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Recent Articles Easter 2008 December 2007 - Feb 2008 August-November 2007 Top 10 at the Worlds Worlds Report 2007 Continentals - July 07 Ex-Optimist in Cascais May-June 2007 Easter 2007 Ex-Optimist Youth Results Technical Technical Report on 2006 N. Americans Top Gear at 2006 Europeans 2006 Technical News Chinese Optimists New Equipment Rules 2003/4 Earlier Articles - Race Management Protest Flags Advertising Development & General A report about Kyrgyzstan Development Projects Under-12 Competition Ice Optimists Ex-Optimists at the Olympics Click for an Optimist view of Athens	IODA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP See our special NEWSPAGE and the ORGANISERS' WEBSITE Seeding for Euro Team Racing announced Fifteen countries are entered for the first IODA European Team Racing Championship to be held on Lake Ledro, Italy on 26-31 August. Based on the combined points of the best three girls and two boys or vice versa in the recent IODA European (fleet) championship, Italy are seeded number one and Poland number two. Seeding 57 countries at IODA Continentals last week The coincidence of the IODA European and North Americans in the same week meant that 443 sailors from 57 countries competed in IODA continental championships last week. 239 sailors from 39 countries entered the Europeans in Riva del Garda, Italy while 204 from 25 countries participated in the North Americans in Curaçao. Only seven countries have entered teams for the two events. IODA European Championship (Fabulous photos at http://www.sailingnetwork.it/fraglia/europeoptimist/index.html) The 26th IODA European Championship concluded today with a single 12th race. Lake Garda has provided varied conditions for the 239 sailors from 39 countries. Up to 30 knots where recorded on several days but often winds were lighter and the course perhaps unexpectedly provided quite a current due to recent rain increasing inflows to the lake. However any rain this week has been mostly at night and there was bright sunshine for all races. The girls event was won by Paulina Rothlauf (GER) of the Royal Bavarian Y.C., the latest in a chain of results in the last three years which has produced two world champions from a region with no great history of Optimist success. Indeed this is the first time ever that Germany has taken gold in either boys or girls events. Fanni Pech (HUN) sailed a highly consistent series with all results in the top 10 to take silver, again a first for Hungary. Sara Piasecka (POL) was third. Among the boys Luca Mazzaferro, a Brasilian of Italian family origin, celebrated his family's visit to the old country with a fine 20-point victory. Behind him second-placed Bernard Matteo (ITA) from Lake Bracciano near Rome took the European closed championship ahead of Spaniards Vicen Antich and Esquivias Burgos. Details of the seeding of the 16 teams for the first-ever European Team Racing Championship (see www.optiworld.org/08euroTRnor.pdf) in late August will be published shortly. Results IODA North American Championship How close can it get?! Reigning champion Raul Rios of Puerto Rico retained his title by the narrowest of margins in the final race of the championship. If he had not won the race or Rachel Lee (SIN) had registered another bullet, their positions would have been reversed. 2006 North American champion Ivan Aponte and Singapore's Russell Kan were also still very much in contention. The Singaporean team had been specially invited to raise the level of sailing at the event and with three of their four sailors in the top 10 they certainly did that. Otherwise the leaderboard, with four Puerto Ricans, two ISV sailors and Ard van Aanholt from hosts Curaçao making up the rest of the 10 Caribbean sailors dominated. Other islands also showed promise with sailors from the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Barbados all figuring in the top 60 of the 204 boat fleet from 25 countries. In the girls' ranking it was a different story. South American sailors Lucia Falasca (ARG) and Kamilla Sabogal (ECU) took open silver and bronze, while the closed North American prizes went to Morgan Kiss (USA), Nikki Barnes (ISV) and Christina Lewis (USA). In the TEAM RACING: Puerto Rico retained the North American TR championship. For an exciting account of this and much much more, see the excellent Organisers' Website East and west From the Gulf to the Caribbean Just ten days before the start of the summer season of IODA continental championships two regional regattas highlighted the importance of unofficial events in the calendar. Al Bareh Regatta - Bahrain Seven countries including all the IODA members in the Gulf, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the U.A.Emirates were represented by 27 sailors at this regatta. Hussain Bhaunagarwala (IND) won an exciting final race for victory over local sailor Faisal A Aziz with Mohamed Morsi of Egypt in third place. Results Scotiabank Int'l - St. Thomas USVI A new record of 96 sailors from 14 countries was set at this 16th Scotiabank which has made a great contribution to the development of Optimist sailing in the Caribbean. Notable was the first appearance of sailors from the two-year old Anguilla fleet and victory in the Under-11 fleet for the BVI. Results Sentosa Singapore Nationals 287 sailors from ten countries including, we are glad to note, a team from recently devastated Myanmar are participating in the most international Optimist regatta in Asia so far this year. While the hot-shots from last year's SIN Optimist Worlds team took the medals, led by last year's Worlds girls' bronze medallist Rachel Lee, sailors from Thailand and Japan ensured that the home team did not have it all their own way. Check out their website at www.sailing.org.sg/events/regattas/08/natbyteopti/index.php Singapore win the Rizzotti in Venice Singapore, fielding three of the sailors who won silver at last year's Team racing Worlds, were utterly invincible at the first major team racing event of 2008 winning all 22 of their matches. Eighteen teams from twelve nations participated including Florida, New York and Puerto Rico from America and Algeria. Belgium, who had lost out to the Italian national team in round one, reversed the decision in round two and then again by 2-1 in the semi-finals to take silver. Florida were 4th. Algeria, participating for the second time, scored some notable wins over such teams as Croatia and must be a hot tip for the IODA African TR Championship in August. Results
	S.E. European Cup The presence of the Algerian national team and the first ever sight of an Armenian Optimist sailor enlivened the third S.E. European Optimist Cup on Lake Palic in Serbia. 55 sailors from seven nations attended the event which is helping to revive and expand sailing in this part of the Balkans. Results Website - lovely!
