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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

 How To Charter An Optimist For A Regatta We recently linked up with our friend Brian Holloway from McLaughlin Boat Works to find out exactly how to charter an Optimist for a Regatta, and we talk about some things to look for when chartering or buying chartered boats. 

Whatta Regatta  The Orange Bowl is a unique event in the US Optimist circuit. It is not a class-sanctioned regatta, but attracts top talent from all around the world every year. In 2020 there were obviously big changes made because of Covid-19, but the organizers at Coral Reef Yacht Club and the Orange Bowl committee did amazing work making the regatta as safe as possible together with the cooperation of local clubs.  Long regarded as the pinnacle of the season for the Green Fleet, the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta is the first time many sailors get exposed to sailors from other countries. It is also a big first step into the rest of your sailing career for the more competitive sailors since placing in Orange Bowl is regarded as a big achievement for junior sailors. 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 eve

 Reasons To Go Singlehanded We caught up with PanAmerican Games Silver Medalist Bruno Fontes at this year's Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta  to ask him what makes the ILCA/Laser Class stand out from the other options. The Laser is a very physically demanding boat and as such requires not just a good sailor but a good athlete onboard as it all comes down to you. For those kids who are a little more independent and like to be in charge, the Laser may be the boat for them once they leave the Optimist.  As always, thanks for watching! See you on the next one,

 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

 We Talk Optis, Sport, And Soccer Get to know Head Opti Coach of Southern YC Martin Borrallo in our latest installment of OPTI TV Presents. Martin is an accomplished coach hailing from Uruguay and stopped by to chat about the upcoming US Opti Midwinters and the state of Opti sailing in 2020. Thanks for watching!

Miami's First Opti Meet Since March 2020.  It was an interesting weekend being out in Biscayne Bay last month, as we saw many familiar faces for the first time in months since South Florida locked down due to the coronavirus. Although the virus still is very much present, we the sailing community were able to sail for these last few months but we finally found the way to race safely.  As it's our home waters we wanted to chronicle this meet and show you all the fun that was had and challenges that were met. Although the first day was thrown off by thunderstorms into the afternoon, that Sunday saw some great races and the sailors really got into their stride.  Congratulations to all the sailors, and to the coaches and parent volunteers that made it happen. Miami, in our opinion has become the development Mecca as some of the best sailors and innovative practices are coming out of that 6x12 mile bay.  Thanks to Professional Boats for setting us up once again in their amazing 6m T

 An Inside Look At The Bigger Picture Last May, we sat down for a virtual interview with Sigrid Beckmann, VP of Americas for the International Optimist Class to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes and what the current state of affairs was for the International Class. It was a very enlightening interview for many reasons but for us, mainly the fact that at the highest levels of organization in the class, the sentiment is shared that Opti sailing is for everyone and that a good foundation that the kids receive in their Opti years sets the tone for a lifetime of sailing. Full interview below:

 Remember The Three C's: Calm, Cool, Collected AP. Postponement. It can be a tough time for sailors and maybe even more so their coaches, because it's switching off that competitive mode and it can be hard to maintain discipline when you're sitting around on land or out on the water waiting for improved conditions. Here's the latest video from us just on this very topic, featuring tips from Daniel and Omari. Key Takeaways: Stay Hydrated Keep an eye on changes in conditions that could help you formulate a plan Conserve your energy Things that could help you in those three areas is drinking plenty of water, not swimming around too much, finding some shade to keep you cool, and talk to your coach about changes in conditions or things that you see.  Listen to some music, chat with your friends, but don't forget what you're there for!

