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HomeNewsArchivesOPTIMIST REGATTA ATTRACTS MORE THAN 80 YOUTHS

OPTIMIST REGATTA ATTRACTS MORE THAN 80 YOUTHS

June 13, 2002 – Junior sailors from throughout the Caribbean and beyond are taking to the waters off St. Thomas's East End for the annual Scotiabank Caribbean International Optimist Regatta Thursday through Sunday.
Hosted by the St. Thomas Yacht Club and now in its 10th year, the regatta is known internationally for high-caliber racing, opportunities for sailors of all skill levels and fostering friendships among young people from many different backgrounds.
Eighty-some young sailors were expected to compete, regatta director Marie Canfield said earlier this week. "We always say that we'd like to have 100 boats," she said. "Last year, we had 83, and this year we expect about the same number." They are coming from Antigua, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S. mainland and Venezuela, she said.
The junior sailors, ages 6 to 15, are competing in four classes — Green (beginner), White (ages 10 and under), Blue (ages 11-12) and Red (ages 13-15).
The Optimist is an 8-foot, single-sail dinghy developed by Clark Mills, a Clearwater, Florida, sailor, in the 1950s. The boat has been the primary training vessel for many sailors who have gone on to become Olympic champions, and today young people sail it competitively in more than 80 countries and territories.
As a regatta tune-up, the yacht club hosted a training clinic Monday through Wednesday, led by Luis Chiapparro, Uruguay World Team coach for the last 10 years. Also coaching, Canfield said, were St. Thomas teen-ager Thomas Barrows, New Zealand-born sailor Andrew Wills and Florida teenager Cullen Shaughnessey.
Shaughnessey, a former overall winner of the St. Thomas Optimist event, said he enjoys coming back to the Virgin Islands each year to help the younger sailors build skills. "We've been doing a lot of drills out on the water with the kids, and going over racing rules at the same time," he said.
Olin Davis, 9, of St. Thomas, was one of 42 youths taking part in the clinic. "We've practiced upwind sailing, downwind finishes and starts," he said. "I've learned a lot, and I think it will really help when we start competing."
The regatta kicks off Thursday with registration, practice racing and an evening welcome party. The format for Friday and Saturday calls for continental breakfast and skippers meeting, morning racing, a lunch break and afternoon races, followed by dinner at the yacht club. Racing will take place in the bay areas off St. Thomas's East End, with courses including straight windwards and leewards, triangles and trapezoids.
"In the evenings we'll have special activities," Canfield said. "Friday there will be a DJ with karaoke. Saturday is King Heron, a fire eater and glass walker, along with a steelpan band."
The regatta will conclude on Sunday with morning races followed by a beach barbecue and award ceremony. Prizes will go to skippers finishing through fifth place in each fleet, and to the best visiting yacht, best local yacht, and the sailor "best exemplifying fair play and sportsmanship," Canfield said. St. Thomas sculptor Page Winter created the trophies, and local student Sophie Newbold designed the commemorative T-shirts.
Canfield said what makes ths annual event special is "its international flavor. There's such a diversity of cultures, but the kids all communicate with each other easily. And the sailing grounds are close and easy to get to. The kids like it here, they feel welcome here, and we love having them."
The regatta had its beginnings in 1993, when Karen Page, then a St. Thomas Yacht Club sailing instructor, took a few young sailors to Miami to sail in the Orange Bowl Regatta. Impressed with how skillfully some of the stateside youngsters handled their Optimists, she returned to St. Thomas eager to promote the boat. Henry Menin, a longtime yacht club member and umpire for international sailing events such as the America's Cup, helped Page pull together the first competition, which attracted 26 competitors from the Virgin Islands and Florida.
The 1994 regatta drew 41 entries, and afterwards coaches from each represented country and territory were added to the International Optimist directory, upping the membership to 74. In 1996, Scotiabank came aboard as title sponsor. Today the event is the largest Optimist regatta in the Caribbean region. "We're hoping Henry can come back for our 10th anniversary," Canfield says. Menin has been in New Zealand preparing for the next America's Cup.

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