Regatta Promotions is now working with Keith Luke, our photographer extraordinaire, and we have many of his photos available through our website. He will be with us this summer getting all the great shots and we will bring you all the pictures from the events in 2008. We now have galleries from the MS Regatta, the Shipyard Cup Regatta, the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club Regatta and the New York Yacht Club Cruise in Boothbay Harbor from previous years. Within each gallery, there are sub albums sorted by boat, which will eliminate the endless search through thousands of pictures to find what you are looking for. You can find the MS gallery here, the Shipyard Cup here, the Boothbay Harbor Regatta here and the NYYC Cruise here.

Here are a few to enjoy:

Points East Magazine now has a monthly article in the racing pages. Each month, he will be sharing sailing tips, race management tips, and other interesting points in the article. Check out the new June Issue this week for this month’s article on how volunteering at regattas can help your racing knowledge and expertise.  Points East Magazine is a free mag available at your local chandlery, sail loft, marina or boat yard.  Check it out!

The boat above was built, designed and outfitted for sails, all by Maine people. The Lyman Morse 54, built at Lyman Morse and designed by Chuck Paine, just splashed in the water last week. Maine Sailing Partners, a PYC Race Series Sponsor, built the sails for her and Win Fowler, of MSP, adjusts the leach line in the photo above. If you are interested in reading further on Chuck Paine’s blog, click here.

Another PYC Race Series Sponsor in the news is Maine Yacht Center. The May issue of Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Magazine featured MYC in an article saying that they have become the epicenter for high end racers doing many refits for boats headed out to sea. Brain Harris, the MYC manager, is given credit for all of his hard work bringing in the large sailboats. The large indoor storage facility allows work to be done year round. Many of the owners who have brought their boats to MYC had met Brian in the sailing community when he used to race himself. If you would like to read more about the Maine Yacht Center, click here.

It is great to see that the Maine boat building industry is not just a thing of the past, rather thriving and keeping the workers busy and people happy.

Here are the results from Fleet 43 for the first Wednesday night race series. The newly purchased Regatta Pro Start was used for the starting sequence and it made committee work a breeze! It was really simple to use and it seemed to be loud enough for the fleet to hear all signals. There was a soft timer that did a count down for the person running the flags, to ensure that each shape was hoisted and dropped at the proper time. When you begin a sequence, it gives three horns as a 1 minute warning for the 5 minute sequence start. From there, the sequence we chose had our sounds blasting at 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 1 minute and go. I think that everyone who has the task of doing RC will find that this device is more help than you could imagine. See below for the results:

Boat Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Total Points Rank

Flying Circus 1 4 1 6 1

Al 2 3 2 7 2

Mr. Hankey 3 1 5 9 3

Second Chance 4 2 6 12 4

Pit Party 5 6 3 14 5

Wabi Sabi 6 5 4 15 6

If you would like to get the Regatta Pro Starting system for your club or organization, you can find it here.

We know that you all love this time of year when you duck out of the office early to do some racing on week nights. In Casco Bay, each Tuesday, there is Etchells One Design Racing, Wednesday there is J-24 One Design Racing and every Thursday any type of boat is welcome for casual racing. The first gun is at 6pm sharp on all nights and we hope to see you out there!

New Amsterdam Gin has come on board as the Admiral Sponsor of the PYC Race Series. This means that there will be New Amsterdam Gin at all of the PYC Race series events in addition to our beer sponsor, Red Hook on tap. We are excited to share these products with you. As you enjoy them, think of all the fun you will have this summer participating in the PYC Race Series Events!

In addition, our sponsor Henri Lloyd will give away 15 $50 gift certificates to the racers involved in PYC Race Series Events, chosen at random. That’s right, you don’t even have to be a winner on the racecourse to enjoy this added bonus for the PYC Races. Each boat that registers for an event will be in the running for the certificates.

Finally, the Multiple Registration Discount ends May 31st

Time is running out and the discount on registrations of 2 or more events will end May 31st. Don’t delay and sign up today for your favorite events of the summer.

