The Situation
With the dates for the 2025 IODA championships being recently announced, it has come to the committee’s attention that the timing between our National ranking event and the IODA events of the North American and European Championships is not sufficient to select, prepare and administer for these two teams to attend these events. It would also make all 3 events extremely expensive to attend for families with last minute bookings.
In the most extreme case the North American’s event starts just 2 weeks after our National ranking regatta on 4th May. This does not allow enough time to register the sailors in the event, book flights, parental leave, travel 2 days to the event, and have time in venue to prepare for the event. The committee is also aware there are other pre-event regattas in Europe that our teams may want to attend and so we wanted to give that team the time flexibility to do that, should they wish to.
In light of the situation the committee has held extensive discussions to find the best solution in the circumstances.
The Decision Process
There is no impact from this situation on selection for the NZIODA development teams. As such selection for the NZIODA development teams will remain with the Nationals.
Initially, the committee looked at all possibilities related to options around retaining the Nationals as the selection regatta (pre-booking unnamed flights etc.) but this has proved to be logistically unfeasible and cost prohibitive.
It is also clear that Worlds team selection must be done at the same time (or earlier) as the North Americans and European team selections to enable clarity for all parties involved.
Initially the committee looked at the calendar to find a suitable event as a substitute.
The Auckland Champs was ruled out as it was felt it would be too disruptive to the P class calendar. The committee feels it important the Optimist is a class that is supportive of others and respectful of the sailing calendar as a whole. This is a key part of the classes’ role as the first step on the sailing journey for many.
The Interislander regatta was ruled out due to the added cost for the majority of the fleet and that the venue was used extensively for last year’s selections.
Junior Sail Auckland was ruled out as it is only a two-day event.
There were no other events on the calendar suitable for consideration as a candidate for teams selection purposes.
A separate selection event in a similar format to that which is used for selection of the New Zealand Youth Team for the youth classes each year was at this point deemed to be the best option. Assessing the calendar the clear window for this event was the 28th February to the 2nd March 2025. The only clash in the calendar for these dates is with a class that has little sailor overlap with the Optimist.
At this stage there has been no venue selected for the regatta. The committee will work on that decision over the coming period and of course look to update our members as soon as we have taken that decision. The committee thank you for your understanding as we work through that process.
The Decision
To summarise, the decision has now been made to hold a separate three-day team trial event for those who wish to qualify for an IODA team (Worlds, Europeans or North Americans) from 28th February through to 2nd March 2025.
This regatta will be a similar format to that which is used for selection of the New Zealand Youth Team for the youth classes each year. From this event the committee will select members for all three IODA events; Worlds, European and North American Championships to allow for clear decision making for sailors and families.
We note that these are exceptional circumstances that are completely out of NZIODA’s control and add that there is no easy solution; however the committee believes that this is the fairest solution for all stakeholders.
Please note that the Toyota Optimist Nationals will remain as our premier and ranking event of the season. To support this all sailors selected for teams will be required to compete at the Nationals as a condition of their selection. The committee feels this would align with optimal preparation for those events anyway, but wanted to ensure the involvement of our best sailors. All three development teams will still be chosen from their rankings at the Nationals.
NZIODA Committee
Where the future of yachting begins