Re-introducing the Webinar - 'Promoting Girls in Sailing'

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the acheivements of girls and women.  The Optimist Class is proud of the many girls who have gone on to acheive great success in our sport of sailing.  However, it is not always easy to encourage girls and keep them engaged in the sport at a young age.

Sailing is a sport that teaches independance, resilience, strategy and problem solving - all attibutes that young girls can take into their teens and adult life. Sailing is also a social sport where girls make friends for life!  

As a tribute to all Opti Girls and to their Opti Moms who support them, we are sharing with you again the Webinar that was presented in September 2020 with guest Elena Papazoglou called “Promoting Girls in Sailing”. 

Elena, who chairs the World Sailing Women’s Forum and is an International Race Officer and a member of the IODA Regatta Committee (and an Opti Mom herself) talked about the challenges and strategies to both get girls into sailing and then help promote girls to stay in the sport.

Here is the link to the article on September 27, 2020 which includes the link to the recording of the Webinar. It can be found here.

The Optimist Class is the perfect place for girls to get started in the sport of sailing - we believe that sailing starts in the Optimist Class. The boat is safe, easy to handle in all conditions, and there are lots of kids around the world to make friends with.   

Keeping it fun for all is the magic ingredient that ensures that both boys and girls stay sailing for life!