News & Views for Southern Sailors - Southwinds Magazine

holds its opening day ceremonies and inter-clubCapdevielle racing series start. Includes one-design andPHRF racing. The GYA Board of Directors holds its annualmeeting, along with other events including dinners, musicand a GYA commodore’s flag ceremony.Racing will be on four different courses for the variousone-design classes, with trophies given out on Sunday. Twoperpetual trophies will be presented to the top finishingclub teams. www.bucyc.com.Regata al Sol, Pensacola to Mexico,May 9-10See “Upcoming Regional Regattas” at the beginning of theracing section.Ultimate 20 North AmericanChampionship, Pensacola FL,May 17-20Pensacola Yacht Club is hosting the Ultimate 20 NorthAmerican Championship Regatta. Twelve races are scheduledwith Windward/ Leeward and a Triangle course.Registration and measurement on Thursday, May 17, withskippers meeting on Friday morning. For more info andNOR, visit the PYC calendar website:http://pensacolayachtclub.memberstatements.com/tour/tours.cfm?tourid=9977149th Annual Navy Cup, Navy YachtClub, Pensacola, FL, May 19-20The Navy Yacht Club will be celebrating its 49th year ofhosting this regatta for the Navy Cup Trophy.Races will be held both in Bayou Grande and inPensacola Bay with race activities being held at the NavyYacht Club at the Bayou Grande Marina. Small boat racingwill be in the bayou, with the PHRF sailboats competing onPensacola Bay. Yacht club teams will race against other clubteams for most points. All yacht clubs in the Gulf Coast areinvited. The top three scoring boats in each class will be presentedawards. www.navypnsyc.org.Race to the Coast, New Orleans,June 9-10Sponsored by the Southern Yacht Club, this race was firstheld on July 4, 1850. It is known as America’s oldest distancerace. The race sails through Lake Pontchartrain, theRigolets, Lake Borgne to the Mississippi Sound. For moredetails, go to www.southernyachtclub.org.Billy Bowlegs Festival and Regatta,Fort Walton Beach Yacht Club,June 9-10The 56th Annual Billy Bowlegs Festival, a weeklong event,is filled with family events for all ages. It is focused on thecharismatic character Billy Bowlegs, a local northwestFlorida pirate.Three class divisions are expected to compete;Spinnaker A and B, Cruiser class and J/22 class. All racingwill be held in Choctawhatchee Bay. An after-race party anddinner will be held on Saturday at the Fort Walton BeachYacht Club and awards ceremony after racing Sunday. Formore information and register online, go to www.fwyc.org.Gulfport to Pensacola Race,June 15-16The annual 100-mile Gulfport to Pensacola race is sponsoredby the Gulfport Yacht Club, the Southern Yacht Club,the Pensacola Yacht Club and the Gulf Yachting Association.It is a 100-mile race from the channel entrance at Gulfport,MS, along the Gulf Coast to the channel entrance of thePensacola Pass. For more information, go towww.pensacolayachtclub.orgGYA Challenge Cup, PensacolaYacht Club, June 22-24The Pensacola Yacht Club hosts the Challenge Cup this year.Boats from 33 yacht clubs along the northern Gulf Coastrace over the weekend.Special rules for this competition require that the skipper,helmsman, and at least 50 percent of its crew (includingskipper and helmsman) must have been members of theyacht club represented by the boat for the six months precedingthe event. In addition, only three or four boats fromeach club are allowed to compete and are limited to oneboat per class. A boat can represent only one yacht club, andeach boat shall have sailed 50 recorded miles in the GYAPHRF race data program to be eligible to race.Registration and briefing will be on June 22, with racingon Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go towww.pensacolayachtclub.org.Fort Walton Yacht Club Round theIsland 100-Mile Multihull Race,June 23-24This race is a circumnavigation around Santa Rosa Islandlocated in northwest Florida. The race begins off the point ofthe Fort Walton Yacht Club through East Pass and continueswest through the Pensacola pass where boaters will turnnorth for the return trip.At the start of the race, the wind is usually four to sixknots from the northeast. After the start, racers round aturning mark off the shoals of Crab Island then head forDestin Bridge and East Pass. A charter boat fleet runs infront of them at the pass with a colorful parade of sailorsand fishing boats. Spectators usually line the Destin Bridgeand can see the multihull fleet sail under spinnakers usingthe NNE breeze as they head out around the island.www.fwyc.org.See RACING continued on page 58News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS May 2012 55