11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award 2021 - spotlight on IODA

Since the inaugural World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award in 2018, the calibre of applicants has continuously impressed and inspired both the judging panel and voting public. Nominees have implemented incredible initiatives and forged plans for ongoing strategies, all striving towards a more sustainable future.

The International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) was one of four finalists in 2021, with their ROPE programme highlighting an easily-replicable sustainability initiative that can deliver high-impact changes for good.

World Sailing caught up with Fiona Kidd, Secretary General at IODA to learn more about the programme and their ongoing plans and goals.

Congratulations on being nominated for the 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award. For those that don’t know, can you tell us more about your sustainability initiatives at the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA)?

Sure! The IODA is the largest youth sailing class in the world and we are focussed on increasing our sustainability initiatives to help the planet.

A lot of our mission and focus is on ‘being greener’. We have completely eliminated the use of paper at our events over the last couple of years. We also do beach clean-ups and have introduced a co-branded IODA version of the World Sailing Sustainability Education Programme for members and Optimist sailors around the globe.

The boat builders have also been involved in the conversation and we are working together to try and make the boat building process more environmentally friendly. We build 2,500 Optimists every year so not only are we trying to make it greener through the materials we use, but we are also focused on reducing the number of boats that are being built in the first place!

This is where the ROPE (Recycled Optimist Parts and Equipment) programme comes in. The idea is to engage young sailors worldwide and encourage them to bring their old equipment to IODA events to be recycled and re-used by local sailing schools or countries in dire need of this equipment.

What kind of response did you get from members of the Class after launching the ROPE programme?

We first introduced the initiative at the 2021 Optimist North American Championships in Mexico, and again at the World Championships in Italy. We had so many people donating things, from ropes to sails and sheets, and you could tell a legacy was being born. The young sailors felt proud to be helping and this is what it is all about, the peer-to-peer support and social responsibility. It was a great response and this is just the beginning!

How have people benefited from the programme so far?

Before we officially launched the programme, we did a similar fundraising initiative for the Bahamas when Hurricane Dorian caused mass destruction. We asked people to donate boats to their Optimist programme and so many people got behind it, from Mclaughlin boat builders to individuals and sailing clubs around the world. Together we have managed to completely revitalise their whole programme and the Bahamas is now coming and competing at all our major Championships. This is when the light really went on and we realised how much impact we could make.

Since then we have helped people around the World, from Argentina to India. For example, the donations from the World Championships were sent to the Yacht Club of Hyderabad Foundation Program in India. This programme gives young children from under-privileged families the opportunity to sail in the Optimist dinghy.. A lot of these children then go on to join the navy and they are incredible young sailors. This foundation now has over 100 Optimists in its programme and we have helped them with the equipment so they can continue to make a difference.

Who will you be looking to help in the future? 

Obviously we are all thinking about the current situation in Ukraine and looking for ways to help. At IODA, we are trying to make contact with the relevant people there to see how they are getting on. We are sure a lot of the equipment may have been destroyed so we are in the process of getting in contact and seeing how we can help.

There are many areas in need! From Africa to the Caribbean, parts of South America and Eastern Europe to Asia. There are pockets in every region. The plan now is to continue to scale up our efforts and make a tangible impact.

What did it mean to you to be nominated for the World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award?  

We were absolutely delighted to make the finals as we never expected it. We were thrilled! This is a peer-to-peer programme so it was a huge boost for some of the young sailors to find out they were being recognised for their work. We want them to feel proud when they do this! This encourages us all to continue to revitalise things, fix things up and get used equipment to those who would otherwise not have access.

The recognition also gave us confidence that we were doing something pretty special. Sometimes it takes others to recognise what you are doing to help boost you and show you are on the right track. For an expert panel of World Sailing officials, 11th Hour Racing staff, and sustainability experts to recognise us, it really makes you think ‘Wow OK lets continue pushing this!’ so we thank them for that!

Will you be applying for the award again this year? 

We will absolutely be applying again. Maybe we will have more stories to tell then too, although most of our events are the latter half of the year so it is difficult to highlight our success straight off.

What is your vision for the future? 

We know we have a very good top-level programme that our kids are all going through, but our focus and mission is also on that grassroots group. We want kids to get into the sport, we want to get more girls into the sport and we want to broaden the base of sailing and make it more accessible for everyone. We believe that the Optimist Class is the ultimate class to get young people out there on the water because it is a safe boat, and you can get them fixed up quickly and inexpensively. Therefore our mission is to keep implementing the ROPE program at our key events and helping more people get access.

To continue to scale this up in the future, we are going to need awareness and funding. One obstacle is getting equipment from A to B and in the future we would need to look to partner with a logistics firm. For example, Cuba has no equipment but we would currently struggle to get anything there. If we could, then this would revitalise their entire programme and provide a world of new opportunities to the young children so this is a plan for the future for sure!

We can’t wait to see the ROPE program continue to grow and help share our passion and love for the sport in a sustainable manner.

To find out more about the International Optimist Dinghy Association ROPE programme, click here.

To find out more about the World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award click here