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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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