Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

A Webinar to Discover the Amazingly Successful Laser of the Teens! The Laser 4.7, the smallest of the three Laser rigs, has steadily grown to become immensely popular in Europe. In North America, there is growing interest in the Laser 4.7, with fleets emerging in locations such as Nova Scotia, Florida, Ontario and Alberta. Trends are really encouraging. There were 66 participants in the 4.7 at the Canadian Youth Nationals this past August in Kingston, Ontario. This upcoming week-end, there are nearly 30 registrations for the Florida District championships in the Laser 4.7. There is an even higher number of registrations for the upcoming Orange Bowl Youth Regatta in Miami. Globally, it's in Europe that the Laser 4.7 is the most established, with huge fleets regularly exceeding 400 participants. With increasingly large numbers of sailors graduating each year out of the Optimist, as well as classes such as the O’Pen Skiff, the Laser 4.7 offers an opportunity for a smooth transi...

A frequently asked question is: « Why the Laser 4.7? » While the 4.7 rig is very well known in Europe, it is less so in some places elsewhere, particularly in the United States and Canada. The reality is that there are many reasons to choose this rig, which entails a sail of 4.7 square meters (1 square meter less than the Radial sail) and a slightly shorter mast. This rig is especially suitable for youth sailing. Let's take a look at the reasons - and there are many of them - why the Laser 4.7 is an excellent choice. Below are 10 first reasons. The second part of the article, presents 10 additional reasons to choose the Laser 4.7, and can be found at this link . Note: this article is available in French . Also, don't miss our upcoming webinar on Nov. 13 " The Laser 4.7 for Youth Sailing: All You Need to Know! " 1. A Considerable International Success The Laser 4.7, launched only twenty years ago, has achieved a considerable international success. For exampl...

Une question fréquemment posée est: Pourquoi le Laser 4.7? Alors que ce gréement du Laser est super connu en Europe, il l’est moins dans certains autres pays, en particulier aux Etats-Unis et au Canada. La réalité est qu’il y a de nombreuses raisons pour choisir ce bateau. Celui-ci, rappelons-le, est un Laser équipé d’une voile de 4.7 mètres carrés (contre 5.76 mètres carrés pour le Laser Radial). Ce gréement est particulièrement adapté à la voile jeunesse. Examinons ici les raisons - et elles sont nombreuses - pour lesquelles c’est un excellent choix. Sont présentées ci-dessous 10 premières raisons. La seconde partie de l'article, qui sera disponible prochainement, présentera 10 raisons supplémentaires de choisir ce bateau. 1. Un succès international considérable Le Laser 4.7, lancé il y a seulement une vingtaine d’années, connaît un succès international considérable. Les championnats d’Europe attirent par exemple généralement quelques 400 participants. Ceci est un nombre pl...

Jumpstarting the Laser 4.7 in North America - an article by Jean-Pierre Kiekens and Agustin Ferrario - published in The Laser Sailor - Winter 2018 /* With the increased development of the Optimist in North America and the decline of the Byte class, there is an urgent need for a vibrant Laser 4.7 class, offering an optimal transition towards the Laser Radial and, ultimately, for men, the Laser Standard. A striking difference between Laser youth sailing in Europe and North America is the role played by the Laser 4.7. Huge fleets of Laser 4.7 are competing at national and international events in Europe. While, in North America, the Laser 4.7 has until now had a limited, sporadic, presence only. It’s a situation that is unfortunate, because the Radial is a way too powerful rig for many youth sailors, particularly those just out of the Optimist class. The European Experience with the Laser 4.7 Today, there are large fleets of competitors in the Laser 4.7 class in Europe. P...

RS Feva: Endorsed by the Fédération française de voile, the Royal Yachting Association, among other sailing federations We all know about conventional youth sailing, with the Optimist, the 420, the Laser, sometimes the 29er. But we all know too that youth sailing is in trouble in many many clubs around the world. Solutions exist, and they are being tried in various locations. A key is to diversify the equipments, particularly for sailors below age 15.  It's critical to provide more opportunities, to accomodate a wide range of physiques and weights, to address the desire of some sailors to do double-handed rather than single-handed sailing, and to provide more opportunities for learning core sailing skills through the diversity of platforms. Some countries are making substantial efforts in that direction. For example, the first video features the 2018 French national championships for sailors under 15 - and the variety of equipments is significant. It includes several...

