Hello Wonderful Opti Community!  We hope you had a great holiday season and are thrilled the schools are now back and life is returning to normal...!

This time of year is always very busy for sailing and this month has been no exception - so apologies for the long email!  All the build up to the 2025 Musto Australian Optimist Championship at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly, QLD culminated in a wonderful event.  But no sooner were we back from QLD and we were already thinking about next year's event in Tasmania (rumour has it some people have already booked accomodation 🤪!!!!) and all the other fabulous regattas we have coming up too.  More on these below.

The Committee is very busy with planning for the Organic Garden International Optimist VIC State Open Championship regatta (have you signed up yet?), where we will also have our Annual General Meeting - ever thought about volunteering, giving back to the community and lending a hand? Many hands make light work as they say - your skills would be very much appreciated. Again, more on this below.

Even if you don't feel you have time to volunteer on the committee, we are looking to build a list of volunteers for events too - on water, off water, in the kitchen/cafe, on the beach, etc. - please complete the form below to help us consolidate the information on your many talents - go on, you know you want to!

Complete this form and let us know how you can help: Volunteer Form (any problems with the form, please just email us and let us know)

VIODA Membership Renewal

If you haven't renewed your membership for 24/25 - it's not too late, sign up here, share it with your friends and home / local sailing clubs - https://vioda.org.au/registration

Opti sailors wishing to participate in trainings and regattas with VIODA support must be current financial members. To enhance parental involvement in our community, we have introduced a parent membership at no cost, which grants voting and election rights where each child in Opti allows for one voting parent (see AGM below).

Membership with VIODA offers a range of valuable benefits, including:

1. Regular updates on upcoming events, skill improvement tips, and regatta reviews.
2. Access to specialist coaching and training materials for your club.
3. Eligibility to participate in VIODA-led Optimist training programs, including our winter program at Albert Park Lake.
4. Eligibility to compete in both the Opti State Championships and Opti National Championships.

Your membership fees help fund important initiatives such as:

1. Developing Optimist training programs for the benefit of all Victorian Opti sailors.
2. Providing training materials to clubs and assisting club coaches in enhancing their Opti programs.
3. Subsidising additional coaching and on-water support for major regattas when club support is unavailable.
4. Covering costs associated with the State Championships, including trophies and prizes.
5. Supporting special events like the Annual Girls Weekend and Development Camps.
6. Managing administrative needs, including compliance fees, insurance, website maintenance, and other costs

National Championships 2025 RQYS

Photos Upload Request

On the subject of photos, with so many wonderful photos taken at this event and others, it would be awesome to feature some on the VIODA website or just keep a record for future use.  Rather than save them out of WhatsApp, it would be fabulous if you could upload some (or all) of your photos to the following DropBox site:

Dropbox Photo Upload if you have any issues with this, or someone fills up the space too quickly, let us know and we'll find another way.

During the event, we did also ask if you would like to share some thoughts on the experience from your perspective, or your Sailor's - look out in the WhatsApp group in the next week or so for a form to fill in on this to make it a little easier for you!  What did you hear most often said by coaches, parents etc? ("where's Mable?" has to be a contender 🤣)  What did you learn from the experience?  Think about sharing your tips and tricks for next year's noobies to learn from... Thank you in advance!

Buxton Cup

Well done to all 40 Optimist sailors for competing over the Australia Day weekend! Thank you to Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club for hosting this fantastic OTB event annually!

Full Results : https://sailingresults.net/?ID=81893

 

Congratulations to the Buxton Cup 2025 winners

 

Green Fleet

1st - Malawa H

2nd - Samuel M

3rd - Bibi S

 

Intermediate Fleet

1st - Theo A

2nd - Jasper M

3rd - Charlie M

 

Open Fleet

1st - Ashlea T

2nd - Tate C

3rd - Fred C

 

Spotlight on Regattas

Schnapper Point (15/16 February)

A highlight for many in Optimist Sailing - the annual Schnapper Point Regatta.  This is a fabulous regatta at a great venue - with racing for Green, Intermediate and Open fleets.  I know for many this has been a "first" regatta!

Schnapper Point MYC

Organic Garden Int Optimist VIC & Open Championship 2025 (8-10 March)

The main event for VIC Optimist Sailors, this year will be held at SSCBC in Sorrento.

VIC & Open Championship

Sign up quickly - can't wait to see you all there, let's make this year the biggest and best ever!

Also congratulations to Stirling Marshall for winning the lucky dip for early entrants - bagging himself a new set of hiking straps!

ZHIK Youth Championship (10-13 April)

This regatta, towards the tail end of the season is always a favourite before we get stuck in to winter training at Albert Park Lake - sign up now and plan to end your season on top!

ZHIK Youth Championship

VIODA 2025 AGM - Volunteering and Voting

Notice is hereby given that a Special General Meeting of the Victorian International Optimist Dinghy Association Inc. – VIODA –  1 hour after the last boat is ashore at the conclusion of the day’s racing, Saturday 8th March 2025, at Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, 3154 Point Nepean Rd., Sorrento, VIC, 3943.

As mentioned above, under the VIODA constitution, we need to advise our membership of the upcoming AGM, which will be held during the State Open Championship. We encourage you to attend and participate in the AGM to support your sailor and the volunteers that give their time to VIODA. To vote at the AGM, as required for committee positions and other matters, you also need to be a member of VIODA.  This year, to more formally comply with the terms of our constitution, we have created a new membership class of "Parent Member" - this membership class is $0 and will allow you to vote on behalf of your family - one parent membership per child member.  Please sign up as a Parent Member at the VIODA Registration page as soon as possible to help ensure a smooth, open and fair process - thank you!

Event Calendar | Where and When

Information on sailing events:  https://vioda.org.au/opti_events

Meet The Sailors | Can we feature your sailor?

VIODA features Optimist sailors from different clubs. Find out more about our little sailors on this page! https://vioda.org.au/about-vioda/meet-the-sailors

All Rounded Communications | Sail more and some more!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/optimistvic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicopti/

Official webpage: www.vioda.org.au

WhatsApp community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Bw8Qp1O7tbwFP7nxNDQzwk