January 10th 2022 - IODA Subscription Dues Invoices for 2022 to be sent to Members. Payment is due upon receipt.

February 18-19 2022 - Technical Committee & Regatta Committee Mid-Year Meetings

February 21-23rd - Executive Committee Mid-Year Meetings

April 29 to May 6th, 2022 - 2021 Asian & Oceanian Championship

The invoices for the 2022 IODA Subscription Dues will be sent out in early January. Please note that the Members at the 2021 AGM, approved that the new dues will be $450 USD as of January 1, 2022.

We would like to help you promote your event by including it on the IODA Event Calendar. Send the following information to Fiona Kidd at sec_gen@optiworld.org: 

You can download it here.  

To help promote the Optimist Class worldwide, we are always looking for content for the our IODA Website and the Facebook Page!

Please send any regatta reports, images, or stories to Fiona Kidd at sec_gen@optiworld.org to post on the IODA Website or to Susan Elliot Beatty at regattasecretary@optiworld.org for posting on the IODA Facebook page.

The 2022 Optimist Class Rule changes are being approved by World Sailing.

It is expected that the new version of the 2022 Optimist Class Rules will be available in January and posted on the IODA Website.

Season's Greetings! Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday!

2021 has turned out to be a pretty remarkable year for the Optimist Class despite the ongoing pandemic with sailors' participation and Member activity at Optimist events increasing as the year went on.

It was a great comeback from a year in which the world came to a standstill due to the corona pandemic, which forced us to cancel all our IODA Events with the exception of the 2020 Europeans that was successfully rescheduled in Portoroz, Slovenia against all odds.

As 2021 has progressed, we have seen activity increase and the builders and sail manufactures have come roaring back with orders in the 3rd and 4th quarters indicating that Optimist sales are on the rise and that the industry is in recovery. This is very good news!

We were also very lucky that our events were all scheduled in the last half of 2021. This gave some breathing room for event organizers to get comfortable with hosting an IODA Championship during COVID-19. It also allowed sailors and their families to make travel plans to different countries and various events. The logistics of travelling to an event was a huge challenge to organize.

Unlike last year, we were able to host almost all our IODA Championships this year with the exception of the Africans, which promises to be a fantastic event in 2022 in South Africa. The image above is a compilation of photos from the opening ceremonies from the Worlds, Europeans, NAMS, Asians & Oceanians, and the recently completed SAMS.

We would like to thank all of our Event Organizers who worked tirelessly against many odds this past year to ensure that our IODA Championships took place in a safe environment, so that sailors could come together as friends, compete on an international stage, and share in their love of sailing.

We also would like to thank the sailors, parents, families and coaches for supporting our events and making huge sacrifices and efforts to travel to our IODA Events. It takes a village to make things happen and we have the best village ever!

In 2022, we hope to see our friends from Australia and New Zealand again, who have not been able to attend any of our IODA Championships for the past 2 years due to COVID Travel Restrictions in their own countries. We really missed those boxing kangaroos and the Haka at our IODA Events!

The 2021 Optimist South American Championship took place from December 11th to 18th.

A total of 10 races were completed in the qualifying and final series. 155 sailors from 12 countries (ARG, BER, BRA, CAN, CHI, ECU, LTU, MEX, PER, PUR, USA and URU) battled the huge seas and tricky sailing conditions. It was challenging racing for everyone. Many will head home having experienced some of the toughest and most exciting sailing conditions ever.

It was a fantastic event hosted by the Club Náutico Mar Del Plata and organized by Matias Capazzano, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, and his huge team of incredible volunteers.

Sigrid Beckmann, VP Americas summed up the event perfectly by saying, “Its’ been an honour and joy to celebrate sailing, life and friendship with an amazing group of humans. Fabulous South American Optimist Championship 2021 comes to a close after almost a 2-year delay. Worth every second that we waited for it. Gracias Mar del Plata!”

In terms of racing, a strong showing from Team USA was led by David Coates, who had a spectacular final day with two second place finishes to put him comfortably in 1^st place overall in the championship ahead of teammate Logan Mraz who finished in 2nd overall.

