Optimist ("Opti") — the little boat with the squarish sail. One kid, usually the youngest sailors. The world's biggest junior class.
ILCA (you'll still hear "Laser") — the sleek one-person boat for older kids, one tall sail.
Club 420 ("C420") — the two-person boat with two sails (main + jib). Skipper drives, crew handles the jib and balance.
Fleets = experience levels, not age brackets:
- Green fleet — newer racers. Same water, gentler stakes, separate start and scoring. Everyone starts here.
- Gold fleet — the experienced racers. (In Opti racing you'll also hear red, white, and blue fleets — those are age bands within the championship group, and at these regattas they all start together as part of gold.)
Each class and fleet gets its own start a few minutes apart, and they're scored separately — so "5th" always means 5th within their own fleet, racing kids at their own level.
Find your kid: know their sail number, hull color, and boat name (yes, the boats get named — it's a tradition). Their Find-My-Sailor card in this app carries all three.