Regatta DirectorSMargo S. Lynch & Ann Nicolosi

St. Thomas Yacht Club Manager Greer Scholes

RACE COMMITTEE. START: Jim Walsh PRO, Chuck Pessler, Charlotte Perrell, Rob Upson FINISH: Jean Barrows, Lyn Reid, Phil Shannon, Pat Courtney GATE: Chris Sharpless and Chris Sharpless Jr PIN: Shep Barrows, Karl Gartner and Morgan Dale MARK: Mark & Charlotte Van den Dreissche and Chris Haycraft SAFTEY: Carlos DiBlasi & Maria Elliff judges: Don Makowiecki, Dave Pelling, and Stacey Gibb Green Fleet: Paul & Jessica Stoeken

The 23rd International Opti Regatta Presented by US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism Hosted by the Virgin Islands Sailing Association and the St. Thomas Yacht Club.

MATIAS CAPIZZANOWWW.CAPIZZANO.COMCAPIZZANOPHOTO@GMAIL.COM

History of the International Optimist Regatta

A vision to create a strong new program to train junior sailors in a boat sailed around the world led to the development of the then Caribbean International Optimist Regatta in 1993. This idea began when St. Thomas Yacht Club (STYC) junior sailing instructor, Karen Paige, took a group of sailors to the Orange Bowl Rega-tta in Florida and was amazed at how young sailors adeptly skippered the 8-foot single-sail Optimist dinghy. Paige enlisted the help of ISAF International Judge and St. Thomas resident Henry Menin. Menin at first networked with a teenage Opti sailor from south Florida named Eric Bernstein who was able to ship several boats from the U.S. mainland to St. Thomas. This fleet, plus those borrowed from the neighboring St. Croix Yacht Club, were the boats sailed in the first IOR. Short-ly thereafter, Menin and fellow STYC member, Bill Canfield, along with Puerto Ri-ca’s Jose Fuentes, purchased a trailer load of 20 Optimists from Estonia. Sixteen stayed in Puerto Rico and Menin and Canfield brought 4 back to St. Thomas. The next year, Menin contacted Steve Sherman, president of McLaughlin Boat Works, headquartered in Hixson, Tennessee, to see if they would transport Optimists to the Virgin Islands for charter at a reasonable price. This enabled organizers to attract off-island competition for the region’s young sailors. Out of this inaus-picious start, the IOR has proven a crucial event in promoting junior sailing in the Caribbean. This has occurred in three key ways.

First, the IOR has indeed served to train world-class junior sailors. Youth Olym-pic Gold Medalist, Ian Barrows, plus Olympians Cy Thompson, Thomas Barrows and Mayumi Roller from the U.S. Virgin Islands got their competitive start in the IOR. So has other Olympians such as Trinidad & Tobago’s Andrew Lewis and Cura-cao’s Philippine Van Aanholt. The USVI’s Taylor Canfield, the number one ranked match racer in the world, sailed in the IOR, as has Puerto Rico’s Raul Rio, who won the Optimist World Championship and several Snipe continental championships. Puerto Rico’s Juanky Perdomo and the USVI’s Nikole Barnes and Agustina Barbuto all medaled in the ISAF Youth Championships just a few years after competing in their last IOR. Most recently, the USVI’s Teddy Nicolosi won the Optimist New England Championships, Optimist Midwinters, Orange Bowl Regatta and IOR all in a 12-month period. These are just a few of many examples.

Secondly, the IOR has helped to seed Optimist programs throughout the Caribbean. One way has simply been the opportunity to race in the IOR. This led one Puerto Rican father to buy the island’s first Optimist so that his son could practice for the IOR. A second way has been the cost advantage for Caribbean island nations of purchasing boats from the charter fleet McLaughlin transported annually to St. Thomas. Spencer Wiberley, vice president of McLaughlin, estimates he’s sold over 200 Optimists in the Caribbean over the last 23-years via the IOR route.

Third, the IOR caught the attention of International Optimist Dinghy Association Class Administrator, Helen Mary Wilkes and her husband, Robert. The Wilkes traveled from their home in Ireland to attend the IOR in 1994 and afterwards met with coaches present from all three USVI, Puerto Rico, Antigua, Martinique and Trinidad & Tobago to provide support for Optimist development programs on other islands. This eventually rippled out to the first-ever hosting of the Opti-mist North American Championships in the Caribbean, in Trinidad & Tobago in 2005. Puerto Rico, Curacao and Antigua have since hosted this continental champions-hip, with the Dominican Republic hosting the region’s first Optimist World Cham-pionships.

Eighty-two sailors from nine nations competed in the 2015 IOR, including nearly 20 beginners. This portends well for the continuing success of this regatta as well as the upward momentum of world-class junior sailors in the Caribbean.

