Opti Sailors Say the Darndest Things! By Margaret Boehm
We invite you, after reading this story, to share YOUR stories of Opti coaching. At the end of this article, there is a submission form to share your thoughts and stories of Opti coaching. Top story submission wins a prize. Enjoy!
I started sailing at the age of 12 (fairly late for a junior sailor), which means that I began straight away on Lasers and 420s. My first experience with the Opti was when I was fifteen years old and began teaching sailing during the summers. All of my co-workers were college-aged boys whose size alone could sink the floating bathtub. That summer (and countless others), I was the instructor who had to fold herself into an Opti every morning. At first I resented having to squish myself into the tiny little boat daily, but as I got to know that boat and my young students I quickly fell in love with the Opti (and its sailors).
The Optimist fleet is considered to be the one of the largest and fastest growing fleets in the entire world according to the International Optimist Dinghy Association, boasting over 150,000 sailors worldwide. As an Optimist instructor, I relearned the basics of sailing through the eyes of an 8 year old junior sailor, and I quickly began to understand why so many Olympic Dinghy sailors credit their Opti experience for their most current successes.
“I think they are the best starter boats for the youth in sailing and I believe all the top sailors out there today would agree,” said Katelyn Kelly Cox, a Chicago-based sailor who raced Optis for five years before making the transition to 420 sailing. Bronwen McAuliffe coached Optimist sailors for 6 years at the Tiverton Yacht Club in Rhode Island. “I like that I had some of my students for 6 years and got to watch them grow up and develop as sailors.” McAuliffe believes that the easy maneuverability of the boat on and off the water makes the boat such a popular choice among youth sailing programs.
McAuliffe credits her experiences with young sailors as a factor in her decision to become an Elementary School teacher. “My students were usually rigged up, dressed and ready to sail before I even finished my morning coffee. There’s an innocence and enthusiasm that all Opti sailors have regardless of whether or not they are serious about racing.”
Richmond YC Opti Sailors
McAuliffe and I traded stories and anecdotes about our love for the “little guys” and realized that we both agreed on the same teaching philosophy with Optimist sailors. On the water communication is the key with young sailors. They learn the most when they are out on the water experiencing the idiosyncrasies of sailing. The concept of “irons” to young sailors is something that Johnny Depp mumbles about in his Pirate movies, and is not fully understood until they are out there on the water hollering to their coach because their boat has suddenly stopped moving and they are not going anywhere. “Being in the water, in an Optimist boat ages them about 10 years. You can see their minds ticking,” said McAuliffe, “and then they get back onto the dock and return to being their goofy selves.”
I believe that to be an Optimist coach, you must have a certain attitude that is both patient and understanding, but never too authoritative. This is something that McAuliffe has noticed in her years as a coach, “420 coaches are always very stern and all business. Opti coaches need to have a different type of energy. The stern way does not work with 8 year olds.”
Something that I believe most sailing coaches can agree upon is that our students can be pretty funny and let’s face it-Opti sailors say the darndest things! McAuliffe remembers a time when a young girl sailor was circling her Opti around a house boat in the harbor. After making a few delicate circles around the home, the student politely asked its owner if he was a hobo. “I had a hard time keeping it together as I explained to her that she shouldn’t be asking people in the harbor if they are hobos.” My favorite Opti sailor moment was when I was motoring around the race course with a fellow instructor and a little Opti sailor with a very serious expression on her face luffed up and asked us to motor over. We braced ourselves figuring it would be something along the lines of why the sprit pole is not called the spit pole because that’s just funnier; or if she could capsize before we sail into the dock. Instead the young sailor looked at the two of us and politely asked, “Are you two married?” I could barely contain my laughter. I was fifteen years old and already being married off to my co-instructor, who spent his afternoons that summer half coaching, half mocking me from a motorboat with a megaphone as I skippered a 420. Looking back years later, the question does not really seem too ridiculous to me if I think like an 8 year old Opti sailor. If you sail straight into the wind or directly towards an upwind mark—you will not go anywhere. If a male and female instructor are sitting on a motorboat together instructing-they’re married.
It is the simplicity of the sport that Opti sailors grasp that makes them a sheer delight for me to coach. Moments like these always pop into my mind when considering my post-graduate plans and “the real world.” I’
m definitely not quite sure if I’m ready to give up my summers with the Opti kids just yet…
Margaret Boehm is a senior Catholic University student. She has sailed and coached in the Chicago area and raced 420s at the national level as a member of Columbia Yacht Club’s racing team. As a student journalist/editor for her University’s newspaper, she assisted with stories that were eventually picked up by CNN and the Drudge Report. She also conducted interview with high profile Washingtonians Barbara Slavin of the Washington Times and Paul Begala of CNN. She has volunteered as an assistant high school sailing coach with DC Sail and sails V-15s out of Annapolis.
Leave a Reply