NZIODA South Island Clinic 2027

The NZIODA South Island Clinic is hosted by South Island Yacht Clubs who are currently active in the Opti scene. The rotation is currently spread between the geographic locations of Picton (Queen Charlotte Yacht Club), Canterbury (Charteris Bay and Naval Point Yacht Clubs) and Nelson (Nelson Yacht Club).This shares the amount of travelling required around the active Opti regions to make it fair for all. These clinics are currently non-residential and held at the various yacht clubs during the day with out of town sailors staying with their families nearby overnight. Families may wish to work together with other sailing families with transport and accommodation to lighten the financial and time burden for those travelling from out of the region to attend a clinic.

This clinic is a four day clinic to make the most of our coaches who mostly travel from the North Island to attend. This year the event is being hosted by the Nelson Yacht Club. 

The clinic will cater to all Opti sailors from those starting out in Green Fleet, dipping their toes into racing in the White Fleet, as well as for the more experienced Open Fleet sailors. A variety of NZIODA performance coaches will be in attendance to work with sailors towards their individual sailing goals.  Check out our website to see which fleet is the best fit for you before you enter: https://optimist.org.nz/optimist-fleets/ 

The overall goals of the clinic are:

• For Opti sailors from around the South Island and wider NZ to come together for a unique and enjoyable four days of sailing and off water activities.
• To give sailors and their families from different clubs and regions the opportunity to meet new people and make new friendships.
• To provide South Island Opti sailors access to some highly experienced coaches to help inspire and assist them to reach their sailing goals.

Nelson Yacht Club

Nelson is known for its fantastic summer sailing with sea breezes that generally pick up as the day goes on. Depending on the conditions, our sailors will either sail outside of Nelson Harbour to take advantage of the great wind and wave conditions of the Tasman sea, or inside the Harbour where there is plenty of tide to work with, but generally calmer and flatter seas. This combination makes Nelson an excellent venue for building confidence in all sailing conditions.

What will my Sailor Learn?

Sailors will work with a mixture of experienced NZIODA coaches in small groups of approximately 6 sailors of similar skill level, while coming together as a larger group at times to ensure lots of social mixing and fun.

Some of the topics covered will be:

• Becoming an independent Opti Sailor
• Learning and improving sailing fitness
• Destination sailing
• Presentations on themes such as nutrition, tactics, strategy, rules
• Key technique and boat handling skills
• Set up and boat speed
• Starting skills
• Understanding the wind
• Race routines and preparation for a regatta

Dates:

Saturday 23 January through to Tuesday 26 January, 2027

Start and Finish times:

The clinic will begin at 10 am on Saturday 23 January and finish at approximately 4 pm on Tuesday 26 January, 2027.

Cost: $TBC per sailor 

We are grateful for the continuing support from the OWNZ trust who subsidise this camp each year so that we can keep the costs as low as possible.

Any refunds for cancellations will be at NZIODA’s discretion.

Registration:

Registration will open on 1^st October and close on Friday 18^th December 2026. This allows time for clinic T shirts to be printed and for coaches to be engaged over the busy summer period. Any late entries received after this date will be at the discretion of NZIODA and will incur a late penalty fee of $150.

REGISTER HERE for the 2027 South Island Clinic from 1^st October 2026