Evolution of a Portuguese Optimist Sailor - from beginner to world-class sailor

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

Location: Faro, Portugal

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Choosing a Single-Handed Dinghy for the 2024 Olympics

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Day 1 of the World Sailing Valencia Sea Trials Photo credit: Michele Tognozzi/ farevela.net With the World Sailing sea trials having just started in Valencia to help determine which single-handed dinghy will be used at the 2024 Marseille Olympics, here are a few thoughts. For sure, there is lots of emotions, and many people are pretty upset that the Laser may be replaced, but reason may dictate that one of the three contenders - D-Zero, M-14 or RS-Aero - may be a more suitable choice for the long term development of single-handed sailing. Here are some thoughts at the beginning of these trials. In a nutshell, it is argued in this article that: the targeted optimal sailor weight for female athletes should be brought down from the current 68 kg (150 lbs) to about 60 kg (132 lbs), to allow access to single-handed racing to many more female athletes world-wide, and keep women into sailing. the targeted optimal sailor weight for male athletes should be increased from the current 8...
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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...
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Beyond the Optimist

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The Optimist is THE sailing development class for kids.  There is hardly any other alternative in Canada.  But what after the Opti? This is an extremely important question, as many, too many, Optimist sailors give up sailing after the Opti, in large part because of an inadquate path of transition towards young adult and adult dinghies such as the Laser, the 420, the 49er, etc. On the basis of various discussions with the most experienced coaches and a number of opti parents, here are key elements to consider. your opti sailor can stay in the opti class until age 15, but may want to leave earlier because being too heavy, or too tall, or thinking of being so - what is key here is the weight, and indeed, while the ideal weight for Opti sailing is around 90 to 110 lbs (there is much discussion about this, so this is indicative), many Opti sailors continue to sail the Opti with a weight of 120lbs or even more ; height is less of an issue, even though some sailors will need to...
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