• June 21st & 22nd
  Pilot Regatta
• July 12th & 13th
  PHRF State of Maine Championships & One Design Regatta
• August 8th, 9th & 10th
  Monhegan Island Race
• September 13th, 20th, 27th & October 4th
  Fall Series including the popular Lightship Race

We have a great season of racing and fun lined up for 2008. Come on out and we promise you won’t regret it!

The crew match party was a hit, once again this year. There were many new faces in attendance and I was witness to a few match ups for the summer season. I love attending the crew match each year and always get a chance to meet new people as well as catch up with those that I haven’t seen all winter. There were many great door prizes donated by the sponsors of the event. Some of the prizes included a foul weather jacket, donated by the Boathouse, a few gear bags, donated by Hamilton Marine & West Marine, Points East tee shirts and we gave away some coupons for free logo setup on a crew gear order. Gritty’s came through again with their delicious beer and it was enjoyed by all. It was great to see everyone at the party and we look forward to more good times this summer!

I just found two great race boats for sale that have been racing locally in Casco Bay and are for sale in Falmouth, ME. The first is a Taylor 41′, known to many as Sheerness and sailed by the Maine Maritime Academy. The asking price is $79,500. It will be interesting to see what MMA will sail this summer if it sells. Another great race boat for sale is a 43′ Dobroth Sloop, recognized as Revolution IX. The asking price is $129,500. Will this be replaced with a new Revolution X? New Wave Yachts is the listing broker for both options and if you want to see pictures and read more about these great boats, you can find them at Taylor 41′ and Dobroth 43′ .

The first race boat of the season has now splashed into the water. Jon Randall bought a new C&C 115 and it was launched yesterday at Handy Boat. There are plenty of moorings in the water and soon others will start to launch and join Snowbird in the Falmouth anchorage. This proves that it is not too early to start thinking about the boating season ahead of us. Below is a picture, courtsey of Rob Windsor Tartan C&C Yachts Long Island, of Snowbird at the dock. She looks great in the water and will be tough competition in the races this year.

The C&C 115 class will be having their debut of one design sailing in the Annapolis NOOD regatta this weekend. We will give you the updates throughout the event. They have an impressive 9 boats registered for the event and perhaps Snowbird will join them next year.

Most people in Maine are still bundled up in wool sweaters and growling about freezing temperatures. Many are thinking of heading up to Sugarloaf for the weekend or snowmobiling in the woods of their backyard. Who, in Maine, is actually considering going for a sail?

High school sailors in Southern Maine have started sailing in Casco Bay this week. Teams include Cheverus High School, Portland High School. Cape Elizabeth High School, Deering High School, Falmouth High School, and Southern ME High School (conglomerate team). All high school teams sail out of SailMaine located in the Old Port of Portland. The teams sail in the 36 collegiate 420’s owned by SailMaine.

Here are some great shots of the action:

SailMaine is a cool organization that makes sailing accessible to almost anyone. They provide youth and adult sailing lessons all summer long as well as host regattas for high school, college and us sailing events. If you want more information about the high school sailing program or the youth sailing lessens contact Sarah Helming at SailMaine.

For all the action going on at SailMaine check out their web site here!

I have been getting the questions; when, where, why and who cares?!

Well here are the answers:

• This Weekend March 14th, 15th and 16th – Thats Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• Times – 10 am to 6pm Friday and Saturday 10am to 4pm Sunday
• 58 Fore Street Portland, Maine at the Portland Company aka Portland Yacht Services
• Its almost Spring! Time to renew sailing friendships, see boats and dream of summer
• This show for anyone who appreciate good craftsmanship, New England ingenuity and Downeast hospitality.
• Regatta Promotions will have free gifts for anyone who stops by our booth. Come check it out!
• Register for another season of fun sailing regattas at the show.
• Free seminars from Lou McNally and other experts in many areas such as weather, boat maintenance, electronics and more…..
• Boat show deals from many marine suppliers….get it before its too late – summers right around the corner

For more details check out the boat show web site here.