Yacht Club OPTY
Yacht Club OPTY is a sailing club on the Dziećkowice II reservoir in the municipality of Chełm Śląski in the Silesian Voivodeship, about 20 kilometres from central Katowice. The club offers a sailing school, boat rental with open and cabin yachts as well as pedal boats and kayaks, overnight cabins and a year-round restaurant tavern on site. The programme includes sailing courses, family and night regattas, the OPTY RACE, and youth and children's activities. Emerging from the former Klub Żeglarski Huta Katowice with roots in the 1970s, the club today has around 250 members and is one of the most active sailing clubs in Silesia.
History
It all began in 1977: on 2 June, an initiative group of 32 people founded a sailing club at the pumping station site by the water then provisionally called Dziećkowice II in Mysłowice-Imielin. After months of talks with the management of Huta Katowice, the club was registered on 8 November 1978 with the Katowice regional sailing association under number 108 as Klub Żeglarski „Huta Katowice“, largely thanks to Zbigniew Klimczak. From this tradition grew today's Yacht Club OPTY, with headquarters and sailing centre on the Dziećkowice II reservoir in Chełm Śląski, Bieruńsko-Lędziński County, Silesian Voivodeship. Szkoła Żeglarstwa OPTY traces its roots to the 1970s and nearly 50 years of club tradition; several generations of sailors have passed through its courses and camps. The water body of roughly 720–750 hectares offers strong, steady winds and hosts serious regattas, including Omega-class events such as the Silesian Cup and the Polish Cup; in 2023, 40 yachts started in the Puchar Polski Omega class. Today the club has about a quarter of a thousand members, runs rental, training, regattas and leisure offers, and ranks among the largest and most active sailing clubs in Silesia.
Information
Youth section
Children and young people are welcome: the club hosts children's events (e.g. club parties) and continues the OPTY sailing school with courses and sailing camps.