News 2023 African Championship NOR is Posted & Registration Opens!

2023 African Championship NOR is Posted & Registration Opens!

The Notice of Race for the 2023 Optimist African Championship taking place in M'Diq, Morocco from May 2-9th, has been posted on the Event Microsite.
 
The NOR can be downloaded here
 
Make sure your read the NOR thoroughly as it contains all the information you need to register your team.
 
The event Microsite can be found here. It will be where you can find out about the venue, as well as travel and accommodation information. Take a look at the new microsite format and tell us what you think about it!
 
Registration opens on Monday, January 23rd. 
 
All IODA Members have recently been sent their username and a new 2023 Password to be used for the Online Registration System for all our IODA Championships. Please note that the 2022 Passwords from last year will not work. If you have not received it, please contact Fiona Kidd at sec_gen@optiworld.org.
 
Mark your calendars - the first entry deadline is February 13th. So, hurry to register your team. You don’t want to miss it!
 
This will be the third time that Morocco has hosted the Optimist African Championship since it started in 2001. 
 
The first time was almost 20 years, for the second running of the Optimist African Championship, whereby 43 sailors representing RSA, ALG, MAR, EGY, SAY, KEN, ZIM and TUN particpated. The 2002 Optiimist African Champion was Rudy Mcneill (RSA), followed by Bourai Tayeb (ALG) in silver,and Hamza Lboukili (ALG) in bronze.  The top girl at the championship was Dina Ramadan (EGY) in 5th overall followed by one suspects, her sister Rania Ramadan (EGY) in 6th.  
 
The second time Morocco hosted the African Championship was in 2014 in Agadir, Morocco. 73 sailors from 12 nations participated from MOZ, ANG, TUN, RSA, DEN, ALG, FRA, MAR, OMA, TAN, UAE and ZIM. The 2014 Optimist African Champion was Diogo Sanches (MOZ), followed by Jeremias de Sousa (ANG) in silver and Rami Ridene (TUN) in bronze. Top girl at the championship was Arin Long (RSA) in 4th overall.  
 
Ilker Bayindir (TUR) was the PRO at the 2014 Championship. Ilker has been a member of the IODA Regatta Committee for 11 years and today, continues to act as an IODA PRO for many of our Championships, most recently at the 2022 Asian & Oceanian Championship in Mumbia, India in December. 
 
We hope that we can get more countries from Africa and internationally to come to Morocco this year.
 
We look forward to coming to Morocco for the 2023 Optimist African Championship and to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of IODA.