The orange crate that changed the world. How did a funny looking box with a strange rig from the creeks of Florida come to be the globally accepted first sailboat for young people? How did it happen? What were the steps that led to its success? How did it change attitudes to junior sailing? How many Optimists are there? How does it relate to the Olympics? This book chronicles, with help of contemporary documents and photos, the history of sixty years of change and growth, and charts with hard facts and figures what has become the stuff of legends. Nothing has gathered more legends than the historic events of 1947. In a 23-page supplement Cliff McKay Jr., the first boy to sail an Optimist, has researched and now publishes what really happened.