oppies

Originally posted by Chris Noble worse thought than that altogether... Invisible oppie kids!

Worse yet, consider invisible Oppie *parents* - sudden voices in the air beside you telling you all about how wonderful their kid is and he's the best in the squad, interspersed with breaking off to yell instructions to protest so and so for not giving enough room, or left up the next beat or whatever...

i have a soloution to sll oppie-related problems,

a very big drill (or Kita's ledgendary bolt cutters).

as for the parents, well we can tell them to sail their kids boats and see how long it takes before anyone on port tack has a hole in them .

i dont rlly think theyll get too far atall!i dont think they will get off the beach anyway.

our club is borrowing two brand spanking new ones to encourage younger sailors

If any boat has created more world and Olympic champs than the Oppi, it is the Cadet. You learn how to use 3 sails, it is possible to crew from very young, and then move to the back when you get bigger, and bring on another smaller kid as crew. While the boat may be slow, and competitive Cadet parents be almost in the Oppi league, it certainly teaches skills that are transferable to much bigger, faster boats, and has a very strong following round the world.

But, no bowsprit, so out of fashion...Imagine having to learn complicated skills like spinnaker handling, when you can just pull a piece of string and play a big jib...running, what's that?