Seychelles will host the 2024 Optimist African Championship from October 12 to 19 with the participation of 76 young sailors from 16 nations.

This is the second time Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean organises the event. The last time was in 2019.

The chairman of the Seychelles Yachting Association (SYA), Michel Bristol, told reporters recently, "The competition was originally scheduled for September, but due to an issue with the shipping of boats, we had to reschedule to this new date."

The change in date has impacted the number of participants competing, going down from 20 teams and 102 participants to 76 participants.

The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15. It is one of the two most popular sailing dinghies in the world, with over 150,000 boats officially registered with the class and many more built but never registered. It is practiced in over 120 countries and is one of only two sailboats at the International Class by World Sailing exclusively for sailors under 16.

The Optimist African Championship comprises two competitions, the Optimist Individual African Championship and the Optimist Team Racing African Championship. Although called, the African Championships, there will be sailors from nations outside of Africa also competing.

Bristol explained that to get more participants, the organisers felt that they should open the tournament up to other nations and make teams more competitive.

The chairman of the local organising committee, Alain Alcindor, shared that there will be two categories for prizes, an overall class featuring all the sailors and an African class, reserved for the African sailors.

Alcindor said a lot of help is needed for the championship in Seychelles and called for volunteers with boats to help them out.

"We will need a lot of boats. We do not need big boats but more those that we as organisers and the coaches can use to go out and watch their athletes," he explained.

Those willing to help can contact Alcindor or telephone number 2722328 or the SYA through Facebook or WhatsApp.

The venue for the competition is also being prepared, and organisers expect everything to be in place by September 4 with athletes set to arrive in Seychelles from September 5.

Team Seychelles will include six sailors: Dominic Esparon, Michael De Speville Mason, Elisha Moustache, Melchoir Constance, Fabrice Julie and Noah Michaud.

In the 2023 edition in Morocco, Gino Pichetti of Argentina was the grand winner. Seychelles was represented by Odysius Melanie who finished 52nd, while Joshua Allcorn was 63rd out of 89 participants.

In the event held in Seychelles in 2019, Ronâncio Paulo of Angola took first place and Seychellois Dean Mathiot, who finished 17^th, was the top performer from the island nation.