Opti Tacking Duel!

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From Kid to Athlete - A Transition that Requires Your Full Attention

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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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Green, White, Blue & Red Fleets: What is it all about?

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If you were present at a prize giving ceremony for the Optimist class, you may have been puzzled by the number of categories and prizes that are involved. The reason is simple: the Optimist class is big, and there are kids sailing from age 5 or 6 to age 15, and there are some kids new to the class, and other kids with years of experience  So it's normal to recognize the efforts of everyone according to age and experience. So here is how it is organized. Green Fleet : when your kid starts mastering the boat and do short races at your club, (s)he may be ready for doing a regatta in the Green Fleet. This is a regatta where advice can be provided by the coaches during the race. And it is typically a shorter course than the white/blue/red fleets. The importance in the green fleet is to participate. So there is typically no ranking announced at the prize giving. But when your kid starts performing well in the Green Fleet, it's then ... time to move on and join the White, Blue o...
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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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