March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 51 F

Registration open for Opti Atlantic Coast Championships

aycOnline registration is open for the 2015 United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) Atlantic Coast Championships (ACCs), hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC) October 24-25. As a qualifier for the 2016 USODA Team Trials, over 200 boats are expected, making this one of the largest regattas ever hosted in the Annapolis area. Sailors ages eight-fifteen will be competing in single-handed one-design Optimist dinghies (“Optis”) at the mouth of the Severn River. Competitors will be from up and down the East Coast.

A widely recognized international class for junior sailing, Opti racing has a few unique protocols that can be baffling to those who didn’t grow up in the prams or are just getting started.

Opti Racing Primer

• “Red, White, and Blue Fleets” allow sailors to compete against their own age group. o The three fleets start in same start at the same time

o White—10 years old or younger

o Blue—11 or 12 years old

o Red—13 years old and shall not have reached their 16th birthday in the current calendar year

• The “Green Fleet” is a development fleet for the class. o Encourages novices to attend their first regatta

o Encourages continued participation in racing

o No trophies are awarded so that experienced competitors can’t rack up “easy” wins

• Fleet Divisions o No more than 100 boats are encouraged on the starting line

o In regattas with more than 100 entrants, Red, White, and Blue Fleets are broken into mixed divisions which rotate in competition in separate flights for each race

• Trapezoid Race Course o Trapezoid-shaped course with upwind, downwind and reaching legs

o Allows multiple starts on the same course to accommodate divisions

o Sailors from separate starts have reduced impact on each other

o Overlapping finishers is minimized

Optimist Quick Facts

• Designed in 1947 to offer a low-costs sailing option for young people

• Length Overall (LOA) is 7’9”

• Sprit-rigged pram originally constructed from three sheets of plywood

• Became a strict one-design class in 1995

• One of only two boats approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under 16

• Over 150,000 boats officially registered with the class, International Optimist Dinghy Association

• Sailed in over 120 countries

For more information, please visit annapolisyc.com/juniorfleet/usoda2015optiacc.

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