Opti Calendar Shifting - Winter Begins To Heat Up

US Sees Big Demand For Racing

As the coronavirus has impacted so much of the sailing world, the Optimist class has begun to fight back and open up competitions slowly but surely. Here's a quick roundup of news from around the #optiworld

South Florida Sees Surge In Regatta Participants

South Florida is typically a very busy place for Optimist sailors in the winter, but with the lack of regattas since March of this year, there is quite a pent-up demand for quality racing which is beginning to show in the registration lists of the events going on around the warmer parts of the country. With 137 RWB and 52 in Green Fleet at the Junior Olympic Festival to be hosted by the US Sailing Center Martin County, this regatta is attracting sailors from the neighboring Bahamas and Cayman Islands. How exactly social distancing will be practiced remains to be seen but it's good to see that there are so many kids that want to race.

USODA Opens Registration for Midwinters

The USODA X-Com has given the green light for the USODA Midwinters hosted by the venerable Southern Yacht Club. Reduced to two days of competition and sans qualification for International Team status, it will be interesting to see how this regatta plays out but only a few hours after opening registration, there are 105 registered participants.

Orange Bowl Opens Up Berths With Local Clubs Cooperation

CRYC and Orange Bowl organizers had originally announced a limited number of berths for the 2020 edition due to obvious limitations with the pandemic. However thanks to the cooperation from the local sailors from the Coconut Grove SC, Key Biscayne YC and the Miami YC agreeing to launch and retrieve from their respective clubs - Orange Bowl organizers have opened more berths for other sailors and lifted the fleet caps to 99 in the Championship Fleet and 50 in Green Fleet.

Lauderdale YC Announces 1st Annual LauderBowl Regatta

With the limitations on the 2020 edition of the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta, Lauderdale YC opened its doors to ocean racing on December 27-30th with the announcement of the 1st annual LauderBowl Regatta. Open to the Optimist and Laser/ILCA classes, it's already attracted 93 registrants in the Optimist Championship Fleet which will be exciting to see race off the Ft. Lauderdale Beaches.

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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...

The Roundup Returns: October 2023

SailGP Upset: USA Climbs To 3rd After Cadíz For those who don't follow SailGP, the Formula 1 of Sailing, Team USA has come in with the sneak and climbed to 3rd overall for Season 4 with a decisive win in Cadiz this past week. Skipper Jimmy Spithill together with flight controller Taylor Canfield (who we interviewed here in 2020) took the team through light wind, non-foiling conditions and surprised everyone with the win. The U.S. beat both rivals across all metrics - picking up the highest average speed of 32.7 km/h, highest 58% flight time and executing the fewest number of maneuvers - just six. The Americans also sailed the shortest distance - a total of 4.9 km/h versus ROCKWOOL DEN’s 5.7km and Australia’s 6km. Spithill went on to dedicate the win to the team’s flight controller Hans Henken, who was injured during an incident in Taranto. While this was ‘such a massive blow for the team’, the incident gave the team ‘a real amount of purpose’, Spithill said. “It was a...

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...

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