There are many manufacturers for the Optimist class, and the competitive differences between boats are fairly minimal. Most sailboat class associations will allow any builder to manufacture to the class standard, and provide certification services to builders who wish to produce sailboats for the racing class. Club level boats can be found for less and the largest manufacturer also sells re-certified refurbished hulls in good as new condition.Ī sailboat “class” is a written specification agreed and maintained by the sailors of the class.
#Ioda training full#
How much does it cost to buy and equip a new Optimist Class sailboat to perform at the highest level?Ī brand new Pro Level Opti equipped for international level racing with a full set of gear and accessories can be purchased new for around $5000. Our team also needs a travel trailer which will hold all of our competition Optis, gear, dollies, and rigs. Within this fall season, it is our goal to raise enough funds to have a dolly for each boat. Hatteras Sailing currently only has one dolly which we share among all 8 of our boats. There many other accessories such as watches, wind instruments, etc which are legal in racing that are not particularly unique to Opti sailing and, while nice to have, those will not be covered here. In this article, we are going to outline the rigging and gear. There is a fair amount of gear an Optimist sailor needs for his/her boat to be legal for racing, but also to be competitive. What gear and equipment does an Optimist Class sailboat need to be competitive? By the time a sailor is ready to graduate Opti class, these fundamental skills should be well developed allowing the sailor to transition into team sailing and more boat complexity on a strong foundation of more fundamental skills. The competition is intense, worldwide sailing opportunities are prevalent, and the sailors learn and practice racing tactics and strategies becoming experts at very young ages. The relative simplicity of the Opti class allows sailors to focus on understanding the fundamentals of sailing – wind, current, physics, weather, and the physical and mental multitasking required to make expert sailors. The IODA allows sailors to remain in the optimist class up to 15 years of age. It is ideal for a sailor to remain in the Opti class as long as physically possible. If any of our sailors show exceptional talent, more opportunities for more competitive racing helps our club develop that talent. Many opportunities for racing locally, regionally, nationally, and internationallyīecause the Optimist Class has such a long and well established class association (IODA), there are many more opportunities to sail against other competitive sailors in an Opti versus other training dinghy designs. This means there is a larger market of used gear and boats which is more affordable for a community supported program. For a community sailing program, like Hatteras Sailing, it is a prudent decision to choose a boat that is very popular with a long history. They are expensive to own and expensive to maintain. Hatteras Sailing chooses to sail the optimist for the same reasons thousands of other sailing and yacht clubs worldwide: Availability of boats, gear, and competition From that angle, the Optimist is the unsung hero of junior sailing, and just skirts the line between safety, simplicity, and performance. An uninformed observer may look at an optimist and see a little kids pram, but an optimist is a fairly high performance little dinghy, and the rigging is cleverly adjustable. There are many reasons for a juniors program to adopt the Optimist Class as the training boat for young first time sailors.
The International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) was formed in 1965 and remains one of the most active racing classes in sailing.
The boat was designed and first built in Clearwater, Florida but quickly traveled to Europe and throughout the world. The class was launched in 1947, and has a long history as the training boat on which the world’s best sailors learn the basics. The Optimist Class sailboat has been the standard for youth and junior sailing programs for decades. Why does Hatteras Sailing sail the Optimist Class?
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