Franco Sanchez, the current Argentina National Champion, moved up from 4^th to 3^rd place overall on the final day to become the 2021 Optimist South American Champion. 

Richard Sykes of the USA came in 4^th overall followed by teammate James Pine in 5th.

Augustin Segovia of Chile, (the 2nd sailor from South America) came in 6^th with Ethan Thompson from Bermuda following in 7^th . Tomas Travaglini from Argentina (the third South American) followed in 8^th place. 

Rounding out the top ten were Cooper Keeves from the USA in 9^th and top girl at the championship, Julieta Benedetto Josef from Argentina in 10th. Second and third girls at the championship were her teammates Francina Paz in 16^th place overall and Catalina Verna in 21^st.

Team ARG won the 2021 Optimist South American Team Racing Championship and Team USA won the 2021 Optimist Nations Cup held earlier in the week.

For the Gold, Silver and Bronze results, go here.

For the Event Microsite, go here.

For IODA Facebook, go here.

For news coverage on IODA Website, go here.

The 2021 Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship, hosted at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in Pattaya, THA, was held from November 6th to 13th.

64 Sailors representing 8 nations (IND, JPN, SGP, SWE, THA, TUR, UAE, and USA) took huge risks to attend the event that was held under special government COVID regulations.

All participants were required to be in a 'safety bubble' between the hotel and venue. The venue was completely fenced off so that no one other than the accredited persons could get inside. Many volunteers stayed on the venue in rooms provided by the yacht club. Teams and Officials were put up in a hotel a short distance away.

The logistics of ensuring that everyone could attend the Championship was incredibly challenging. The Organizing Committee, Chaired by Koravic Bhanubandh, known to so many Optimist sailors and friends as 'Wikki' went to great lengths to ensure that everyone could get into the country with special status and visas. Their team of 200 staff and volunteers were instrumental in making the event happen.

Kevin Whitcraft, IODA President expressed IODA's gratitude by saying: “I wish to thank everyone for coming in these difficult COVID times and to thank the RVYC, a place close to my heart, where I learned to sail, where I grew up, where I continue to be a member and still participate. I especially want to thank the members, organizing committee, commodore for all the great work they’ve done in making this event possible."

Ten Races were completed over the 4 days of fleet racing in challenging tidal and wind conditions. Weka Bhanubandh (THA) won the well-deserved title of 2021 Optimist Asian and Oceanian Champion with Ege Erdemli (TUR) taking the silver medal and Wylder Smith (USA) taking the bronze.

Weka Bhanubandh is also crowned the 2021 Optimist Asian Champion. The perpetual Optimist Asian Champion trophy remains in Thailand for the third time in a row. Weka’s predecessor Panwa Boonak ended Singapore’s long winning streak in 2018 and brought it home again in 2019. No Optimist Asian and Oceanian Championship was held in 2020.

For the full story and top results, go here.

For Results, go here.

For the Event Microsite, go here.

The World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award celebrates the effective execution or ongoing delivery of high-impact, highly-replicable sustainability initiatives aligned to World Sailing’s Sustainability Agenda 2030.

This year, IODA was one of four finalists. We are very grateful for the recognition of our new ROPE Program that was introduced this past year.

The purpose of the program is to promote sustainability, the circular economy, and peer-to-peer support from sailors to sailors.

Other sustainability initiatives of IODA that were recognized include the recent introduction of a 'Paperless Measurement System' and Mobile APP to completely eliminate the use of paper at IODA events, as well as the co-branding and introduction of the World Sailing Sustainability Education Program launched in 2020.

We congratulate the Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation for their well-deserved award.

Florencia Chiarella (PER), the 2017 Optimist South American Champion, has made Peruvian sailing history by becoming the first to win a Gold Medal at the World Sailing Youth World Championship for her country in the ILCA6.

Another former Optimist sailor Sebastian Kempe (BER), silver medalist at the 2018 Optimist North American Championship, made history for his nation by winning the Gold Medal in the ILCA6, the first ever medal of any colour for Bermuda at a Youth Worlds.