Carol BareutherJuly 1, 2015

THE CLINIC6

We just finished a great week of sailing in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands during June 15-22.We had a three day clinic from June 15 until the 17. The clinic’s main goal was to practice starts, strategy and tactics. This gave the countries with small fleets (like most caribbean countries) the opportunity to have big fleet training. We had 57 boats on the Championship Fleet Clinic with sailors from 11 different countries and 9 international coaches.The racing area had open waters, big swell, and nice trade winds. This conditions were very challenging and fun for most sailors. We also held a clinic for the “green fleet” paralell to the championship clinic.On June 18th we had a team racing regatta where twelve teams participated. The teams where divided into two groups and each group sailed a round robin to determine the top two teams for each group. This four teams had a semi final and a best out of three final to crown the champion. We moved the course insede the bay and closer in, which made the team racing much more tactical.

From June 19 until the 22 we had the IOR Regatta. We had one fleet of 65 sailors in the championship fleet. The racing area was again in the open waters and had 11 races total. Each race was between 40 and 50 minute long with a trapezoid course. The regatta was the perfect preparation for the 2015 North Americans that is going to be held in our neiighbour island of Antigua in two weeks.

Agustin Resano, Coach.

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Sail Skipper Yacht Club Total PosISV720 Teddy Nicolosi [Red] STYC 29 1 ISV72 Mia Nicolosi [Blue] STYC 36 2 18311 Zane Rogers [Red] LYC 39 3 IVB 911 Rayne Duff [Blue] STYC/RBVIYC 49 4 21322 Isabella Casaretto [Blue] CRYC 71 5 19187 Mariner Fagan [Red] AYC 80 6 15436 Julia Johansson [Red] CRYC 90 7 ANT 2 Rocco Falcone [Red] AYC 91 8 20797 Stephan Baker [Blue] CRYC 106T 9 ISV 215 Mateo Di Blasi [Blue] STYCC 106T 10 20005 Peter Foley [Blue] CRYC 111 11 20123 Hayden Earl [Blue] LIMA/SHYC 114 12 FRA45 Lorenzo mayer [Blue] SBYC 123 13 20402 Ella Marsden [Ineligible] CRYC 136 14 15756 Berta Puig [Red] CRYC 149 15 17848 Mateo Farina [Blue] CRYC 160 16 ISV 224 Julian v. d. Driessche [Red] STYC 169 17 ISV 460 LAKE SANFORD [Blue] SCYC 191 18 IVB 864 Nathan Haycraft [Blue] RBVIYC 195 19 ANT22 River Andrews [Red] AYC 198 20 17404 Katie Nelson [Blue] DIYC-team for 213 21 478 Rider Odom [Red] St. Croix 215 22 19781 Luke Arnone [Red] Mantoloking 240T 23 ISV312 Mathieu Dale [Blue] SCYC 240T 24 20252 Polk Baggett [Blue] Cyc-nc 245 25 ISV 480 Atlee Kohl [Red] SCYC 250 26 19626 Michael Pinto [Red] OCYC 253 27 16316 Cooper Walshe [Blue] EYC LIMA 266 28 ISV204 Victoria Flatley [Red] STYC 283T 29 SBH818 ALICE pru [Red] SBYC 283T 30 PUR1207 Jose Arturo Diaz [Blue] CNSJ 283T 31 937 Gillian Perrell [Red] STYC 309 32

Optimist CHAMPIONSHIP - 64 boatsSeries Standing - 11 races scored

Sail Skipper Yacht Club Total Pos 19039 J.J. ( Jessica) Smith [Red] SYS/SPYC 314 33 LCA 611 Danny Dillon [Red] ST Lucia 337 34 21065 Matthew King [Red] Team FOR 359 35 FRA43 erell largitte [Red] SBYC 371 36 SBH504 Mathieu Larregain [Red] SBYC 383 37 17042 Arabella Dixon [Blue] CYC- NC, LIMA 396 38 17375 Ian Thomas [Red] LIMA 399 39 PUR 307 Sebastián Casellas [Red] CNSJ 411T 40 11881 Liliana Capiola [Red] NCSC 411T 41 PUR5637 Joaquin Lopez [Blue] CNSJ 413 42 PUR 5585 Francisco de Mari [Red] CNSJ 416 43 20796 Jackson McAliley [White] CRYC 417 44 20686 Devin Wade [Blue] Team FOR 422 45 ISV 360 Dawson Kohl [Blue] SCYC 425 46 20334 Francesca Edmands [Blue] CE 429 47 IVB21803 James Rajic-Knight [Blue] RBVIYC 432 48 5595 Jose G. Mendez [Blue] CNSJ 433 49 USA 20818 Sebastian Spinelli-S. [White] Team FOR - SSS 437 50 ISV 715 Caroline Sibilly [White] STYC 439 51 ISV 724 steven Hardee [Blue] St Croix 452 52 SBH971 adrien elie [Blue] SBYC 465 53 PUR5815 Osvaldo E. DeLeon [Blue] CNSJ 470 54 20058 Brooke schmelz [Blue] SCYC 488 55 19787 Meg Courtney [Blue] Team For-DIYC 495 56 21307 Nicholas Hardy [Red] NBYC 508 57 IVB329 Maxwell Reshtiloff [Blue] RBVIYC 513 58 20288 Ethan Homberger [Blue] PBYC 534 59 21303 Audrey Foley [White] CRYC 546T 60 IVB11 Kyle Roose [Blue] R BVI YC 546T 61 17693 Christopher Capiola [Blue] NCSC 579 62 AHO48 Cas van de Klok [Red] YSCO 592 63 CAY717 will jackson [Blue] SPYC/CISC 599 64

