SailMaine has added a new series to Casco Bay racing scene this summer — the 1st annual Summer Team Race Series.

Team racing consists of boats (usually 3 to a team) helping each other to the best combination of finishes against another team of boats. The team with the lowest combined score of all three boats’ finishes wins.

Racing is Monday nights from 5pm ­8pm in SailMaine’s fleet of 18 collegiate 420’s. The last two Monday¹s have been fantastic with great breeze and clear skies.

SailMaine encourages anyone with experience in team racing to come sailing.
Many people arrive each Monday without someone to sail with. After a quick assessment of a person¹s experience, pairings are made and teams are made up. Presently we have 4 teams on the water (12 boats/24 people) If there are more than 24 people we rotate crews into the racing.

The group sailing each Monday is impressive. Of the 38 people so far fifteen adults were college sailors with extensive team racing experience. Seven sailors in the series are presently sailing in college at a variety of schools, including URI, Harvard, UVM, and St Mary’s . Many have commented on how “psyched” their coaches are going to be when they hear how much practice they got over the summer. The rest of the people signed up to team race are a part of the High School Sailing Program at SailMaine or experienced sailors.

For more information on the Summer Team Racing Series at SailMaine go to:
http://www.sailmaine.org/pages/Racing/TeamRacing.html

~ Sarah

sarah@sailmaine.org
207-650-2085
www.sailmaine.org

The Newport Bermuda Race will begin June 20th and there are a few local boats that will be in the mix this year. Derek Ratteray with crew Merle Hallett and others will be sailing in the Cruising division on Alida, an Alden 50. Also in the cruising division will be W. Bradford Willauer in his J-46, Breezing Up. Sponsor of the PYC Race Series, Jonathan D. Knowles, of East Coast Yacht Sales will be racing his J-46 Abracadabra. Fred Maderia will be racing his J-44-WK Resolute. The website for the event is linked here and they do a great job covering the locations of the fleet during the race with iBoat. Good luck to all the Maine sailors and sail fast!

The NO answers are the winners when it comes to National Security. Most of you said that you will NOT be thinking of National Security when you are out on the water this summer. That is great because we want you to be thinking about all of the fun you will have at the regattas planned for this summer. Our next poll asks you which is your favorite GMORA Sanctioned event of the summer. We have some options to choose from or write in an event that is not listed. We want to know, so take the poll today!

The Summerguide 2008 for Portland Magazine has an interesting article about the history and family dynamics of the of the Portland Company, located on Portland Harbor. The property houses many 19th century brick buildings that were used over the years to make steam locomotives, artillery shells, 30,000-pound propellers for Liberty ships, and now home to small businesses and Portland Yacht Services. The property, owned by Phineas Sprague, Jr., is for sale and the future of this historic site is unknown. Sprague says that any offers on the property must meet certain conditions; mainly that PYS can stay & that many of the old buildings will be preserved. Any future plan will have to be approved by city hall and politics often get in the way of creating a master plan, the article says. The city has tended to want to piecemeal out tiny increments of development, rather than creating a master plan. This is a good read, so if you are interested in the article, look for the Portland Magazine Summertime Guide 2008 at your local newsstand for more information.

Pilot Regatta just 1 Week Away!

There are already 24 boats registered for the Pilot Regatta, why not add your boat to the growing list? The $25 late fee will begin next Monday, so get signed up before you get stuck with the late fee. Register here today!

Click below to see who has signed up for the Pilot Regatta

• June 21st & 22nd
  Pilot Regatta

2008 Pilot Regatta Highlights

• Pilot Regatta Tee Shirts now available ONLINE Order now before they all run out!
• Custom Pilot Skipper Bag- Each entrant receives a custom Pilot Regatta Skipper bag
• $50 Henri Lloyd Gift Certificates - These will be given out to the racers chosen at random
• Yale Cordage Sheets - Winners will get a certificate for new genoa or spinnaker sheets with your trophies on Sunday provided by Maloney Marine Rigging and Yale Cordage
• Live Music with “Punch Buggy” playing classic & contemporary rock at the club after racing
• Maine Sailing Partners Gear - Free Maine Sailing Partners hats & shirts given away at random
• Be a part of Summer Sailstice - Celebrate the longest day of the year by getting on the water
• This year the PILOT REGATTA has a little SOMETHING for EVERYONE!!!

Leavitt & Sons Market to Offer Discounts on Sandwiches, Beer and Ice for Regattas

Our PYC Race Series sponsor, Leavitt & Sons Market, located on Rt 1in Falmouth (next to the NEW Rite Aid), will be offering discounts for all regatta participants. There is a full deli with delicious sandwiches, as well as cold beer and ice for purchase. And coming soon a SKIPPER MENU with less expensive boat appropriate crew sandwiches. Stop in and tell them we sent you!

Pilot Regatta History

This year will be the 42nd Annual Pilot Regatta. In the beginning, the Pilot Race was begun as a race for the Hinckley Pilot. It wasn’t until the late 70’s that the race took the format we know today; two days of racing in and around Casco Bay, and open to any type of boat which has increased participation. The Pilot Race was one of the original races in the group that was the basis for the creation of the Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Circuit years ago. We hope that you will be a part of history and join us for the first of the PYC races this summer.

Much more information is Available:

Go Directly to the 2008 Portland Yacht Club Race Series site to get the scoop on all the racing, parties, bands, registration, entries, race series gear and more!

Go to www.portlandyachtlcub.com any time for a link to this race site or any other PYC information.

The first day of the Pilot Regatta, June 21st, will take place on the longest day of the year! To celebrate this day, there is a national data base of events found at www.summersailstice.com.

You can find an event in your area, or if you are in Casco Bay that weekend, sign up for the Pilot Regatta and join over 5000 other sailors worldwide who are celebrating the summer solstice by getting out on the water and sailing. We hope to see you out there!

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.