Hong Kong Optimist Dinghy Association

Congratulations to the HKG 2026 Optimist European Championship team who competed this year in Gydnia, Poland which took place on July 24-31, 2026. The Event kicked off with very challenging winds and waves on the first two days during Qualifying Series. For team HKG - in the Boys fleet, HKG 162 Kian Anderson qualified into Silver fleet while HKG 186 Qiheng Liu and HKG 192 Cheuk Hymn Decimus Chan qualified into Bronze fleet. For Girls Fleet, HKG 170 Scarlett Tao qualified into Silver fleet.

For the Medal Series, the winds changed significantly and were very light, proving to be difficult to complete many races. Only 2 races were completed and the final results for Team HKG are below:

Boys Fleet - HKG Results:
🇭🇰162: Kian Anderson 90th overall (silver)
🇭🇰137: Qiheng Liu 137th overall (bronze)
🇭🇰192: Decimus Chan 140th overall (bronze)

Girls Fleet - HKG Results:
🇭🇰170: Scarlett Tao 109 overall (silver)

During the Event, a total of 292 sailors competed in the Boys and Girls fleets from 49 countries. Spain won Nations cup, followed by Turkey (2nd place) and Italy (3rd place). Congrats to all the sailors who competed in event and to those which placed in the top 3 of each category:

Boys Fleet Final Results:
🥇🇬🇷 Greece Nikoloas Pappas
🥈🇮🇹 Italy Giorgio Nibbim
🥉🇪🇸Spain Lucas Garrido

Girls Fleet Final Results:
🥇🇪🇸 Spain Maria De Lluc
🥈🇹🇷 Turkey Ada Tufekciler
🥉🇺🇸 USA Morgan Rosenthal

Special thanks to Coach Alfred Okoth and Team Leader Doris Cheung.

Photo Credits: Szymon Sikora

The 2026 Optimist European Championship officially kicked off today with the Opening Ceremony at Gdynia, Poland. After several days of training with varied wind conditions, the sailors took center stage for Hong Kong, China during the Opening Ceremony in Marina Gdynia. 49 different countries with a total of 292 sailors (170 boy and 122 girls) marched in the colorful parade.

Tomorrow the racing begins! Warning signal at 12PM!

🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰Go Team HKG!!! 🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰

Photo credits: Szymon Sikora

The Euros Hong Kong, China team is ready to race at the 2026 Optimist European Championship! The Championship event will be held on July 24-31, 2026 in Gydnia, Poland and the regatta will include up to 10 races which will be held over 5 days starting July 26th. There will be two fleets (a girls fleet and a boys fleet) with a qualifying round and a medal series.

To prepare for the Event, the team arrived on July 20th in Poland. During the training days, the sailors have been greeted by a variety of conditions ranging from cold and windy days (15-25 knots) to lighter winds and warmer days. Under Coach Alfred Okoth, the team has just finished measurements and will be attending the opening ceremony on July 25th.

We wish the team the best of luck as they represent HKG in the next few days during the racing! Representing Hong Kong, China are the following sailors:
HKG 192: Cheuk Hymn Decimus Chan (RHKYC)
HKG 162: Kian Anderson (HHYC)
HKG 170: Scarlett Tao (RHKYC)
HKG 186: Qiheng (Justin) Liu (RHKYC)

Special Thanks to Coach Alfred Okoth and Team Leader Doris Cheung for supporting the team during the Event!

Please join us this October 17,18,19 in Clearwater Bay, Golf & Country Club in Hong Kong for the HKODA Open and National Championship!

Please register on Clubspot using this link: https://theclubspot.com/regatta/lpbKBLocb2

For charters please contact [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you there!

The 2026 Optimist World Championship took place over 8 days during June 18-28th. The Event included 3 days of qualifying, 2 days of team racing, and 3 days of medal fleet racing. Congrats are in order for the HKG team who competed with over 284 sailors representing 73 nations with a mix of varying wind conditions.

The event was held in Tangier, Morocco and this is the first time the Championship was held in Africa. Hong Kong also embarked on a new milestone with Margaux Nguyen-Minh, who finished 2nd girl overall in the event, in 14th position!

In team racing, Team HKG also had a strong finish as one of the top Asian teams. HKG landed in 12th place of 48 nations, winning against SWE, FIN, CHI. They tied in one race on points with BRA but lost in the tie-breaker.

Overall the wind conditions varied; the qualifying days opened with strong winds, choppy waters (21-24 knots & gusts up to 29 knots). The final days brought lighter and shiftier winds, allowing the sailors to compete in all different conditions.

Congrats to 🇭🇰 HKG team 🇭🇰 who placed in the following positions:

🥇🇭🇰 Margaux Nguyen-Minh 14 Overall (2nd Girl Overall)
🥈🇭🇰 Tara Maliah 85 Overall (14th Silver),
🥉🇭🇰 Alix Nguyen MInh 144 Overall (2nd Bronze medal),
🥉🇭🇰 Rohan Maliah 147 Overall (5th Bronze),
🥉🇭🇰 Chantal Henriksson 174 Overall (32nd Bronze).

