Yachts and Yachting
Photos: Matias Capizzano
The largest annually held little boat regatta in the Caribbean, the International Optimist Regatta (IOR), is scheduled for June 14-20, 2021 in St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
It was started in 1993 by a group of St Thomas Yacht Club (STYC) sailors and now hosts Oppie sailors from across the world.
It is also a significant driver of grass roots dinghy sailing in the Caribbean after McLaughlin Boat Works, who provided the regatta’s charter boats, made the boats available afterwards at affordable prices – sailing programs throughout the Caribbean bought them and took them home.