	Dutch Youth Regatta After an April when some sailors at least appear to have taken time out to study, 339 sailors from 14 countries particpated in the Dutch Youth Regatta in Workum to welcome May. Entries included sailors from both Mauritius (his father is a pilot!) and Qatar in training for IODA continental championships later this year. Results
	Sail Measurement Templates Save up to $100+ freight. The new mylar IODA sail measurement templates will be available at the European Championship in Italy at USD 309, free of freight charges. Orders must be placed by 15th June and pre-paid by MasterCard or Visa. Send orders by fax to +44 1782 801222 giving card number, expiry date and name of cardholder. Notices of Race Notices of Race of all seven IODA championships for 2008 are now online at www.optiworld.org/ioda-08calendar.html Potential participants should note the following important restrictions: Wooden rudders and daggerboards are not permitted except if used with wooden hulls. All Optimists other than those chartered from the official supplier to each event shall be correctly registered in the country of the competitor and shall carry the correct sail numbers for the boat. They shall present at measurement the relevant original IODA Registration Book. Age: sailors born in 1997 or later are not permitted to participate in the IODA World Championship and sailors born in 1998 or later are not permitted to participate in the IODA continental championships unless they can show that they were selected on merit in national trials. Sailors must be either nationals or residents of the country they represent. A sailor who has represented one country at an IODA World or Continental Championship shall not represent another country except in cases of alteration of residence, which cases shall be approved by the IODA Executive. In certain countries national laws prevent non-nationals from representing that country. Meetings at the Worlds The schedule of meetings planned at the IODA World Championship in Turkey is available at www.optiworld.org/08AGMProgramme.pdf. A detailed agenda of the Annual Meeting will be issued to member countries by 15 May. The name of the official representative and his proxy if any shall be received by the Secretariat or delivered to the Executive Committee in writing prior to the opening of the Annual General Meeting. Members should select as their official representatives persons in their organisation who would secure the best possible continuity of their representation and work. NEW SECRETARY GENERAL We are delighted to announce that Sally Burnett has accepted the position of Secretary General Designate of IODA. Sally who is from the English North Midlands combines the knowledge of international sailing and the small-business experience which are the principal requirements of the position. An ISAF international judge and umpire since 1988, she has most recently been involved in the revival of the ISAF Nations Cup, focused on bringing keelboat match racing to countries with little experience in this discipline. A university graduate in design Sally has 25 years experience as a partner in a small specialist ceramics business and has also worked in the healthcare recruitment industry. It is intended that after training - and a "holiday" at the Olympics where she is on the jury - Sally will assume the position of Secretary General in September. Robert Wilkes the present secretary will then remain as a consultant. The long recruitment process which produced a number of other excellent candidates has been greatly assisted by the services of David Sprague, a recruitment consultant who, as current vice-chair of the International Classes Committee, brought a unique insight into this exciting and challenging position. Review of 2007 NOTICES OF RACE FOR 2008 Notices of Race are now online for the 2008 Worlds and all IODA Continental Championships except the Asians in October, linked from the 2008 IODA Calendar Note payment deadlines: they will be strictly enforced. If unable to pay on time because of currency restrictions, contact the secretariat now. Note also that at IODA events in 2008 Epoxy foils will be mandatory. Wooden foils will only be permitted for use with wooden hulls. National associations are asked to notify Amneris of the dates of major 2008 events. See notes at the head of the calendar page as to which regattas will be listed.