Special shout out to Alix Nguyen-Minh who received a 2nd Bronze medal and Rohan Maliah who scored 2 bullets in a row (two #1 finishes) in Bronze fleet. All 3 Bronze fleet sailors had numerous top 15 finishes in Bronze! Special thanks to Team Leader Tindra Forssen and Coach Gauthier Thomas for their guidance during the Event.

Overall Winners for the Championship are as follows:

Overall Fleet Racing Winners:
🥇 🇧🇷 Manuel Braganca (1 Overall)
🥈🇨🇭 Elliot Novara (2 Overall)
🥉 🇲🇹 Andrei Zhakov (3 Overall)

Overall Girl Winners:
🥇 🇵🇷 Ines Mendez-Larminaux (1st Girl, and 6 Overall)
🥈 🇭🇰 Margaux Nguyen-Minh (2nd Girl and 14 Overall)
🥉 🇪🇸 Mara Penalver (3rd Girl and 20 Overall)

Overall Team Race Winners:
🥇 🇪🇸 Spain Team
🥈 🇹🇷 Turkey Team
🥉 🇦🇷 Argentina Team

2026 Optimist World Championship: Qualifying Series is done! Congrats to the sailors, who battled out the windy conditions on the first two days (18-25 knots) followed by a lighter third day. With many recalls on the start line in many of the races, the racing conditions on the final qualifying day were very challenging, and only one race was completed.

We have one gold fleet sailor at #31 place, Margaux Nguyen-Minh, followed by one silver fleet sailor, #96 Tara Maliah. The other three sailors are in Bronze fleet: #175 Alix Nguyen-Minh, #186 Chantal Henriksson, and #196 position Rohan Maliah.

Today is the team racing series! More information to come!

Good luck to team HKG!

Hong Kong, China Team at Opening Ceremony of the 2026 IODA World Championship!

After the introductions by the local and IODA hosts, the classic band and local stars performed ahead of the introduction of all the countries/nations. Hong Kong Team took their turn on the center stage and marched alongside with the parade during the Opening Ceremony.

Team HKG is lead by Coach Gauthier Thomas, who recently arrived to Hong Kong as the Head Race Coach for Aberdeen Boat Club. Gauthier is from Brittany, France - he coached the Worlds France team in 2021, the same year France won the female world champion title. He also has race coaching experience in Switzerland and in New Zealand.

Gauthier is joined by Team Leader Tindra Forssen, who is also the head coach for the Optimist class at the Royal Swedish Yacht Club in Stockholm.

Both are excited to represent Team HKG in Tangier, Morocco 2026!

Best of luck to team HKG! Go Team HKG!!!
🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰

Introducing the HKG Worlds Team! Now in Tangier, Morocco for the IODA 2026 Optimist Worlds Championship taking place June 18-28, 2026. They are ready to compete! The five sailors were selected after the various Qualifying regattas which took place during 2025-2026 calendar year.

HKG 189: Alix Nguyen-Minh (ABC)
HKG 190: Tara Maliah (RHKYC)
HKG 188: Margaux Nguyen-Minh (ABC)
HKG 197: Rohan Maliah (RHKYC)
HKG 163: Chantal Henriksson (HHYC)

Leading the team is Coach Gauthier Thomas and Team Leader Tindra Forssen (more to come!). We wish you all the best of luck in the Championship days ahead!
Go Team Hong Kong, China!

On May 28th, the 2026 IODA North American Championship concluded, and congrats are in order for the four sailors who represented Hong Kong and competed in the Championship during May 21-28, 2026 in Halifax, Canada. The Event was held at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, founded in 1837, the oldest yacht club in the Americas!

The sailing conditions during the Event varied each day but overall the course was challenging with very cold weather and medium-strong, shifty winds. During the first two qualifying days (4 races), three of the HKG sailors placed in the top 15. They were competing with a total of 173 sailors from 15 different nations/regions.

During the Championship, Tara Maliah (HKG 190), Rohan Maliah (HKG 173), Decimus Chan (HKG 192) and Xinran (Audrey) Liu were lead by Coach "Happy," and were able to secure impressive results in both fleet racing and team racing. The team was able to secure 4th place in Team Racing (Nation's Cup).

In fleet racing, Tara Maliah received a prize for 5th overall girl (22nd place).

Decimus Chan placed 28th, followed by Rohan Maliah 31st place, and Audrey Liu at the top of Bronze fleet.

Congrats to the sailors for their impressive results and a big thank you to Coach Happy!

The Hong Kong team is ready to race! The team is at the opening ceremony of 2026 Optimist North American Championship in Halifax, Canada. Xinran Liu (HKG187), Tara Maliah (HKG190), Rohan Maliah (HKG173) and Decimus Chan (HKG192) will compete starting Saturday, May 23rd. The team of four is joined by Coach Happy. Best of luck to Team Hong Kong!