News & Views for Southern Sailors - Southwinds Magazine

RACING■ SOUTHERN REGIONAL RACINGTable of ContentsNews and EventsUpcoming Regional RegattasRegional Racing (Race Reports, Club Racing, UpcomingRegattas, Regional Race Calendars)Southeast Coast (NC, SC, GA)East FloridaSoutheast FloridaFlorida KeysWest FloridaNorthern Gulf Coast (Florida Panhandle, AL, MS, LA, TX)■ NEWSVolvo Ocean Race Stopover inMiami 14-Day Festival, May 6-20The Volvo Ocean Race will hold a festival in Miami duringits stopover in Miami. Go to “Short Tacks” for more informationon this festival.TRAININGSee Short Tacks section for a list of US SAILING coursesin the Southeast.UPCOMING REGIONAL REGATTASAtlantic Cup Race from Charleston,SC, to Newport, RI, May 11See Carolina Sailing on pages 40-41 for more on this race.The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing is a dedicatedprofessional Class 40 race held annually in the U.S.with a focus on running an environmentally responsibleevent. The race starts Friday, May 11, in Charleston, SC.From there, boats race a 648-nautical mile off-shore leg double-handedto New York City. After a brief stopover, competitorsstart the coastal leg of the race, which takes competitorsalong the same course as the 2011 race: 260 nauticalmiles, south out of New York to a turning mark off the NewJersey coast before heading north to Newport. Once inNewport, competitors will race a two-day, inshore serieswith a crew of six. The combined overall winner of bothstages will be the Atlantic Cup champion. The prize pursewill be $30,000, making it again one of the largest purses forsailing in the United States. www.AtlanticCup.org.Florida Women’s SunfishChampionship, Sanford, FL, May 19-20Open to all women. Sponsored by the Lake Monroe SailingAssociation and held on Lake Monroe. Check-in, registrationand setup on Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m. Firstrace start at 12 noon. First race on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Goto www.flalmsa.org for the NOR and more information.Mindy Strauley at (407) 739-2387, or mstrauley@aol.com.Gulfstreamer Race, Daytona, FL,to Charleston, SC, May 25The 215-mile, biennial dash north from Daytona Beach, FL,to Charleston, SC, bills itself as “a race too intense to holdevery year.” Now in its 8th edition, the Gulfstreamer Race isopen to mono and multihulls 30 feet or longer, with auxiliarypower. It’s actually a race within a race, as the first 10.6-mile leg is scored as the Gulfstreamer Sprint. (That portionis open to smaller boats.)The action characteristically starts with a Thursdayevening rum party at the Halifax River Yacht Club beforethe starting gun sounds the following day. It winds up witha festive finale at the Charleston Yacht Club. This year, a corporatepartner, OnDeck Charleston, is making the eventavailable to the broader public by offering full-boat chartersor single berth slots for interested parties. Go to thegulfstreamer.comfor NOR and entry forms, or contact theHalifax River Yacht Club. www.hryc.com.37th Annual Regatta Time in Abaco,June 29 to July 7More Than a RegattaThis annual regatta, one of the most famous in the Bahamasand Florida, starts with Bob Henderson’s immense“Cheeseburger in Paradise” picnic and runs through a weekof festivities and casual racing with Bahamian boats andcruisers from all over. Bob’s “Stranded Naked” party, as it’salso called, is the kick-off event for the regatta. Over 1200cheeseburgers—plus fries, hot dogs, margaritas and rumpunch—are fed to hundreds of visitors who come by everymeans possible, but mainly by boat. The party is followedby a series of five races that are held throughout the Abacos,all of which end at Hope Town where the final race andparty are held. For more information, go towww.regattatimeinabaco.com.Pensacola Loft • 850-438-9354490 South “L” Street • Pensacola FL 32501Visit us on-line at www.schurrsails.comNews & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS May 2012 49