History: The creation of the original Optimist-Pram for soapbox races on the water

Text by Michael Timmermann

Probably the greatest success story of a boat class began 77 years ago. It is thanks to an ingenious idea and many coincidences that the Optimist became the largest international regatta class, with an estimated half a million boats sailing worldwide today. This is its story.

The design of the small sailing box was developed in 1947 by the boat builder Clark Mills in the small American town of Clearwater, in Florida on the Mexican Gulf. Mills was commissioned to build the first boats by his friend Major Clifford McKay, manager of the local radio station TWAN. As a guest speaker at the venerable Optimist Club of Clearwater, McKay had suggested that the club organise competitions with small boats in the sheltered bay off the city. The Optimist Club of Clearwater is a charitable organisation that continues to provide recreational activities for disadvantaged children. At the time, this included organising soapbox races in Clearwater.

Also interesting:

• Young talent: German optis sail at Cape Horn

Organising these races was always very time-consuming, as there are only a few suitable hills in the area and many roads always had to be closed. On 14 August 1947, Major McKay presented the club with his idea of moving the soapbox races to the water. His suggestion was to move the spectacle to the wide and sheltered bay in front of the city using small boats specially made for the purpose. According to McKay's ideas, these - just like the soapboxes that had been common up until then - could be built by a father and son in a short space of time without any special knowledge or tools. The core of the idea was therefore the simplicity of the construction. McKay went so far as to envisage a sail made from bed sheets. And finally, the boat should not cost more than 50 US dollars, because that was how much the club had previously given as a sponsor for the construction of a soapbox.

In terms of their appearance, the first Optis still differed from today's Optis.

With these specifications, Clifford McKay presented his friend, the boat builder Clark Mills, with a major challenge. After a few attempts, however, a design was created that promised to fulfil the specifications. The decisive point was a flat front section. This made it easier to build the boat himself and provided the necessary buoyancy in the foredeck despite the boat's small size. The dimensions of the sailing soapbox were determined by the length of the most favourable plywood panel. It was possible to build three boats from four panels measuring eight by four feet with only a small amount of waste.

The boat was named Optimist Pram or just Pram in English because its shape with its flat bow is reminiscent of the transport vehicles of the same name.

As the result was to be presented at the next meeting of the Optimist Club, Clark Mills only had a day and a half to build the first prototype after having already spent a week on the design. But the project succeeded, and on the afternoon of 3 September 1947, McKay's eleven-year-old son was able to rig the first Optimist Pram and set off on her maiden voyage in the bay in front of the Dunedin Boat Club. His father took the prototype to the meeting of the Optimist Club of Clearwater the following day and presented it to the astonished members in the lobby of the "Gray-Moss-Inn" hotel. In the vote that followed, they accepted the project. The future Opti was born. And both its name and the class symbol still bear witness to its origins in the Optimist Club of Clearwater.

In terms of their appearance, however, the first optis differed somewhat from those of today. The boats were made entirely of wood and were still buoyant even after capsizing, so they did not need a buoyancy chamber. But the original Opti was already sprit-rigged, and until around 1972 the mast, boom and sprit were made of wood, initially also in the later plastic hulls. McKay was not a sailor and fortunately Mills soon talked him out of his original idea of tailoring the sail from a sheet. However, the square shape of a bedsheet is said to have inspired Mills to make a sprit rig.

The hulls were painted and rigged by the sailors themselves

The financial hurdles for the budding Opti sailors were deliberately kept low. Clark Mills himself earned just five dollars to build a boat. And as the local Rotary Club also financed ten of the small boats right from the start, the fleet in Clearwater quickly grew to more than 25 Optis. The hulls were painted and rigged by the sailors themselves. Over the next few years, Mills built a total of around 200 Optis in his shipyard. He also sold the plans for a small fee. He never charged licence fees for replicas.

He had ceded the rights free of charge to the Optimist Club of Clearwater, which now organised regattas every second Sunday of the month throughout the year. The entry fee was one dollar per year and had to be earned by the young Opti sailor himself. The sponsor who owned the dinghy could and should advertise on the stern of the Opti. This advertising label was initially the distinguishing feature of the boats and replaced the sail number used today. There were two classification groups, and from 1948 girls were also permitted. The boats were assigned to a specific sailor and the sponsor was named together with the sailor at the award ceremony. The local newspapers and radio also regularly reported on the competitions.

Soon, neighbouring clubs were inviting each other to regattas. The Optis were then transported to the respective venues in lorries. The competitions took place according to fixed rules, which were determined by a committee of the Optimist Club of Clearwater. Participation in the regattas was compulsory for sailors of sponsored boats.

Wherever there are more than two boats on the water together, it is always a race

In the afternoons after school, the children sailed their dinghies from island to island in the mangrove swamps of the bay off Clearwater, without any supervision and without life jackets, as there were no life jackets for children yet. The only conditions were that a boat was not allowed to set sail alone and the Optis had to remain in sight. So the first Opti sailors taught themselves how to sail without a care in the world. They were astonished to realise that the Opti could still be sailed in winds of more than 20 knots, without a life jacket, without buoyancy aids and without a coach.

"Life was simpler", Clifford McKay states in his memoirs, "life was simpler". He continues: "In our youth, we spent almost as much time on the water as we did on land." The competition was inevitable, because wherever there are more than two boats on the water together, there is always a race. The neighbouring Dunedin Boat Club soon offered the first training courses in sailing with the Optimist Pram, albeit without the usual accompaniment of a coach on a motorboat.

