O'pen Bic – extreme sailing

O’pen BIC is another product from Bic, and open is for the open transom of the junior-sized sailing dinghy. Like many vessel designations, the prototype became the class.

The capital O and apostrophe of O’pen is in reference to the Optimist class boats, a popular youth sailing dinghy that was built in 1947 at the request of the Clearwater Florida Optimist service club. Somewhat heavy and slow, the Optimist class design included buoyancy bags to help float the vessel in case of capsizing. The O’pen BIC needs no such support; with an open transom, water flows out the rear and never stays in the hull during sailing or in a capsize, so the junior boat is easy to handle and right. The O’pen BIC, first produced in 2006, is now the most popular sailing vessel built for children and teenagers.

This Thursday through Sunday, the Extreme Sailing Series will fill San Diego Bay with colorful sails. Those attached to the speedy hydrofoil catamarans, the GC32’s, will be on display during daily Stadium Racing heats from 2 pm – 5 pm. Also daily, prior to the GC32s, the Extreme San Diego Kiteboard Invitational will feature heats of top professional kiteboarders from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and later, from 5pm – 6:30 pm Thursday through Saturday. The O’pen BIC youth races will run Saturday and Sunday at 12:15 pm -1:15 pm, and are of an UnRegatta style – just think freestyle skateboarders pulling off tricks. The stability and ease of the O’pen BIC boats allows the junior sailors to pull off maneuvers like standing up while sailing, wheelies, 360s, purposely capsizing, and handstands with their feet on the boom.