The Coral Bay Yacht Club Thanksgiving Regatta runs on Saturday, November 28, two days after the holiday. It's one day of racing in two parts, and the awards party at the end takes place in the KATS area by the Coral Bay dinghy dock. Kids and the Sea sailors will compete in every class. Their 2026–2027 season opened on October 17, from the same stretch of shore where the awards will be handed out. October 17 to November 28 is exactly six Saturdays. For many of the young sailors, regatta day comes after six weeks of lessons on that same water.
Six Saturdays at the Dinghy Dock
KATS St. John is a nonprofit that teaches sailing, marine safety and seamanship to St. John children ages 8 to 18. According to the Gifft Hill School bulletin for the week of October 16, 2026, this season's first session meets to the right of the Coral Bay dinghy dock on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuition is $150, with sponsorships available, and families can reach the program at [email protected].
The Virgin Islands Daily News reported that KATS was founded in 1988 to connect local youth with the sea around them. The same feature described a curriculum that goes beyond sailing to swimming, paddleboarding, running small outboards and general seamanship, all taught by volunteers.
When the racing is over, the awards and festivities take place on the patch of shore where these sailors spend their Saturday mornings.
The Day Runs on Two Clocks
The small-boat racing and the keelboat race happen in different water and start at different times. Here is the schedule from the November 2026 issue of ALL AT SEA:
- 10 a.m.: Lasers, catamarans, IC24s and Optis start in Coral Bay and sail multiple races. KATS sailors compete in all of these classes.
- Noon: Keelboats start off Johnson Bay and race around Flanagan Island.
- Around 3 p.m.: Awards and festivities in the KATS area, with live music and food and drinks for sale.
"Spectators should join us in the KATS area for awards and shenanigans directly following the regatta," Coral Bay Yacht Club vice commodore Jamie Brown told ALL AT SEA.
The two clocks split the spectator's day. The morning racing is close to the harbor and has lots of short races, so you can watch it over coffee. The keelboats head out toward Flanagan Island at midday, so the harbor goes quiet for a while before the boats come back in and the party starts at the dinghy dock.
If you sail and want to be on the water instead of watching, the event page on Regatta Network went live October 8, and online registration is open. That page lists St. John Yacht Club as the organizing body and "SJYC/CBYC" as the host venue.
Watching From the Harbor
Fitting your viewing spot to the schedule takes a little planning. The regatta listing doesn't name a shoreside viewing point for the racing itself. The USVI Department of Tourism's event page does, and recommends Surf Club Cantina for watching boats come and go from Coral Harbor.
| Spot | Where | Hours as posted | How it fits the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surf Club Cantina | 13A Estate Carolina | 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily | Opens after the 10 a.m. start. Good for the keelboats' return and the afternoon |
| Skinny Legs | Estate Emmaus | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, reopening on Halloween | Opens late morning and stays open past the 3 p.m. awards |
| Dazey's Bayhouse | Coral Bay Harbor | Coffee and bakehouse. Reported reopened October 15 | The morning option before the small-boat starts |
| KATS area | Right of the Coral Bay dinghy dock | Festivities from around 3 p.m. | Where the day ends |
Surf Club Cantina's own site lists daily hours of 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., so the first hour and a half of small-boat racing happens before its doors open. Skinny Legs took its annual break starting August 8 and posted a Halloween reopening. ExploreSTJ's 2026 seasonal closings list also has Skinny Legs reopening on Halloween, which is October 31 this year. If that date holds, it will have been open for four weeks by regatta day.
Dazey's Bayhouse covers the gap in the morning. The St. Thomas Source reported in January that it opened on January 1 with bakery items, specialty coffee, sandwiches and cold treats, plus rotating chef dinners and weeknight pizza. An October seasonal-closures tracker lists Dazey's as reopened on October 15 after a fall break. This is Dazey's first Thanksgiving Regatta, since it opened in January.
Holiday-weekend hours on St. John can change on short notice, so call ahead before you plan around any of these.
What the Fleet Looked Like Last November
The 2025 regatta ran on November 29. Regatta Network's results page shows 19 boats in five fleets: eight Lasers, one Sunfish, three Spin boats, five Non-Spin boats and two multihulls.
| 2025 fleet | Winning boat | Skipper |
|---|---|---|
| Spin | Bravissimo | Michael Feierabend |
| Non-Spin | Despacito | Warren Stryker |
| Multi Hull | Family Cruiser | Dane Tarr |
The page shows no scored races for the Laser or Sunfish fleets and marks the other results as provisional. Eight of last year's 19 entries were Lasers, the biggest single fleet, so small boats made up a large share of the day. This year's class list names Lasers, catamarans, IC24s and Optis. The 2025 results had no Opti fleet.
The fleet used to look different. In a recap of the regatta's 33rd running, published in early 2015, ALL AT SEA reported 25 boats in seven pursuit-race classes, in light easterlies of seven to nine knots. That fleet ran from old island traders and ketches to Cowhorns, workboats, J boats and cruisers.
A Regatta That Has Long Paid Into the Kids' Program
The regatta is older than KATS. A 2002 St. Thomas Source report called that year's race the 21st. Counting back from there puts the first race in the early 1980s, several years before KATS started in 1988.
The yacht club and the kids' program have been tied together for most of that time. The 2015 ALL AT SEA piece said all proceeds from the two-day Thanksgiving Regatta went to KATS. St. John Tradewinds reported that entry-fee proceeds from the 2016 edition benefited the program as well. In April 2025, when the club put on its flotilla and chili cook-off for youth sailing, organizers told the St. Thomas Source that KATS has historically been the club's largest beneficiary, and KATS students demonstrated their sailing at that event.
This year's announcement doesn't say where the money goes. It does put KATS sailors in every small-boat class and holds the party in the KATS area. Families who want to help the program directly can ask about the sponsorships mentioned in the season announcement.
If you have family or friends staying for the long weekend and want help with the day, Bonvi Hospitality Group can arrange it. We can sort out transportation to Coral Bay, line up a morning stop at Dazey's before the 10 a.m. start, and reserve a table for the afternoon so your group is at the dinghy dock when the awards start around 3. Let's Connect.
