August 24th - 2021 Optimist European Team Racing Championship Official Arrival Day.

August 30th - 2021 Asian & Oceanian Championship 1st Entry Stage Deadline.

September 15th - 2021 Asian & Oceanian Championship 2nd Entry Stage Deadline.

November 6th - 2021 Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship Official Arrival Day.

November 6th - 2021 SAMS Official Arrival Day.
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The 2021 IODA Annual General Meeting was held on July 7th in Riva del Garda, Italy.

The AGM is the highest authority of the International Optimist Dinghy Association, and the decisions made are very important to the future of the Optimist Class.

The Minutes of the AGM will be written up and once approved for posting by the Executive Committee, they will be posted on the IODA website and shared with all our Members for review. They will be approved at the 2022 AGM in Turkey.

In General, the summary of decisions from the AGM are as follows:

Finance
  • 2020 Annual Report was approved.
  • World Sailing Plaque Fees to increase to $60USD effective immediately was approved
  • Sail Label Fees remain unchanged at $15USD was approved.
  • IODA Subscription Dues changed to $450USD effective January 1, 2022 was approved
  • Spar Label Fees were set at $5 USD for each of the Mast, Boom and Sprit to be paid by the manufacturer, effective January 1, 2022 were approved.
  • Foil Label Fees were set at $5 USD each for the rudder and daggerboard to be paid by the manufacturer effective January 1, 2022 were approved.

Articles, Championship Conditions & Class Rules Changes
  • Fifteen proposals to amend the Articles and Championship conditions from the Executive Committee were approved.
  • Six Class Rule Changes proposed by the Technical Committee were approved
  • Two Proposals from the Member from NED to change the rudder and daggerboard Class Rules were not approved.

The link to the Executive Proposals can be found here.

The link to the Class Rule Changes can be found here. Note that they must be approved by World Sailing before coming into effect on January 1, 2022.

IODA Championships Selected
  • 2023 World Championships will be in Club Vela Ballena Alegre, ESP - June 11-21st
  • 2023 European Championships will be in Kalamaria, GRE - July 15-22nd
  • 2023 Asian & Oceanian Championships will be in Abu Dhabi, UAE - October 29 to November 4th
  • 2023 South American Championship will be in PER
  • 2023 European Team Racing Championship will be in Lago di Ledro, ITA - last week of August
  • No bids were received for the North Americans or African Championship

Elections
  • Kevin Whitcraft was re-elected as President of IODA.
  • Carmen Casco was re-elected as VP Europe.
  • Ricardo Navarro was re-elected to the Regatta Committee.
  • Andres Peres was re-elected to the Regatta Committee.
  • Olive Parker was elected to the Technical Committee

All details of these decisions and other items will be recorded in the Minutes.

We thank the almost 50 Members for attending the AGM in person and for taking the time during these difficult COVID times to travel to Riva del Garda to contribute to the AGM.  We also received 4 proxies from Members who were unable to attend the meeting.
The IODA ROPE (Recycled Optimist Parts & Equipment) Program was launched during the North American Championship in Mexico in May with great success and continued at the 2021 World Championships in Riva del Garda, Italy.

The ROPE Program continues working to promote sustainability, the circular economy, and peer-to-peer support from sailors to sailors. By receiving donations from some very generous Optimist family members, we were able to collect diverse items and the very useful and appreciated sails!

Sailors from several countries came to our “ROPE OPTI” at both events and happily left behind some of their equipment for other sailors to use. 

We also received a very generous donation from the Sail it Forward Program funded by Fynn and Pierce Olsen from team USA.

At the World Championships, the Yacht Club of Hyderabad Foundation Program, in India was the beneficiary of some gently used sails. This incredible foundation is now partnering with the ROPE Program to continue supporting under privileged kids so they can start Opti sailing in India.

The ROPE Program has been very well received and there is great interest in both, donators and recipients. Some offers to send big quantities of equipment to certain countries and regions have been presented and we will be working on those in the upcoming weeks.

We are now also looking for support from shipping companies and suppliers that can help move this program farther. If you can help in any way, please contact us at info@optiworld.org.

Thank you to all of those who have donated to this wonderful Program!

We will keep you posted on any developments with this program in the near future
The 2021 Optimist World Championship were held in Riva del Garda, Italy on June 30th to July 10th.

The event was hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva in collaboration with FIV, IODA, AICO, Riva del Garda Fiere Congressi, North Lake Garda and Trentino.

