The 2009 IODA African Championship was held from July 11th to 19th, 2009 in Richards Bay, South Africa. The Championship was organized by the KwaZulu Natal Optimist Class Association in conjunction with the Optimist Class Racing Association of South Africa under the authority of the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) and with the permission of South African Sailing.

All the charter boats were provided by Zou InterMarine, Qingdao, China.

The participating countries were: Angola, Algeria, Australia, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. After several days of tight competition,the top ten places went to: 1st.James Oliver (Australia),2nd: Zakaria Khoualed (Algeria),3rd: Alex Lehtinen (South Africa).