Optis, multihull alternative? (opti-killer)

Check out the F12 forum.

Optis fill an important roll in youth Sailing, Introduction to the basics. After that,go forth and mutiply!

People are probably sick of me promoting Optis, but I still think it is the best possible boat for young kids to learn in. There are many reasons why it is the best choice.

1. They are everywhere. Most yacht clubs use them for their junior sailing programs.
2. The kids can learn best in an environment with a bunch of other kids instead of having adults involved.
3. MOST IMPORTANT is that an 8-year-old can sail an Optimist Dinghy by himself or herself, which gives them a feeling of power and control.
4. It is much easier to learn on a monohull than on a multihull, because a monohull gives you instant feedback (like heeling in a little puff of wind).
5. A monohull usually gives you better feel of the helm.
6. Optimist regattas are the largest in the world in the terms of boats that attend.
7. Because of the type of sail plan, Optis can go out in bigger winds and seas than most of us would venture out in on our

adult

boats, and this adds to the kids' confidence (while it scares the parents).
8. Many of the best sailors in the world, both monohull and multihull, started out in Optimists or Sabots or similar. This includes Randy Smyth and Hobie Alter Jr.
9. If your child starts out on an Optimist Dinghy, after they learn how to sail and how to control a boat in a variety of conditions, that child will be much more likely to be impressed by a multihull that goes faster. It will give them something to aspire to when they get a little older and start getting bored with the Opti.
10. It's too bad Optis are too small for most adults to learn to sail in them. <img src=

alt=

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Reason for NOT getting your child into Optis: If your child likes racing, you are going to have to give up your own racing for maybe years to take your child to Opti regattas. Most catamaran sailors are not willing to make that sacrifice. <img src=

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Personally, I cannot think of any reason to NOT start a child in an Optimist -- well, unless the parent is so prejudiced against monohulls that he/she cannot be properly supportive to, primarily, get the kid interested in sailing with a group of their peers, and secondarily and later, to get the kid (and maybe his peers, as well) interested in switching to a catamaran.

Well, anyway, that's what I would do for my grandchildren, if they lived near a yacht club with a junior sailing program.

hmmmmm.

Yeah, Warbird. That's what I'm talking about. These kids really learn how to sail in big conditions. It's great!

I'd say the Sunfish is a good alternative. You can flip it and right it easily.

Especially the

flip it

part! <img src=

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Look at the mainsail and wind direction in that photo! The Opti was surfing downhill so fast the main was actually a speed brake! Yee Ha! <img src=

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mmmhmmm

I used to flip it for fun and step on the daggerboard. Then right it and step back inside. Didn't even get wet.

OK. I'd be a bit nervous in this scenario:

That wave looks like its going to break all over that kid.

If those pics are real, and the kids are from the US, we need them on Hobie 16s, so we can start winning the Worlds again!!! Talk about balls of bleeping steel...

Mike

That kid's from Argentina I think...

Is there a difference between an opti and a sabot? Lots of sabots around here for the kids.

Pretty similar, different rigs -

Sabot

Optimist

I dont like the term

opti killer

, it is a negative term which reflects badly back on ourself (catsailors).

For the kids I like the F12 designs coming up now. Gato is building one of Scarecrows F12 designs, while Phil Brander have a different 12 footer in the works: http://www.catsailor.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=Test&Number=126046

Visit the F12 forum or the Builders forum on this site to see what Gato is doing.

The difference is that the sprit sail rig on the Opti allows it to adapt/adjust to a wide variety of wind conditions, sort of like you can do with the gaff rig on the Sunfish.

That's another neat thing about learning in the Opti: The kids learn to bail while they sail. <img src=

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And both are valuable skills if they get a big boat someday. I'm not kidding. <img src=

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If I'm not mistaken, a Sabot has a lee board and an Opti has a huge dagger. In Northern California, they sail a boat called an El Toro, very similar to an Opti. Lot's of variants, but the Opti reigns king!

You're right, the Sabot has a leeboard that you switch from side to side.

The Bic O'Pen is I think the best alternative to the Optimist if you don't have an Optimist program locally or your kid does not like Optimists. We have both at our club and when it is windy, it's the kids on the Bic's who are having the most fun because the boat is self rescuing, very easy to right, and self bailing. It's also faster and looks cooler. You can run into a dock and not hurt it.

Not knocking the Optimist but it's long in the tooth and the Bic is a refreshing alternate. The same thing is happening with the 29er versus 420. The 29er is faster, cooler, and can be sailed with a wider weight range but it is more expensive.

I like the F12 designs too, but I thought the Wave was going to fill the gap and be the cat equivelent of the Laser 4.7 for kids coming out of the Opti.

Back when the Wave first came out, (1996?) Sail Magazine did a test with lots of kids and some small new mono dinghys, and a Wave. All the kids said they liked the Wave better than any of the mono dinghys for two reasons: 1. It was faster and they could maybe fly a hull. 2. They had room to bring a friend or two.