RESULTS

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Sail Skipper Yacht Club Total PosISV4 Katherine Majette STYC 34 1 IVB 91 Anya Reshetiloff RBVIYC 53 2 ISV 280 Lola Kohl SCYC 66 3 208 Hannah Tonin SCYC 68 4 IVB2303 Ryan Lettsome R BVI YC 69 5 ISV1955 Tanner Krygsveld STYC 73 6 ISV3 Zahrria Thomas STYC 76 7 294 Carson Oakley SCYC 80 8 ISV617 ADELAIDE JONES KATS St. John 107 9 ISV5 Winborne Majette STYC 109 10 ISV224 Max van den Driessche STYC/RVYC 114 11 ISV2 Robbie Richards STYC 139 12 ISV9 Cruz Lonski STYC 157T 13 IVB864 Nicolas Haycraft RBVIYC 157T 14 ISV2002 Alejo Di Blasi STYC 168 15 717 olivia jackson CISC/STYC 183 16 1023 Arjuna Morris KATS St. John 192 17 4 Connor Maccallum RBVIYC 196 18 ISV7 Andy Yu ISV 2 201 19 86 Scott Kirk RBVIYC 238 20

1st - TEAM St Thomas Yacht Club Mateo DiBlasi,Victoria Flatley,Mia NicolosiTeddy NicolosiJulian van den Driessche

2nd - TEAM USA & Antigua Luke ArnoneHayden EarlRocco FalconeZane Rogers

3rd - Coral Reef Yacht ClubStephan BakerBella CasarettoJulia JohanssonElla Marsden

4th - Team St. Croix Mathieu DaleAtlee KohlRider OdomLake Sanford

Optimist Green - 20 boatsSeries Standing - 15 races scored

Team RacingTop 4 Team.

Sail Skipper Yacht Club Total Pos 19039 J.J. ( Jessica) Smith [Red] SYS/SPYC 314 33 LCA 611 Danny Dillon [Red] ST Lucia 337 34 21065 Matthew King [Red] Team FOR 359 35 FRA43 erell largitte [Red] SBYC 371 36 SBH504 Mathieu Larregain [Red] SBYC 383 37 17042 Arabella Dixon [Blue] CYC- NC, LIMA 396 38 17375 Ian Thomas [Red] LIMA 399 39 PUR 307 Sebastián Casellas [Red] CNSJ 411T 40 11881 Liliana Capiola [Red] NCSC 411T 41 PUR5637 Joaquin Lopez [Blue] CNSJ 413 42 PUR 5585 Francisco de Mari [Red] CNSJ 416 43 20796 Jackson McAliley [White] CRYC 417 44 20686 Devin Wade [Blue] Team FOR 422 45 ISV 360 Dawson Kohl [Blue] SCYC 425 46 20334 Francesca Edmands [Blue] CE 429 47 IVB21803 James Rajic-Knight [Blue] RBVIYC 432 48 5595 Jose G. Mendez [Blue] CNSJ 433 49 USA 20818 Sebastian Spinelli-S. [White] Team FOR - SSS 437 50 ISV 715 Caroline Sibilly [White] STYC 439 51 ISV 724 steven Hardee [Blue] St Croix 452 52 SBH971 adrien elie [Blue] SBYC 465 53 PUR5815 Osvaldo E. DeLeon [Blue] CNSJ 470 54 20058 Brooke schmelz [Blue] SCYC 488 55 19787 Meg Courtney [Blue] Team For-DIYC 495 56 21307 Nicholas Hardy [Red] NBYC 508 57 IVB329 Maxwell Reshtiloff [Blue] RBVIYC 513 58 20288 Ethan Homberger [Blue] PBYC 534 59 21303 Audrey Foley [White] CRYC 546T 60 IVB11 Kyle Roose [Blue] R BVI YC 546T 61 17693 Christopher Capiola [Blue] NCSC 579 62 AHO48 Cas van de Klok [Red] YSCO 592 63 CAY717 will jackson [Blue] SPYC/CISC 599 64