By the spring of 1949, the fleet in Clearwater had grown to 29 boats, which were stored in a fishing hut next to the Dunedin Boat Club. On the night of 20 April 1949, however, the hut burnt down completely and all the stored optis fell victim to the fire. The project seemed to be over. However, the local radio station TWAN and the newspapers reported on the tragic accident. The willingness to help was overwhelming. The phone never stopped ringing, and within just two hours the money for 43 new boats and a further 6,000 dollars to build a new boathouse had been raised. It seems paradoxical, but the fire helped the Opti to become more popular at the time.

The optimist comes to Europe

In 1954, the boats caught the eye of Danish architect Axel Damgaard while travelling and he brought the blueprint back to Denmark. The first European optis were built according to these plans at the Royal Danish Yacht Club in Copenhagen. The Opti then found an influential supporter in Paul Elvstrøm, the internationally successful sailor. Thanks to his help, the boats spread across Scandinavia and throughout Europe.

In Germany, the first Optis were built from 1957 by sailing-enthusiastic children with their parents, remembers Hanse founder Michael "Schmiddl" Schmidt, who was one of the first Opti children in Kiel: "In Vordingborg in Denmark, there was a timber merchant who sold a package of plywood sheets and the corresponding mouldings. Then the thing was assembled overhead according to instructions. The mast, boom and sprit were made of bamboo and were very durable. There was a pattern for the sails. Linen was prescribed and could be bought at Karstadt. My mother then sewed the multi-coloured panels together.

Regattas were sailed at the weekends. However, it was not quite as official as it is today. The parents brought the boats from Kiel to Laboe or Strande. We children then sailed against each other in our six to seven Optis. We did everything on the Optis ourselves and the boats were constantly being improved, especially the rigging, centreboard and rudder blade."

The fleet of organised Opti sailors is now estimated at 170,000 boats in 115 countries

In the former GDR, the Opti was first sailed in 1962 in what is now the Warnemünde Sailing Club. The previous year, a group of young sailors from Denmark had taken part in the GDR Sailing Week in Warnemünde and presented the club with one of the boats and a construction plan as a gift. In those early years, only plans or kits in wood were available to buy, and there were still many different designs. Particularly in Scandinavia, the design was later improved to meet the needs and ideas of Opti sailors. However, there was not always agreement on the building regulations. In order to keep the class together, the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) was founded in Finland in 1960. Under the leadership of Viggo Jacobsen, the boat was then declared a binding standardised class in its design as the "International Optimist Dinghy" in 1973 in a spectacular night-time solo effort by the IODA. "Clark had built a boat. Viggo had built a class," said Robert Wilkes, his successor, later.

Until 1985, two different designs existed side by side in the USA: the original "Optimist Pram" based on the 1947 model from Clearwater and the "International Optimist Dinghy", which was further developed in Europe. Its dimensions are essentially the same as those of the historical model. The boat's speed has improved significantly, particularly due to the introduction of the flared and battened sail, which was influenced by Paul Elvstrøm.

In the seventies, plastic was introduced as a construction material and was initially favoured by sailing schools in particular due to its low maintenance requirements. Top sailors, on the other hand, continued to favour their familiar and lighter wooden constructions for a long time. After just six years, more than 1,000 Optis were counted in Florida alone. The fleet of organised Opti sailors is now estimated at 170,000 boats in 115 countries. In total, there are probably half a million worldwide. At the opening of the 1972 Olympic Games in Kiel, almost 300 Optis took part in the supporting programme, and Clifford McKay watched the spectacle on television.

Many famous sailors started their careers in the Opti

Originally designed as a stable sailing boat for beginners in sheltered waters, the Opti has now developed into a sophisticated piece of sports equipment thanks to careful improvements and its plastic construction with an aluminium rig. Due to its design, however, there are limits to its speed potential. This is because the Opti has essentially remained Clark Mills' simple boat from 1947, even if it has since developed from an originally social project into a leisure activity for privileged circles.

Initially, the Opti was ridiculed as a children's toy, and the German Sailing Association was also critical of the youngest boat for a long time. However, in his more than 25 years as a board member of the German Optimist Dinghy Association, Günther Nülle made the Opti an indispensable part of the programme offered by committed sailing clubs against all odds. Today, it is impossible to imagine any sailing magazine in the world without the Opti. Many famous sailors began their careers in the Opti, a boat that looks like a horse trough, but nevertheless, or perhaps precisely because of this, arouses worldwide enthusiasm. The success story of the Opti is unparalleled.

Technical data of the Optimist Pram

• Construction: Clark Mills, 1947
• Length: 2,30 m
• Width: 1,13 m
• Depth: 0,65 m
• Weight: approx. 45 kg
• sail area: 3.5 square metres
• Rigging: Sprietsegel
• Hull mould: Buckling frame
• Material: Plywood

Renaissance of the original Opti: Opti Classics regatta series

The author has been an Opti trainer on Lake Starnberg for around 20 years and is the initiator of the 1947 Optimist Prahm support association. This association organises regatta events in the style of the German Sailing League on classic Optis. Six boats are provided by the sponsoring association, which are sailed in ten-minute short races. After each race, the boats of the sailors are reassigned and swapped by lot.

The alternative regatta format is intended to convey the light-heartedness and spirit of the original Opti sailing. That is why boats and sailors are equipped in the style of the early days. Weather permitting, there are no buoyancy aids or wetsuits.

The boats used are restored to regatta standard, preferably built in wood before 1995, but fitted with a modern sail. Around 20 such Optis are now part of the club's fleet. Sailing clubs can book a regatta event with the Förderverein 1947 Optimist Prahm if they are interested. Information under: opticlassics@t-online.de