ROPE Program Invite for European Championship

Dearest Team Leaders, Coaches and Optimist Family friends,

Hope you are all ready to get to Marina di Carrara in just a few weeks!  It is so exciting to see you all so soon in one of the best events in the Optimist world!

I would like to invite all of you to be part of IODA´s ROPE Program during the European Championship in Italy starting soon

As you probably already know, IODA launched this fantastic initiative in 2021 during the North American Championships in Vallarta Mexico.  Since then, we have been present in all of the Continental and World events with great energy and participation from all continents.

The program´s mission is to promote Sustainability and Social Responsibility by engaging the sailors worldwide to recycle and reuse Optimist Parts and Equipment by sharing with their peers all around the World.

We encourage our sailors to bring extra equipment to IODA Championships so it can be collected, catalogued and distributed to local sailing schools in need as well as to specific schools, clubs, and countries that are in dire need of this equipment, giving it a second life and good use. 

I am attaching a brief presentation so you can see our Optimist sailors donating and receiving the equipment.  We aim to grow this program to get to as many countries as possible, to involve vendors, companies, clubs…. and eventually include hulls and hardware too!   

We are honored to have been one of for finalists in the World Sailing / 11th Hour Sustainability Award last year!  It was an incredible recognition that shows we are doing the right thing and can definitely do more!

This year, we would like to make a bigger impact with smaller teams and clubs as we have seen the incredible growth and interest in Opti sailing all over the world.  The recipient of the donations from this event will be our neighbor Moldova.

We would like to ask you to talk to your teams about this great initiative and encourage them to bring to Italy extra equipment that they own and don´t use, that they use… but would like to leave behind instead of packing it back, equipment that they will not use because this is their last Optimist event as they age-out, or simply… equipment they want to share with other sailors.

We will set up an Optimist Boat with the ROPE FLAG for the reception of the donations on the last 2 days of Racing.  A member from IODA will personally be there to take photos and engage with our sailors with information, questions and answers and show them photos of real sailors in remote places using and enjoying the donations received. Please look for us there and tell your sailors to do the same.

PLEASE SHARE BEFORE YOUR TEAMS TRAVEL

Thank you so much for your support with this!  See you all in Marina di Carrara in a few weeks!  Safe travels!

Sigrid Beckmann

VP, Americas