By John Walker
Special to Inside
Hundreds of young sailors, all under the age of 15, are competing in Optimist ("Opti") class dinghies in the 2003 Optimist Dinghy National Championship Regatta hosted by the Chicago Yacht Club August 4-8. Among the competitors in this year's Opti nationals is Jenny Goldberg, age 13.
Jenny Goldberg didn't know a thing about sailing or sailboat racing until her mother, Betty, enrolled her in the Chicago Yacht Club Sailing School five years ago. But she caught on fast. The enthusiastic girl, who is a student at the Latin School and a junior member of the Chicago Yacht Club, is participating in her second Opti national competition in as many years. She also has completed a number of other regattas, including USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival—Upper Midwest, Midwest Opti Champs, the Kaszube Cup (Milwaukee Yacht Club), the Team Racing nationals, the Verve Cup Junior regatta and the Volvo Leukemia Cup.
Jenny says she believes a strong start in the Opti nationals is the key to a good finish.
"This year I'm planning to be more aggressive on the starting line to try to get a good spot away from the pack and go for clean air," she said referring to wind that hasn't been weakened by first passing through the sails of competing dinghies. Jenny says she's definitely seen improvement in her overall sailing skills during the past two years that she has been participating in competitive sailing events. "I'm learning more with every race how important it is to go for every opportunity you can to catch the wind." Those lessons are apparently paying off. During the recent Junior Olympic Sailing Festival in Wayzata, MN, Goldberg placed eighth overall among competitors in the three senior Opti fleets—red, white and blue. She finished fifth in the red fleet in which she sailed.
Jenny, who is already considering a career in marine biology so she can work in and around water, says racing Optimist dinghies provides young sailors with the basic knowledge and skills they need to race larger vessels. "Whether it's a big boat or a small dinghy, racing sailboats is very strategic—you mostly have to be thinking all the time how you can find different ways to pass other racers," she said.
The Optimist Dinghy is a small, lightweight, flat-bottomed sailboat designed to teach young people how to sail and race. Optis measure less than eight feet long and weigh only 77 lb. They feature a broad beam for safety and stability and are simpler to operate than most larger sailboats because they have a single sail, a single line and a single daggerboard, a removable board that can be lowered into the water through a boat's hull to prevent sideways movement caused by wind or current.
The Opti is raced in more than 10 countries and is the only One-Design class dinghy approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under 16 years old. Winners of the Opti nationals will go on to race in the 2004 Optimist Team Trials. The top five winners of the trials will represent the United States at the 2004 Optimist World Sailing Championship in Europe.
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