchartrain, a 24x32 mile lake, the club features a 30,000 square foot facility with a restaurant, fitness center, locker/dressing rooms and one acre of dry storage that will be made available for storage of optis. The racing area is just north of the club and Breakwater Drive.  The competition will be visible from the club or fr

The 2018 Open Bic North Americans will be held in Canada, at the Buffalo Canoe Club - an amazing "beach like" location on Lake Erie.  It promises to be a great event! Unfortunately, for those sailing the Opti, the event is conflict with CORK. Otherwise, it would have been a nice opportunity for them. See announcement below. PS: the Buffalo Canoe Club is an amazing place to sail, and there is no such thing as the Niagara falls being so close! Source; https://www.buffalocanoeclub.com/Racing_Sailing/Regattas/Lightning_Canadian_Open_and_Lake_Erie_Districts

Orange Bowl 2017 Optimist Prize Giving Ceremony Orange Bowl 2017 was a great success, and Coral Reef Yacht Club was able to pull it off again, despite the fact of having been hit by a hurricane just months earlier. There were 260 Optis in the RWB fleet - and there were also 71 green fleeters. There were light to medium winds, and racing at the top of the fleet was extremely tight. The winner of the championship was actually decided in the last of the 12 races. The podium is as follows: 1. Stephan Baker - Lauderdale Yacht Club - 29 points (with two black flags!) 2. Richard Schultheis. Malta Young Sailors Club - 29 points (blue fleeter!) 3. Cort Snyder. Coral Reef Yacht Club - 32 points (another blue fleeter!) There were several Canadians participating.  Here are their results Gold Fleet: 60 Carling Davis (RCYC) - 67 Jean-René Kiekens Arana (RSTLYC) - 81 Liam Sturge (RNSYS) Silver Fleet: 102 Danie Connors (RNSYS) - 112 Mathieu Grahan (CRYC) - 125 Lindsay Davies (RCYC)

Check it out ! Price is not announced, but if the foils are similarly priced as for the Laser for example, then the foils will be ... more expensive than the entire boat, new, fully rigged ! ...

The next big Optimist event is the International Palamos Optimist Trophy, to be held in Spain, not far from Barcelona. There are 550 entries! Canada will be represented by three sailors:  Jackson macaulay, Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron;  Owen gormely, Royal Canadian Yacht Club and Andreas steinitz, Bay of Quinte Yacht Club. Check the event website: http://www.palamosoptimisttrophy.org

Here is a noteworth excerpt from the IODA 2017 General Assembly Minutes "In April 2017, IODA completed a Measurement audit of Winner in Denmark because of advertising that declared that their boats had performance differences due to different construction techniques, particularly in the concentration of weight which is prohibited by CR 3.1.2. The result of the audit declared that the boats were compliant. Winner published an apology on their website for their misguiding advertisement. UPDATE : there were reported serious issues with Far East boats at the 2019 Antigua Worlds, both with the blades and the hulls. Hopefully we will get more details, but this is from a reliable source. In April, there was an incident at the Garda Meeting involving two members of the Executive that suggested that IODA favoured certain builders against smaller builders and there were anonymous emails of allegations of corrupt behaviour. The Executive Committee concluded an internal investig

This is a piece of interest. Are all the Optimists equal? Or are some manufacturers actually able to produce faster boats? Excerpt "We recently acquired new Optimists for our group of friends, though not the mainstream boats because they were too expensive for us. But we were in Garda with pride of our acquisition and our kids were happy. However, among other good experiences we came across some unsettling information in the boat park. The gossip was how one of the biggest Optimist manufacturers found a way to bend the class measurement rules to develop a faster Optimist." Check the article here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2017/04/16/optimist-evolved-far/

The Open Bic class presents its boat as a substitute to the Optimist, and indeed, especially with its smaller sail (3.8 square meters, versus 4.5 square meters for the regular race sail), the Open Bic can be sailed by kids as light as 70 or 80 lbs. Yet, a more critical question, in places where the Optimist dominates youth sailing under age 16, is if there is a place for the Open Bic after the Optimist. So let’s have a look at some critical factors: weight and age. The Optimist can be sailed competitively up to a weight of 110 lbs (50 kg), with a max of 120 lbs (55 kg).  Many of the best Optimist sailors in the world are actually under those weights. Regarding the Open Bic, a query with the current world champion (U 17) Sean Herbert from New Zealand brought up this information: an ideal weight of around 50 kg (110 lbs), but the boat can be sailed competitively up to 60 kg (132 lbs), after which performance declines rapidly./* If you watch videos of the top Open Bic regattas