Red, White & Blue.... and don't forget GREEN! - Thursday April 25, 2013

So here is a  little more on the basics of Opti sailing and racing.  One of the questions we often get from people is how old does one have to be to race an Opti?  Well I guess technically you could be any age but the USODA rules state that you can only compete if you're under 15 years of age and all of the yacht clubs that host junior regattas conduct those regattas under the USODA class rules so there is consistency across the board.

There is no magic age to get into Opti racing but most kids seem to start out racing when they are about 8 years old.  Still there are plenty of kids who find Opti racing a little later in life like when they are way up there around 10 or 11.  Do eight year olds race against 15 year olds?  Well yes and no.  Do beginners race against old salts?  Sometimes.  So here is how that all works.

White Fleet:  Up to 10 years old
Blue Fleet:  11 - 12
Red Fleet:  13 - 15

Green Fleet:  All ages - the Green Fleet is for beginner racers (more on this in a bit)

So all of the Red, White & Blue Fleets race together on the same course and are scored on both an overall format as well as within their class.  This allows each age group (fleet) to be scored and awarded within their age group - Opti Red Fleet 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Opti Blue Fleet 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc etc - but also allows all fleets (all age groups) to be scored and awarded giving a younger, talented racer the opportunity to be recognized for beating older kids in a different fleet.

So for example a top notch young 10 year old racer who wins every race in a regatta would win 1st place for both the white fleet and the "overall".

Okay back to Green Fleet.  These racers are beginners and the regatta is held on a completely different course.  The regatta is scored but places are not awarded.  Instead all racers receive a participation award.  The commonly understood rule is that the bottom half of the fleet can be coached during the race.  The goal here is to get kids more and more interested in racing.  Once you start doing well, it's time to move up to the competitive red, white and blue fleets.

Make sense?  Good.  So how do kids end up finding this odd shaped little boat, start racing and end up trying out for the U.S. National Team in an effort to travel abroad to represent the U.S. at international competition at IODA events?  That's a great question and I have a feeling I'll be waxing on that quite a bit as this week unfolds but before I get into all that I think I'll post a few blogs on how it usually all gets started - yacht clubs, sailing schools, and just spending time on the water.  Eventually it just happens.

Slightly older than 15.