I started the thread "First Boat?" after reading this thread for a while. So far, not one person has responded saying they learned to sail on an Opti. That tells me that an Opti may be a good boat for a kid to learn how to sail, but not a good boat to learn to love sailing. I know the Opti has been around forever, so it's not a matter of age. Maybe the Opti-kids all stick with monohulls, maybe it's like soccer (which now seems MANDATORY for kids, but is never played again).