The championship successfully concluded after 6 days of fleet racing plus two days of racing that held the 2021 Optimist World Team Racing Championship, in which ITALY successfully defended their World Team Racing Title. 48 nations competed in the championship. Italy captured the hard fought gold medal and the IODA Challenge Cup from top ranked Thailand who took the silver medal. Team Portugal ended up beating Team USA to take the bronze medal in the team racing championship.

Following the dominance of Italian Marco Gradoni who won 3 consecutive world titles, there is a new Optimist World Champion, the Brazilian Alex Di Francesco Kuhl, who won the world title over a fleet of 259 sailors representing 57 nations.

The Optimist world title goes to Brazil for the first time in the history of the Optimist Class. In 1991, BRA won the Team World Championship and it was a sailor from that team in the name of Rodrigo Amado, who today is the coach of the Brazilian team and helped Alex Di Francesco Kuhl towards this important success.

This victory came at the end of a long and open battle with the American Gil Hackel, whereby Kuhl managed on the final day to take the lead by 5 points. Alex Demurtas, from Italy had a good comeback on the final day of racing to climb onto the podium in bronze position.

A total of 10 races were completed - 5 for the qualification series and 5 for the final series. Conditions varied from light and shifty, to stormy, to the legendary Ora winds from the south.

The top ten of the 2021 Optimist World Championship are as follows: 1. Alex Di Francesco Kuhl (BRA, pt. 54), 2. Gil Hackel (USA, pt. 59), 3. Alex Demurtas (ITA, pt. 79), 4. Tim Lubat (ESP, pt, 87), 5. Weka Bhanubandh (THA, pt. 88), 6. Quan Adriano Cardi (ITA, pt. 88), 7. Lomane Valade (FRA, pt. 97, top girl), 8. Danyl Mykhailichenko (UKR, pt. 105), 9. Lucas Cochi Kubelka De Freitas (BRA, pt. 106), 10. Lisa Vucetti (ITA, pt. 108 - second girl) .

The girl's podium was composed of: Lomane Valade (FRA), gold medal, Lisa Vucetti (ITA), silver, and Marisa Alejandra Vicens (ESP), bronze.

The overall results can be found here.

IODA would like to thank the Fraglia Vela Riva and their team of organizers, members, and volunteers for hosting and organizing a very successful Optimist World Championship and to all the sponsors for their support.

We hope that we have the opportunity to come again for one of our IODA Championships again in the future.
The 2021 European Championship took place June 20 to 27th in El Puerto de Santa Maria (Cadiz), Spain at the Bay of Cadiz Specialist Sailing Centre, home to the Andalusian Sailing Federation.

It was a spectacular week of racing for both the Boys and Girls Fleets with challenging sea and wind conditions that tested the skills of all 155 Boys and 116 Girls, totaling 271 sailors from 38 nations. Six races were completed in the qualifying series and four races in the finals for a total of 10 races.

Spain's Xavier García Olle and Greece's Kleopatra Anastassiou were crowned the 2021 Optimist European Champions.

It was a close-fought fight among the girls, in a highly competitive fleet that clearly showcased the huge talent among the young sailors worldwide.

Kleopatra Anastassiou (GRE) took the title in the tenth and final race. She finished three points ahead of Medine Tras (TUR), who was one point ahead of Sofía Bommartini (ITA) in third place, followed by Firdevs Yegin (TUR), who saw the title disappear out of her reach on the last day.

The final day was a mere formality for Xavier García Olle (ESP). The sailor from RCN de Palma finished 1st and 4th in the last two races to take the title with over thirty points ahead of Niccolo Pulito (ITA), who played a good endgame to finish 2nd. Alexandros Kyfidis (GRE) won the bronze.

For the overall results for the Boys and Girls fleets, go here.

Many thanks to the fantastic team from the El Puerto de Santa María Royal Yacht Club (RCN) and our member Ascociacion Espanola Clase Internacional (AECIO) for planning and hosting such a successful European Championship in collaboration with the Andalusian Sailing Federation (FAV), and the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV) as well as many sponsors and supporters of the event.
The Optimist North American Championship (NAMS) took place in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico, May 29 to June 5th.

113 sailors plus coaches and team leaders from 12 countries were in attendance.

A strong Team USA swept the podium by taking the gold, silver and bronze medals in both the North American Championship and the North American Team Racing Championship.

Eight races were completed in the fleet racing over 4 days and one day was used for the North American Team Racing Championship.

First overall and the 2021 Optimist North American Champion was Flynn Olsen of the USA ahead of teammates Gil Hackel in second place, who later won the silver medal at the 2021 World Championships in Riva del Garda, ITA. Following Hackel was Richard Sykes, USA in third overall. Six of the top 10 places were won by sailors from USA.

