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Ten Good Reasons Why the Oppi works
as an excellent trainer for an Optimist program
or any youth sailing program
• OPPI 's one piece, rotomolded polyethylene* hull is ten times more resistant to bumping, banging and barging! This reduces the anxiety level of not only beginning sailors but instructors as well!
• OPPI eliminates the hours of labor, the down time, and costs spent on repairing collision damage while the beginners earn their wings.
• OPPI is more fun for beginners. Its bright colorful sail and soft plastic feel of the hull make it seem less threatening and more toy-like compared to fiberglass.
• OPPI has more room for two sailors and is more stable to build beginners' confidence.
• OPPI and Optimist rigs and blades are different, but can be interchanged. The OPPI can be stacked 3-4 boats high to save dock space... you wouldn't want to do that with an Optimist!
• OPPI can now be "the little kids boat", the "learning boat". Kids can now "graduate" into the Optimist at a time when some want to graduate out of one. The Optimist will be looked up to as the more advanced boat for racing and gaining more technical skills. This should help keep kids in the Opti longer.
• OPPI 's greater stability and wider decks encourage kids to sit properly on the rail in less wind and allows a higher comfort level in higher winds. Sitting on the rail is crucial to becoming a good Opti sailor. It promotes and demands the use of the tiller extension. (Why are kids reluctant to use the tiller extension? Because they were taught not to use it and this was reinforced by sitting in the bottom of the boat. Why do kids sit too far aft in the Optimist, because they don't use the tiller extension!).
• OPPI comes up practically dry after a capsize. "Capsizing my OPPI is FUN!" reports one enthusiastic young beginning sailor. "There's almost nothing to bail!."
• OPPI 's brightly colored sleeve sail (like the Laser) is a no-brainer eliminating the frustration of sail ties from instructors as well as students. The sail is ruggedly built to last; no battens to break, loose, or tear the sail; full Optimist sail controls - vang, sprit adjuster and outhaul.
• OPPI can be purchased new for several hundred dollars less than Optimists. Replenish your fleet for free each year by selling your end of season boats to your new sailors at your cost!
*(think whitewater kayaks!)
Note: the OPPI is NOT a class legal Optimist. OPPI is distributed in North and South America by McLaughlin Boat Works Spencer Wiberley, www.optistuff.com , 800-292-6784, spencer@optistuff.com
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