Melinda Davies upon her return reports on the very successful NZ North Island Championships.  There were 10 sailors from AOST and three Australian sailors from Victoria. Click here for the report.

Click here to view/download the 2011 AIODA Events Calendar
(You must have Adobe Reader to view)

Planit Cad/Cam Software announced as the major sponsor of the 2011 Australian Optimist Championships.

A staggering 172 entries have been received by the host club, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, making this the biggest Opti regatta in Australia ….. ever. As entries in the Open Fleet easily exceeded 90 boats we can confirm that the fleet will be split into four fleets and racing will be conducted in flights comprised of two fleets at a time, as per the NOR. 

Late entries will be accepted on-line up to the 10th January 2011 and we hope no-one will miss a chance to be part of Australia’s biggest juniour sailing event of the year. There is still plenty of room on the spectator boat which can be booked when entering on-line too.

Go to www.optinsw.yachting.org.au.  

WA Optimist sailors have been treated to three great regattas in the last month. The Ronstan Indian Ocean Classic held at Fremantle SC attracted 46 entries and 12 silver entries, including the top team from Singapore. Two weeks ago, the Royal Perth YC Optimist Cup had 39 entries. This weekend, the Junior Australia cup (31 entries) was raced on Perth Water in front of the city and added to the spectacle of the Australia Cup match racing event.    These three regattas were won by Sam, Nia and Lachy the three WA members of the Australian Optimist Team going to the Worlds in Langkawi at the end of the month  (Sam was the first Australian in the IOC).    Coach, Diego Figeruoa commented that conditions this weekend on Perth water, were very similar to those expected in Langkawi and the regatta had been excellent preparation for the team heading to the Worlds.  Results Junior Australia Cup  Results RPYC Optimist Cup   Results Ronstan IOC 

IODASA are running the Gulf of St Vincent Classic for Optimists in conjunction with the YSA Tri Series first Regatta “Youth Sail Brighton” on the weekend November 6/7, 2010 at Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club. The entry details and NOR are on the YSA website www.sa.yachting.org.au. There will be a Green fleet course for beginner Optimist sailors. Download flyer YSA Tri Series. Optimist specific details are available on the SA website www.optisa.org.au

- Emma Short, IODASA

The Volvo Musto Optimist Nationals took place in July 2010 at Weymouth. Nearly 500 young sailors were competing. Double Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark attended the event.

The team will be posting information (wi-fi permitting) on the facebook page AOST-Australian Optimist Sailing Team.  We hope to get pictures (sailing and onshore activities), results and reports on this page.  The link for the main regatta website is http://www.jsst.org/index.htm  

Download report by Janet Jerwood, Assistant Team Manager: Thailand Report

With the amazing growth of the Optimist class in NSW it seems that every event becomes bigger and better than the previous one, but even the most Optimistic supporters of the class were surprised when more than 70 boats swarmed at Northbridge Sailing Club recently for the largest and arguably the most competitive Optimist regatta in NSW to date.

Congratulations to Jack Graves (1st), Zac O’Connell (2nd) and Tom Trotman (3rd) in the Open Championships, and also to Brodie Crossman who is the 2010 NSW Champion.

Read the Sail World regatta report here.

The 2010 New Zealand Optimist Championships at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula were wrapped up with Race 11 and Race 12 sailed in a light easterly that never managed to get above 10 knots. The AOST sailors performed well with all eight sailors finishing in the top fifty, three recording race wins and Klaus Lorenz and Jack Graves both finishing in the top ten overall. Quite an achievement in a fleet of nearly 300 boats, leading a number of Kiwis to comment on the improvement in the Australians. 

One sailor we can expect to see collecting an Olympic medal sometime in the future is Kimberly Lim from Singapore, who won the Open Division with a last race win over Jayvee Buchanan (NZ). The Singaporeans, along with the top New Zealanders were simply dripping with talent and the racing would have been an eye opener for anyone who has not seen top level Optimist sailors in action.

Click here for a link to the results and photo galleries.

Download Klaus’ report on his regatta, and a photograph.

There are plenty of great sailing venues in Victoria but the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club must rank among the State’s best. A huge fleet of Optimist sailors turned out last weekend for the Victorian Championships and they were greeted by a fresh 20 knot breeze that was constant at 190 degrees over both days. After eight races the victory went to Klaus Lorenz (Qld) ahead of Tom Lidgett (Vic) by the most slender margin of one point. Being the best placed Victorian, Tom becomes the 2010 Victorian Optimist Champion with Sam Hannah in 2nd and Tom Trotman 3rd.

Click here for a link to the Open and Green Fleet results