Opti TV

Why A Bird's Eye View Is Everything So. You got yourself a drone/quadcopter/flying video camera It's probably a DJI Drone. A Mavic series, right? Very nice. You read the manual (hopefully) and watch a couple of YouTube videos and you tell yourself: Pretty Easy Stuff! This drone does half the work for me! And you'd be right! If all you were doing was filming a sweeping panorama or an overhead shot coming from and going back to LAND. Flying quadcopters has become very much simpler over the last few years and drones have become exponentially smarter. They are now capable of taking videos that were before the realm of helicopters and aerial photographers. Now, there are ones the size of your palm with very lengthy battery lives. It has never been easier to incorporate drone footage into your sail coaching and once you start using drone footage you can open up yet another door to drop some knowledge on those eager kids you've got sailing with you. So we&

The Big Sail Test - CD Sails So last month we got the Test Team together to test out some new Optimist sails out of Italy from a company called CD Sails. We found some surprising results, based off some design choices they have made and what was also surprising that we found out, was that CD Sails was started by Claudio Demartis who founded Olympic Sails, a hugely successful sailmaker.  We got Stephan Baker and Charlotte Leigh, who are supremely talented sailors in their own right, to check out the sails with us - take a look at what they and Coach Omari had to say about the results of the test! Thanks again to Professional Boats and O2 Sailing for sponsoring the video, and to Zane and CD Sails for sending us the test sails, hope you all enjoy the video!

Rule 16 Changes, World Sailing Streamlines The RRS FULL PDF: Racing Rules Of Sailing 2021-2024 Okay, so the new edition of the Racing Rules Of Sailing (commonly abbreviated to RRS) is out. And although we are still going through all of the changes and the technical implications - coaches love to argue rule infractions - we've already noticed some changes that will be impacting Opti Team Racing especially, check it out below: 16. Changing Course 16.2 In addition, on a beat to windward when a port-tack boat is keeping clear by sailing to pass to leeward of a starboard-tack boat, the starboard-tack boat shall not bear away if as a result the port-tack boat must change course immediately to continue keeping clear.  Which basically kills off any hunting or pushoffs in Team Racing, and gives a port tack boat more protections around starboard tackers. This however, does not apply to Fleet Racing as Coach Arthur Blodgett from LYC explains in a great article: "

2021 Team Trials To Be Held Sans Qualifiers Interesting news from the USODA Executive Committee as they have just sent out an announcement to USODA members that USODA Team Trials 2020 is officially cancelled which was not surprising considering that coronavirus continues to affect the sailing world into late summer. However, the decision to host the 2021 Trials without regional qualifiers beforehand. This decision is definitely the right call, as de-incentivizing non-essential traveling and not gathering hundreds of people is a good idea for the foreseeable future, the safety of the sailors is number one in our book. We reached out to "friend of Opti TV" Coach Arthur Blodgett to see what he had to say: " Thank you to USODA for your patience as this crisis has developed in our country and around the world, I think they made the right decision for the sailors and it makes sense. I think that as long as its a 6 day regatta where you have a qualifying split it can

Hey Everyone, We've been hinting at something big happening behind the scenes and we can finally share with you the news:  We are happy to announce the formation of the OPTI TV Test Team, which is a team of experienced Opti sailors dedicated to testing new and exciting equipment from class manufacturers - we recently did a big shoot with them testing the latest sails out of Italy and found some interesting results! Take a look: We were joined by Stephan Baker and Charlotte Leigh - some of the best Opti sailors the US has ever seen - as guest coaches for the Test Team practice. Huge shout out to Stephan for helping film and to Charlotte for their feedback and observations from these sails. We invited some local sailors to form the first test team, and they ran the sails through their paces. BIG thanks to:  Sara Ortiz Vey Keith Grupenhoff Will Barnhart  Ferragut Gutierrez-Solana Brayden Zawyer Sophie De Leon Urban Garrett Fox  Carlos/Beckmann

July 2nd, 2020 We've got the latest issue of The Roundup - always including some great video content, articles, and things to get you excited about sailing and learning. This time around we've got foiling IMOCA 60s, Stephan Baker's idea of a perfect tack, and more. Check it out! Team Charal IMOCA 60  We love the craziness of the modern sailing world just as much as we love the timeless designs of yesteryear. And Team Charal is rocking foil technology right into the 2020 edition of the Vendee Globe. The French sure do know how to do Ocean Racing in style! Stephan Baker Opti Tack Arguably the best Opti sailor the USA has ever seen, Stephan put together this edit from a recent clinic at the Chicago Yacht Club last year. There's lots of good information here, check it out! Build Your Own Wooden Optimist! If you've got the time and want to do an interesting family project, check out this Instructables guide on building your own Woody! It'