1. Sailing is fun: a great social life, now and for the rest of your days
2. Sailing is for all: tall? short? fat? thin? girl? boy? green with pink spots? - sailing is for you
3. Sailing builds self-reliance, physical strength, quick thinking and a love of the environment
4. Sailing doesn’t cost a fortune - we’ll talk about that later

Why the Optimist?

1. Optimists are designed for kids.
2. They can handle them without danger, fear or back-strain.
3. Single-handed is best, they didn’t learn to ride a bike on a tandem.
4. Over 150,000 kids in over 100 countries cannot be wrong.
5. The only junior class offering international competition and travel.
6. The Optimist is not only the biggest dinghy class in the world, it is the fastest growing.
7. The only dinghy recognised by the ISAF* exclusively for under 16s*the world organising body for sailing.
8. Almost 2/3rds of Olympic medalists at the last two Olympics were Optimist sailors.
9. A large and active fleet at DYC.