The top sailor who is a non-resident of North America was awarded to Felix Llauro from ARG in 10th overall. The top girl was awarded to his teammate Delfina Kuttel (ARG) who finished in 14th overall. Second girl behind Delfina was Sophie De Leon Urban, USA in 16th, and third girl was Gabriela Berlinsky (BRA) in 18th.

For the overall results, go here.

IODA would like to thank Linda Green and her team of volunteers and the Vallarta Yacht Club for planning and hosting a successful Optimist North American Championships for the 3rd time in recent years. Many thanks to the many sponsors and partners for their support.
The 2021 European Team Racing Championship is taking place in Lago di Ledro, Italy from August 24 to 29th.

The following 15 teams will be vying for the title of 2021 Optimist European Team Racing Champion:
ITA, ESP, FRA, SWE, DEN, CRO, UKR, SLO, ISR, POL, BEL, FIN, RUS, GBR, LAT.

The defending 2019 champions are ITA, so they will be keen to take the title again in 2021.

Racing starts next week. Check out the action and results on the event microsite here.
The 2021 Asian & Oceanian Championships is taking place at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in Pattaya, Thailand from November 6 to 13th.

The Event Microsite has been launched and can be found here.

The NOR is also published and can be found here.

The Online Registration is now OPEN. Don't forget to sign up today! Mark your calendar. The 1st Entry Deadline is August 30th.

Keep an eye out in the IODA Website and Facebook for any announcements regarding the championship
The 2021 SAMS are taking place in Mar del Plata, Argentina from Nov 6th and 13th.

The event microsite is launched and can be found here.

Keep an eye out for any announcements on the IODA Website and Facebook for more information on the event
IODA has been informed by the organizers of the 2021 African Championship that due to the lack of time and the inability to provide the required boats for the championship at the present time they will not be able to organize the event this year.

The past 18 months were extraordinary and the pandemic still continues today, so planning any IODA Championship is challenging.

IODA respects their decision and looks forward to coming to Alexandra, Egypt again in the future.
The IODA Executive Committee is pleased to announce that they have approved a bid from our Member in Bahamas to host the 2022 Optimist North American Championship at the Nassau Yacht Club in Nassau, Bahamas from November 13th to 20th.

The Nassau Yacht Club was the host of the 2019 Optimist North American Championship. Hosting that championship gave their program an incredible boost and so much momentum. They are so happy to be able to keep that going by hosting the event again in 2022.

IODA is looking forward to returning to Nassau, BAH next year.
The Tokyo 2020 Sailing Competition has come to a close.  There were 10 days of inspirational competition where new and renewed champions were crowned in all 10 Olympic Classes.

Robert Wilkes, former Secretary of IODA has analyzed the skipper medalists of the 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition who competed in the under-16 international IODA Championships and the results are very impressive.

75% of the medalist skippers competed in the Optimist World and Continental Championships prior to moving on to other youth classes and ultimately the Olympic classes.

The influence of the Optimist Dinghy in the development of these Olympic Medalists can not be underestimated.  Developing strong sailing skills at an early age enabled these sailors to move on in the sport and compete at a very high level. Many went on to become world and Olympic champions.

Below is a list of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalists who all competed in an Optimist World or Continental Championship when they were under the age of 16 yrs of age:

Gold Medal:
  • Laser: Matt Wearn (AUS) 2008
  • Radial: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 2006
  • 470W: Hannah Mills (GBR) 2003
  • 49erFX: Martine Grael (BRA) 2003-4
  • Nacra: Ruggero Tita (ITA) 2007

Silver Medal:
  • Laser: Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) 1999
  • Radial: Josefin Olsson (SWE) 2004
  • Finn: Zsombor Berecz (HUN) 2000
  • 470M Anton Dahlberg (SWE) 1999-2000
  • 470W: Camille Lecointre (FRA) 2000
  • 49er Peter Burling (NZL) 2002
  • 49erFX: Tine Lutz (GER) 2005

Bronze Medal:
  • Laser: Hermann Tomasgaard (NOR) 2008-9
  • Radial: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 2003
  • Finn: Joan Cardona (ESP) 2011 470M
  • Jordi Xammar (ESP) 2007-8 470W:
  • Agnieszka Skrzypulec (POL) 2004
  • 49erFX: Annemiek Bekkering (NED) 2004-5

A further 16% sailed Optimists at local or national levels. Only two medalists did not. Ex-International crew included: Ana Burnet (GBR) Nacra; Fredrik Bergström (SWE) 470M Aloise Retornaz (FRA) 470W.

To find out more interesting statistics about Optimist sailors and former World and Continental champions, go to Robert Wilkes’ website here.
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