My kids hated the Opti I bought them because there was no room for another kid. I traded it to another Dad for a Hobie 14, added the trap wire and the kids would sail it two up, but it was hard for them to tack. So I taught them to only jibe it when they wanted to turn around and sail home.

I think a new Wave is pretty expensive these days even by new, full race $3,000+ Opti standards. I saw one for sale on my lake a while back, it was fairly, had the backrests, trailor, etc. the guy wanted $4,500 for it! He said he paid $6,000 for it! OUCH! For a Wave? Can that be right, with the trailor and backrests?

The fact that you can put an Opti on top of a Volvo wagon or BMW is what sells them more than the Wave I think, oh, and they have a great world wide organizatoin and most USA yacht clubs use them for their junior programs vs. a Wave.

I have great memories sailing Optimists when I was 11. Pure fun, particularly in company of other friends of the same age, on more Optimists. Sailing monohulls is great too, they have a unique mystic, my best sailing memories are on monohulls. And I certainly enjoy cat sailing. But why the pointless comparisons? the kind of boat is not what makes the real difference.

We're cat sailors, not mono sailors, so naturally, we want our kids to sail cats.

But, it's hard to beat this (from Scuttlebutt):

The Garda Easter Meeting, already in the record books as the biggest single-Optimist Class event in the world, has this year moved up several gears to record an entry of 999 Optimists from 29 countries. The logistics are incredible. Three race courses run five simultaneous races, three for the 866 under-16

Juniors

and two with shorter races for the 133 11- and 12-year old

Cadets

. As well as the three race-committee teams, over 200 support boats, each because of local law with a qualified driver and tightly controlled crew, are involved. --
http://lakegardameeting.fragliavelariva.it/

It's one of the many reasons I race a Hobie 16 although I've surpassed the weight limit years ago. There's power in numbers...

Mike

Nope, it's fixed on the starboard side. You learn to sail assymetrically on different tacks.

I have seen a sabot with a dagger; two different classes?

Yes, there is power in numbers. Wonder how the kids who finished in the lower third on the scoresheet felt.
The more I think about it, the more I think the focus on racing and competition is a major reason for the large numbers of opti sailors who quits sailing.

I have never sailed an opti, so I will probably never be as good at sailing as those who started in optis will be.. Logical? No, marketspeak! It doesnt matter if you start out in an opti, a bathtub or a Melges24. Time in the boat matters to develop skills, not what kind of boat it is.
I have seen the scared kids unable to control the opti and being very alone, so I firmly believe a beginners boat should be able to be sailed two-up or three up.
A cat is the perfect fun boat for sailing, cruising, fooling around and bathing for the kids. I think the opti is so succesful becouse it have

critical mass

and

everybody else

are using them. Not becouse of the qualities of the boat.
A new Opti costs more than a rotomoulded F12 I was quoted..

When I taught sailing about 8 years ago we had some lasers and some optis. The optis sat most of the time unused because the kids (most age 9-12) preferred to go 3 per a laser rather than get in the slow optis. The only good thing about an opti is that you don't have to convince the kids to stop capsizing for fun. The optis are also a pain if you have any current because they are not powerful enough to fight it, especially for an inexperienced sailor who might blow a tack or two.

Kids enjoyed racing but by far a trip to a sandy shore a mile or two away (which ends up as a competition to see who can get to shore first) to have lunch was the favorite activity.

I'm totally biased, but in the US we should be promoting the heck out of Hobie Waves. Not so much in the rest of the world, they have differing choices.

Optis are either boring or scary depending on the kid's view of the world and definitely slow and stupid looking.

Not that a Wave is especially sleek-looking, but it beats the heck out of an Opti on looks.

And I'm going to reiterate the point that kids like to be social and sail together. There's a small percentage of kids who actually want to be by themselves.

We've had a crew of 3 kids, none of which was over the age of 7, sail a Wave with good competency (they weren't the boat in the fleet of 10 I was keeping an eye on).

Nothing is going to change the system the Opti has, but we can certainly offer an alternative to it that has greater appeal to the kids at large these days.

The opti system is all about individual competitiveness. There's a time and place for that for some kids. There are a heckuva lot more kids who aren't into that system, but they are forced into it by their parents.

In addtition to the OpenBic, which I've seen, Bic Sports is floating an

un-regatta

event theme with their sailboards, and kids like the format. I haven't seen an

un-regatta

first hand, but I can appreciate how well received it probably is.

The Wave is not as affordable as an Opti, but it is no more difficult to tote around. Get a lightweight trailer and throw it on there in one piece. Forget lifting a heavy boat over your head to put it on top of a car.

I'm a girl and I can trailer and un-trailer a Wave by myself. Cartopping is out of the question for me. How in the heck would I lift an Opti or anything else onto the top of my car without assistance?

Shop around and you can pick up a perfectly good Wave for anywhere from $1K - $2.5K

I've always thought the best way to sell Waves would be to bring several to a big Opti regatta and allow the Opti kids to try them. The kids already know how to sail, so it should be a quick transition for them. Of course, the event organizers might not be too happy if you showed up with 5 Waves for a quick race after the Optis hit the beach, but hey...they don't like us already!