View of the Beach - of the amazing Buffalo Canoe Club on Lake Erie, near Niagara Falls Yes, this year the Open Bic North Americans will take place in Canada, at the amazing Buffalo Canoe Club on Lac Erie. As this point, there are already 33 entries, including some of the world's best Open Bic sailors, out of Hawaii. By comparison, CORK Optimist International has only 13 entries at this point, 4 of them from Canada (many more to come though) While taking place in Canada, there are no Canadian entries yet for the Open Bic North Americans. An element of explanation is this. While several clubs in provinces such as Quebec and Ontario have Open Bic fleets, particularly for their Junior Sailing program, the Open Bic is typically not recognized by official federations. It's the case in Quebec and in Ontario - mostly by tradition and also by fear of jeopardizing participation in the Optimist fleets. As a results, most racing sailors tend not to sail the Open Bic, eventh...

A picture from Europe - where there are 4.7 youth fleets about as large as the Radial youth fleets JUNE 13 UPDATE: The organizers of CORK in Kingston have just announced that there will be a separate Laser 4.7 fleet, after all! As long as there are more than 10 registrations in the fleet - which is most likely as there is word of competitors coming from as far as Florida to compete! Our take: any youth Laser sailor below 145 lbs should sail the 4.7 fleet, which is attracting a growing number of the previously top Canadian Opti sailors. Sailing the Radial when underweight, especially in Kingston where the wind conditions can be very challenging indeed, is a mistake. See the Update from the Organizer s. --------------------- The year 2018 is seeing the emergence of Laser 4.7 fleets in Canada, and this is good news. For many years, in Canada, youth sailors out of the Optimist have transitioned directly to the Laser Radial, a rig way too powerful for sailors typically weight...

Here is a youth athlete - Dimitris Papadimitriou from Greece - who did already a lot, including bronze at the Opti Worlds at age 14, Youth 4.7 World Champion at age 16, and Youth Radial World Champion at age 17. Dimitris is now sailing the Laser Standard witht the aim of representing Greece at the 2020 Olympics. Check this intereview and video footage at the 2016 Laser 4.7 worlds. Watch the interview we did with Dimitris Papadimitriou, discussing his transition from the Opti to the 4.7 and then the Radial.

This clip from a newspaper in Saint Barth, in the Caribbean, may help understand how the French help youth sailors becoming elite athletes. It talks about a 14 year old boy, Kyllian Guillemassy, who aims at joining one of France’s youth elite sailing centers. To seek that selection, he did participate in the Spring Laser Cup, where he placed 14th out of 50 participants, and he spent a week in La Rochelle for taking a series of tests. If he is selected, he will attend, in September a government-supported sports / high school program specifically designed towards the development of sailing athletes. Precision: it's a public high school. This type of sailing development path is obviously a key for developing top elite athletes. In most countries, such athletic development path simply does not exist. Note : age 14 is very young to sail the Laser, and even those too heavy for the Opti typically have not yet reached the weight for properly sailing the Laser 4.7 and obviously not ...

The video shows how versatile the Open Bic is. From the 6 year old starting sailing, to club level fun, with 2 or more in a same boat, to club racing, to international racing and a transition towards other dinghies such as the Laser and the 29er. Oh .. and foiling is also now available on the Open Bic (at a high cost, but that may get lower with time). Check it out

In the wake of the surprising choice by the Club de voile des deux montagnes (CVDM - located in Vaudreuil, in the vicinity of Montreal) to acquire 10 Topper dinghies, the Quebec Sailing Federation has just announced that it has also chosen the Topper for the next Quebec Games. For those who are not familiar with them, the Quebec Games are a major youth event taking place every other year in a range of disciplines (athletics, swimming, etc.). https://thetford2018.jeuxduquebec.com As discussed previously, the Topper is a dinghy whose design is outdated, and which does not offer opportunities for regattas in North America , unlike alternatives that would have been probably more justified - the Open Bic and the Laser 4.7, or even the Radial Laser.  For those who are familiar with youth sailing in Quebec, it is well known that none of the best youth sailors will ever sail in this boat.  Two years ago, the same federation had chosen another dinghy, virtually unknown - th...

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 rega...

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...