Counting Down the Days to the Opti World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is over with the result we were looking for. Great success all round for New Zealand. Now we have the Optimist Sailing World cup coming to Napier, New Zealand.

With most entries now received, we are thrilled to confirm there will be 48 countries competing with 211 sailors coming to Napier to contest the World Championship. Many teams are bringing extra supporters and family with many arriving early December. Hector Guzman, the current national champion from Mexico is the first to arrive at Labour Weekend to compete at the Winter Champs in Auckland which he won. Hector trained in Auckland for a week and now is based in Napier training in preparation for the contest. We will also see several teams here for a training clinic starting on the 20 December.

Southern Pacific Boats and Erickson Marine have been busy building and fitting out 25 RIBs for coach boats.

These are a mixture of 4.7 and 4.3 meter boats with Honda 30 and 40 hp motors fitted.

The boats have all been purchased by sailing clubs around the country and will take ownership after the event.

Thanks to a grant from Lion Foundation the cost has been subsidised by almost half.

They look great.

Radio Networks have kicked of the radio advertising campaign for Opti Worlds with hundreds of advertisements in support of our major sponsors going to air around the country to date.

The big billboard erected at the Napier Sailing club is catching the eye of everyone passing by.

Optiworldsnz Facebook and the website www.optiworldsnz.com has been a great success and attracted lots of interest. Brian Haybittle -the Facebook coordinator- has run 3 competitions on Facebook to date. A New Zealand Rugby World Cup jersey, Harken gear from Harken Fosters and an original Audi jersey from Euro City Cars. Go to the Optiworlds Facebook page to enter.

We are thrilled that the list of our sponsors and supporters continues to grow:

New Zealand Major Events, Air New Zealand, Radio Networks, Vodafone, Lion Foundation, Hawke's Bay Tourism, Euro City Cars, Sparc, Endeavour Community Trust, Catalyst, Victoria Cruising Club, City of Napier, Infinity Foundation, Pub Charity, Emirates Team New Zealand, Team Vodafone Sailing, Oceanbridge, Cosco, Port of Napier, Sport Hawke's Bay, Mr Apple, Hooker Transport, Southern Spars, Kea Campers, Thirsty Whale, Collinson Forex, Harken, Big Save Furniture, North Sails, Southern Pacific Inflatables, Ericksen Honda, Sail One, Events Clothing, Wine Country Catering, Yachting NZ, Napier Sailing Club, No1 Queen Street, RNZYS, Burnsco Marine & Leisure, PanPac Forest Industries, KFC, Hansen Products, Navigate Seaside, Treescape, Fuji Xerox.

Contact Nigel Rippey if you would like to learn more about how you can support the Opti Worlds.

www.optiworldsnz.com


Opti Worlds Vital Stats:
30 December 2011 - 9 January 2012

The boat: a safe and simple dinghy that is one of the world's most popular designs
The racing: 9 days of Championship racing
The competitors: around 250 sailors aged up to 15 years
The countries: teams from 50 nations including reigning Champs Thailand
The host club: Napier Sailing Club, Napier, New Zealand
Famous sailors that have started out in Optis include: Ben Ainslie
The big sponsors: Vodafone, New Zealand Major Events, Hawke's Bay Tourism, SPARC, City of Napier, Air New Zealand, the Radio Network, EuroCity Napier, Victoria Cruising Club, Lion Foundation
The technology: GPS tracking and live video coverage online - real time
The website: www.optiworldsnz.com
The Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/optiworldsnz2011