What Lies Beneath  2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least, and we've somehow managed to launch a brand and youtube channel in this time. But as always, there's more to do and say - and this time its a subject that's particularly contemporary to our home waters of Miami - and that's plastic pollution. More and more we see that its having an adverse effect on our waters, and it's not limited to Miami! This is a global issue. We were i nspired by the World Sailing and IODA Sustainability Inititative, so we dove into the topic of plastic pollution in our waters in this episode and some things we can do to help fix the problem. Thanks to our friends at FOCUS Miami and our contributors for helping make this happen. We hope you enjoy the cool underwater sequences and if you like this episode, make sure to show it to your sailor(s). It's a topic we can't afford to ignore. Check out the full Sustainability Topic 4 - Reducing Waste below: http://www.opti

 Opti TV Presents: Dr. Tim Herzog, Reaching Ahead Mental Performance Training Dr. Tim Herzog is a renowned sport psychologist who has worked with the USODA National Team and is a APA Board certified in biofeedback. Check in with Dr. Herzog to see why language is key to success at any sporting level. #opti_tv #optiworld #optisailing Opti TV is the one-stop-shop for Optimist sailors, parents and coaches where we bring together the knowledge base across the Optimist class into one place. If you like what we do, please consider supporting the channel through our Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/opti_tv Thanks for watching!

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!

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'

May 26th, 2020 Hey everyone, we are back with another edition of The Roundup! This one is featuring some videos and articles that have recently cropped up - we have to say, it's awesome to see sailing put out so much content! It may just drive the interest of many a landlubber to try it out this year - the original Social Distancing! Here's a few things we think you should check out: What Coaches Want To See This Summer From our friend Phil Muller, Head Coach of the uber-successful 2Niner Skiff Squad - he dives into the conversation that sailing is having as a sport at the moment, and shares what coaches think sailors should do with their time now that regattas are on pause. Really insightful article, we can't recommend it enough.  How Worlds Reshaped Me As A Coach "Friend Of Opti TV" Bernat Gali writes on Sail1Design Airwaves about his experiences coaching the Puerto Rican Worlds Team at the 2019 IODA Worlds this past year in Antig

We Sit Down With Agustin Ferrario - Head Coach of Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and Development Officer for CODA Agustin Ferrario, known to most as Agus, is the driving force behind a lot of what goes on in the realm of Opti Sailing up in Canada. We sat down with his recently to discuss his experiences sailing Optis and now as an organizer for the class. Check out the video chat below and we hope you'll come away with a new perspective on what a multi-faceted approach can do for opti sailors and young athletes.

Do Your Homework, Be Consistent We all know it starts at the start, but as USNT and Worlds coach Omari Scott tells us, it comes down to being prepared, and staying ahead of the competition by doing your starting line homework!

We had some fun making this video reminding everyone to Stay At Home to win the race against COVID-19. For us, the good news today was that we received the  3D Marine Opti Coach Kit  for review! We've been looking forward to giving these a go as they are WAY more interactive for Opti sailors than the boring fridge magnets we usually use as coaches. We'll be throwing up the YouTube review tomorrow so in the meantime, remember to #StayAtHome !

Hey everyone, Brian Holloway from McLaughlin Boat Works is back with another tutorial on boat upkeep - check out best practices on replacing your bungee system for daggerboard trim - Crucial For Sailing!! Snag the EX1113 - Daggerboard Hold Down/Hiking Strap Lift System at Opti Stuff.

Video Is Everything So you've figured out that your team is ready to take it to the next level and you are ready to incorporate videos into your debriefs. Great! Video is the absolute best way to bring your feedback to the kids because they get to see themselves in whatever situation you are discussing - and learn from their own mistakes, while seeing what is working for them.  It will always drive the point home harder if the kids internalize the lesson instead of you feeding it to them. This 3-part series is dedicated to coaches who want to up their videography game and make their video debriefs with their Opti sailors as effective as possible. Note: As this is based on our experience, we hope you can adapt this set of advice to your own situation and resources! What Is A Video Debrief Anyway? It's a debrief, but with video. It seems very simple and straightforward but we've found that there is a lot that goes into one. Especially if you are coaching a large

This week we are featuring a video from our friends at McLaughlin Boat Works - regarding daggerboard trunk maintenance. With ever-sharper trailing edges on daggerboards, this yearly maintenance is becoming more and more important! You can pick up the EX-1117R2 Daggerboard Kit over on Opti Stuff.