Welcome to the Regatta Promotions Sailing Marketing Blog

PORTLAND, Maine, April 2, 2009 — Maine’s sailing regatta season will get off to an early start on Saturday, June 6, when sailboats will race on courses outside Portland Harbor to raise funds for SailMaine, a local community sailing program. The Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Association is teaming up with SailMaine to host the event, which will provide a wide range of benefits for SailMaine, its students, and the skippers and crews of the racing boats that participate.

The regatta will be an opportunity for current Gulf of Maine racers to make connections with new sailors and potential crew members, and will give SailMaine students the chance to experience the thrill of racing on larger boats.

“Our students learned on smaller boats and sailing dinghies, and some have been looking for an opportunity to move into bigger boats,” says Sarah Helming, director of SailMaine’s High School and Junior Program. “At the same time, Gulf of Maine skippers and crews are anxious to clean out the cobwebs that developed during their long off-season, and some may be looking to add people to their crew list. This regatta will bring everyone together.”

Each racing boat will be assigned a certain number of SailMaine students who are new to Gulf of Maine racing. Sail Maine coaches will evaluate the experience, skill level, and aspirations of students and match them with the appropriate racing yachts. Some of the students are from SailMaine’s junior and high school programs; others may be participants in the organization’s Adult Sailing program.

Funds for SailMaine will be raised through entry fees, sales of sailing apparel and other items, and a benefit dinner and party following the race.

The post-race festivities will be open to the public, but advance reservations are recommended. People interested in dinner tickets should contact event chairman Sarah Helming at SailMaine: sarah@sailmaine.org or 650-2085.

Sail Maine is a non-for-profit, community program that offers sailing instruction to youth and adults, promoting the values of leadership, self-reliance, sportsmanship, and respect for the environment. SailMaine’s web site is www.sailmaine.org.
The Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Association is a not-for-profit, charitable corporation formed to act as an amateur athletic organization to promote yacht racing, including international yacht racing in the ocean waters of the Gulf of Maine. GMORA maintains a web site at www.gmora.org.

This weekend March 20, 21, 22 2009 is the Maine Boatbuilders Show in Portland, Maine at the Portland Company on Fore Street in the Old Port.

Regatta Promotions had organized a booth with Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Association (GMORA), Portland Yacht Club, Southport Yacht Club and Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club.

We have great information about these events and cool free stuff to people that show up and say they saw this blog entry.

I also have a limited amount of  VIP tickets.  Want one?  Call Carter White at 207-671-7750 cell phone to get one or bring a friend and get two.  But call soon since I only have a few.

Hope to see you all this weekend.

The show is Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 10-4

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Regatta Promotions was there for the first annual Leafer’s Last Leg Regatta hosted by SailMaine a non-profit organization that benefits sailing in Maine. We took photos of the regatta which was held in light winds on a somewhat damp but not cold day. 8 teams competed in 420s and Ynglings in a college format regatta for families and individuals that wanted to show there support for SailMaine. There was also an open 420 division for people that wanted to sail but couldn’t put together a whole team. The results are posted here.

To see the photos of all the teams click this link!

Make sure to scroll the page down to see the individual boat galleries to see the photos of yourself or your family member.

MS Regatta Photos are up NOW!

Use this link to get you to the general gallery and once there scroll down the page to see all the individual boat galleries.

Ok, I bet you didn’t know that Regatta Promotions has its own video production crew. Well, we don’t really. Hall Web Marketing of Scarborough, Maine has generously donated their time and expertise to Fleet 43 and the Downeast Regatta to make this quick intro to the fleet. They will also be taking video during the 2008 Downeast Regatta for the sailors to enjoy each evening after racing.

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!

We have to weigh in for the Worlds and the crew weight is not to exceed 628 lbs. We are sailing with four crew on our boat, while most other boats have three big crew members. For this regatta, there will be a weigh in Sunday between 7am and 10am and another on Friday. I have never heard of an event that has a mandatory weigh in TWICE during the event. For those who are close to the mark, the week in Chicago will be spent counting calories, in order not to gain weight for the second weigh in. Often sailors have put on a crash diet to make weight for a regatta; however, after that scale tips the goal weight, a large feast is in fast order. We have been working hard to give ourselves a 5-10 lb cusion under the max weight, so the 2nd weigh in won’t be an issue for us. Hopefully it won’t be an issue.  Stay tuned to see if we make it at the end of the week.

The Windy city lived up to it’s name on the first day of the event Friday. The Etchells were held on shore waiting for a pending thunderstorm to pass through. The final decision made by the race committee was to cancel sailing for the day due to weather. There were many that decided to go out for a practice sail Friday, as a tune up for the Worlds. Ironically, the storms that were expected, never came through. Our team decided against sailing and went on tour in Chicago. We visited Wrigley Stadium and walked Michigan Avenue admiring all of the glam and glitz the storefront windows had to offer.

Saturday was another day for racing, and the whole fleet was ready to get some racing in. The wind was shifty and the pressure was up and down. In the first race, we went to the left side and found that the city skyline affected our wind direction greatly. We rounded in last place around the windward mark and dug out to finish ahead of 14 boats. There were two other races Saturday and if you look at the results, you can see that the fleet was up and down.

Sunday was the final day of racing, and the racers were greeted with yet another thunderstorm. As we waited in postponement, there were many that decided to get an early start on hauling their boats out of the water. A surprise to many, the RC decided to send us out for a final race as the radar looked clear. We went out and sailed one race in about 18 knots and very disturbed, choppy waves.

There were a handful of boats that had breakdowns & holes punched in the hull and will spend this week making repairs so that their boats are ready for the Worlds starting this Sunday. The RC did a great job setting our courses for the NOOD, especially considering the tricky conditions. It was worth it for us to be there and get a taste of what Chicago sailing is all about! We look forward to heading back again at the end of this week for the Worlds. We will keep you posted on our progress throughout the regatta.