From The Center Console

Part of, and crucial to, the Opti Apparatus is the fleet of coaches that support the thousands of Opti sailors out there. They are the heroes (and sometimes the villains) to the protagonists that are Opti sailors. Coaches are crucial to the development of sailors and critical to ensuring that kids stay in sailing. With the growth and professionalization of the class over the last few decades the Optis have seen the fleet and presence of coaches grow exponentially. Some say this is a detriment to the class as any serious Opti sailor now requires coaching in order to be competitive, which incurs tremendous costs and potentially pushes a kid out of Opti sailing

We have found that whatever is the case, most coaches are good people who just want to give their kids a chance to find the greatness in them and don't care if a sailor isn't winning regattas right after stepping on the boat for the first time. Of course, you will find coaches that are tough and rough around the edges, but that is because the sport sometimes requires coaches that will not let you retreat even an inch. Some kids will respond to that! But we find that most do not.

This is why we write the series "From The Center Console" to share tips and stories to opti coaches from opti coaches - the sport has taken great strides to create training opportunities for coaches, but at least in the US of A there isn't more than the National Sailing Coaching Symposium from US Sailing - yet! We hope you will find great information here, which is indexed and searchable through the top banner.

Fair Winds And Following Seas

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Is This A Chance To Start Fresh? Parents Take Note

The Opti Class is a large enterprise spanning some 150,000 sailors (probably more) worldwide. They all love to sail, and some love to race. Under COVID-19 racing as we know it will not be possible in the near term. That does not mean we can’t race, it means we need to do things differently. There are many really smart people who race sailboats and organize racing and regattas. Plenty of them are in the medical field. There is tremendous brain power at work right now sorting through the issues of how we can continue to facilitate the development of young sailors in a safe way. The first recommendation is for us to let kids get back to sailing for the fun of it, simply to enjoy sailing for what it is. Just get them out and let them explore their watery world. Sailboat racing, like many other things in life, has been heading in the direction of more and more perfection and complication. We are going to be dialing it back. As we ease into racing it will be with fewer people out

The Post-Opti Life: 29er Sailing And Skiff Culture

A New Series To Connect Sailors To What's Out There We tried something different with this one as we constantly get questions about what comes after the Opti. Part of what we want to do at Opti TV is to connect the class with the next steps, so naturally we went to take a look at the 29er class from the viewpoint of what kind of sailor wants to compete in 29ers. The 29er is a deceptively simple boat that requires agility and strength, and a mindset of sharing and growth. As a pre-olympic boat it's not for the faint of heart. We went over to the US Sailing Center in Miami to meet up with 2Niner Head Coach Phil Muller for day 1 of racing in the 2nd event of the Skiff Generation Grand Prix, a really great event that he has put together with US Sailing and the 49er class. It was a great day of racing, albeit light and notably it had several of the US Sailing Team members racing on 49ers and the 49erFX. We'll let you read the recap here: SGGP Event 2 Recap because we were more

What Should Be In Your Dock Box/Ditty Bag

Although the Optimist class is comprised of children, the fact of the matter is that serious racing happens in the Optimist class and that carries with it needs for equipment and replacement parts. Any sailor or coach worth their salt will tell you that you need a ditty bag or tackle box to carry spare parts and tools in order to keep your Opti up or in case of technicals - breakage - out on the race course. The historical example of a ditty bag, complete with marlinspike So what should you keep in your ditty bag? At the bare minimum, your ditty bag needs to have tools to repair or adjust parts of your boat. A good set of screwdrivers, of medium length, pliers, and a crescent wrench are absolute musts Example contents of a ditty bag. Note the ample variety of tape, tools and spare line Next, you'd want to add a roll of sail tape, the thick kind, to patch up tears or holes that might happen. I cannot stress the importance of dealing with that sooner rather than later, because a sm

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