For newer Optimist sailing countries and regions IODA subsidises the travel and fees of expert instructors to train local coaches.
To date fifteen such courses have been held, involving 25 countries.

The latest course was held in August 2007 in Serbia.

See /ioda-train.html for details.

To encourage participation in regional regattas IODA offers free entry and/or travel for certain countries to send sailors to continental and regional regattas.
Those benefitting in recent years included Cook I, Georgia, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Mauritius, Netherlands Antilles, Papua New Guinea, St. Vincent, Samoa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.

Just write to the IODA Secretariat and tell us what YOU need to help to develop Optimist sailing in YOUR country.

Countries which already have a Member National Optimist Association should apply through that association.

Two Major "6 for 5" Grants Approved

IODA is delighted to announce the two latest recipients of development grants.

Mauritius
The beautiful Indian Ocean island has placed an order for 48 Optimists to add to the 12 already bought this year. These will be used initially for the IODA African Championship in August and then by the Mauritius Y.A. to expand its bases around the island. This is a major step forward for a country with little tradition of dinghy sailing but an active fleet of traditional pirogues. The main sponsor is Investec Bank (Mauritius) Limited and Indian Optimist builder Praga Marine is donating four of the hulls.

Guatemala
To promote sailing in Central America ASOVELA is buying 18 new Optimists. President Juan E. Maegli writes:
"You might be interested to know that 60% of our Opti sailors now come from very low income families from a local village at our lake. With the increased fleet (we will have around 40) we are going to be able to host the sailors from Salvador and Nicaragua (as well as the Mexicans) for regional regattas."

Following assistance toward the purchase of eighteen Optimists by clubs in Bulgaria in 2006/7, the latest project is to help to revive and develop sailing in Serbia and neighbouring countries. Following the successful S.E. Europe Optimist Championship 18 charter boats were bought by Serbia and six by Macedonia.

See separate report.

Many lucky children round the world will be receiving an Optimist for Christmas. But in the Bahamas they will be getting NINETEEN!

In a deal finalised on Christmas Eve the Bahamas Sailing Association has ordered nineteen Optimists to help establish a National Sailing School.

For some months the B.S.A. has been seeking low-cost second-hand Optimists to open the sport of sailing to juniors that previously could not participate in a sailing program due to economic reasons. U.S. builders McLaughlin searched hard and came up with an offer of charter boats to be used at the Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami next week. But the price was still rather higher than the funds available. An appeal to IODA for help under its "6 for 5" scheme secured a further 17% reduction and the order was placed.

John Lawrence, secretary of the B.S.A. wrote:
"The Bahamas Sailing Association (National Authority) is establishing the first National Sailing School of The Bahamas. This non-profit venture aims to teach sailing to juniors in the Bahamas and will for the first time open the sport of sailing to juniors that previously could not participate in a sailing program due to economic reasons.

This is a very worthy program and we hope that it will have substantial growth over the next few years. Having said that we are now at the first step and we can only afford a few boats and therefore request the "6 for 5" assistance. We feel that once we get the program started we will be able to grow from there as we will have something tanigble with our sailing program.

We want to ultimately introduce the optis on a large scale basis to the local school system."

Just two years ago the Royal Nassau S.C. wrote to IODA: "We have missed a complete generation of developing sailors at our sailing club. We now have a group of members who are willing to get this thing going again.". Fleets have since been introduced at the R.N.S.C. and the Nassau Yacht Club, and the initiative of the B.S.A. will open up the sport still further.

A further three Optimists are being given to the Dominican Republic under the IODA "6 for 5" development programme. A total of 18 Optimists are being ordered to bring the total fleet to 29 boats.

Irina Perez de Bros, director of the National Sailing School writes:
"On behalf of the Escuela Nacional de Vela Dr. Alberto Verdeja as her technical director I am very grateful for all the efforts made to get the new opti boats, to keep increasing the fleet . All 4 (1 +3) boats will be in use of our development programs and will remain property of the Dominican Sailing Federation (FDV), along with the firts 5 boats we bougth 4 years ago. Our summer programs keep being a succes, and the new program with the recently founded Dominican Opti Asociation (ADO) is also going very well with the support of many volunteers and parents."

A third grant has been made to East Africa, in this case Tanzania, under the IODA "6 for 5" development programme. This programme offers a free Optimist for every five bought to create or develop fleets in countries new to Optimist sailing.

The newly formed Tanzania Optimist Association is based in Dar es Salaam Yacht Club and, with the help of local sponsors, is placing an order for 18 Optimists. The three subsidised boats will be the property of the association and available to the children of non-sailors. The club has also donated its fleet of older wooden boats to the new association for novice training.

In the past two years IODA has made similar grants to groups in Kenya and Uganda which are working closely together. Next year the Kenyans will organise the fourth All-African Optimist Championship and it is hoped that this will stimulate yet more new fleets.

The beginning of March saw the first launch of the new Optimist fleet in the Central American country of El Salvador.

The new venture is a partnership between the Salvador Sailing Association and IODA whereby the Sailing Association commissions a fleet of ten boats, built locally to the wood/epoxy pattern, and IODA supplies sails, rigs and accessories.

The strategy is to expand Optimist sailing in the region, working outwards from the successful fleet formed by Juan Maegli in Guatemala. Last year a similar wood/epoxy project was sponsored by IODA in Nicaragua and it is hoped to folow with Costa Rica and other neighbouring countries. A description of the Nicaraguan project can be found in Optiworld 53

In just a few months Yachting Association of Sri Lanka has established a fleet of 17 modern GRP Optimists.

The six imported late last year with the help of IODA's "6 for 5" scheme have been joined by eleven new Chinese-built boats. The entire fleet will be equipped with new sails from North Sails Sri Lanka donated by IODA.

Sri Lanka also received a grant to send two sailors to the IODA Asian Championship in Mumbai, India. This has led directly to to revival of the South Asian Tri-Nations Championship between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Enterprises and Optimists.