Blast From The Past: Recognize Any Famous Sailors?

Everyone starts somewhere...

Big Ben Himself

Here's a photo of Sir Ben Ainslie back in 1989 when he rocked those GBR letters at the IODA World Championship in Yokohama, Japan. Who knew that perhaps the world's greatest sailor started in Optis?

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A Beginner's Guide to Layering Sailing Gear (Updated October 2023)

Purchasing Sailing Gear can be confusing and brings up a lot of questions. The ones we hear the most often are ● What do I need to buy? ● Where can I buy it? Is it at west marine? ● This is very expensive, can I find it somewhere cheaper? ● My sailor lost this thing, do they really need it? Not to worry! We've put together this general guide to sailing gear to hopefully help all of you answer these very important questions. As you read this keep in mind that the most important thing is feedback from your sailor, as they are the ones who will be wearing this stuff! The first and most important thing is Sailing is a sport where you are at the mercy of the elements and the proper equipment and clothing make a world of difference in enjoying your time out on the water, or in certain cases, being able to survive it! How to choose Sailing Gear In order to choose the proper sailing gear what you need to understand are two main points – Where in the world are you, and what ki

A Guide To Your First International Orange Bowl Regatta (Optimist Class)

Never Been To the Orange Bowl Regatta? Read This Guide! In 2020 we covered the International Orange Bowl Youth Regatta in this video, and an accompanying article HERE . If you've never been to the regatta, and are attending for the first time this year we figured we'd put together a helpful guide to The Orange Bowl Regatta and the area with tips on parking, the format, racing and events surrounding the Orange Bowl. So take a seat and let's dive in! A Brief History Of The OBIYR Lester Johnson introduced the idea of a youth regatta on Biscayne Bay in Miami through the established name of the Orange Bowl Regatta in 1978. The purpose of the youth regatta was to organize a youth sporting event during a time when families were looking for a fun pastime during their winter break. The Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta has continued that tradition through today for the last 42 years. The regatta has grown from 450 youth sailors in 2002 to over 600 today. In the past five year

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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