ST. AUGUSTINE RACE WEEK
St Augustine Race Week is annual March event and everyone at St Augustine Sailing is ready to race! St Augustine Sailing and All Points Yacht Sales are incredibly proud to be a sponsor for this year’s race week. “It’s a wonderful community event – it spans generations,” reveals Rose Ann Points. “there’s a race for every boat, age and ability. And even if you’re not a sailor (we can help with that, more later), you can catch the excitement from the bayfront. We’re just so excited to be a part of it.”
EVENTS FOR EVERYONE
Youth Sailing Regatta
St. Augustine Race Week kicks off on Saturday, March 22 with the two-day Youth Sailing Regatta, featuring One-Design 420 sailing dinghies. Kids sail from 12pm to 4pm on Saturday, March 22 and 10:30am to 2pm on Sunday, March 23. Youth Sailors will sail in the Matanzas Bay between the Fort and the Bridge of Lions. Spectators can view the race from the downtown bayfront, between the Bridge of Lions and the Castillo de San Marcos.
Inshore Series Race
The Inshore Series Race for smaller yachts takes place March 25 and March 26. Boats are classed as either Performance or Cruiser Spinnaker. Class 1 receives the first warning at 9:55am and the second class at 10:10am. Yachts will race in the Tolomato Rive, just north of the Vilano Bridge and right by our home port.
Offshore Series Race
Race week heads offshore beginning March 27 and features performanc and cruiser sailboats – these are for the serious racers! Classes include Performance or Cruiser Spinnaker and Performance or Cruiser Non-Spinnaker. Offshore races take place on the Atlantic Ocean and last for three days. Races begin at 9:55am. Spectators are invited to watch the offshore races at The Reef Restaurant from 12pm to 2pm all three days.
PARTY LIKE A SAILOR
There’s more to do than sailing! You can join the party at the St Augustine Race Week post-race sailing party. Thursday, Friday and Saturday the Big Party Tent at the St Augustine Municipal Marina is the place to be. Food and beverages are available beginning at 5pm and live music starts at 5:30pm until 8:30pm. The after-parties are free, but food and beverage are available for purchase.
BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION
If you’ve sailed with St Augustine Sailing before, you know that we’re all boat building community. That’s why we love that St Augustine Race Week raises funds to send underprivileged children to local sailing camps as part of the JDM Youth Sailing Scholarship Fund, named in honor of the late John Meehan, a strong supporter of St Augustine Race Week. In 2022, the scholarship fund made it possible to send nearly 40 kids to summer sailing camp free of charge.
WOW! WOMEN ON THE WATER
Ladies, want to get in on the game? Check out our WOW! program. Women on Water! or WOW! is a hands-on instructional program designed by women for women to make sailing an attainable goal. The WOW! program is designed to be flexible and fit every woman’s sailing journey. Participants meet every weekend throughout the year, each month focusing on a different topic. The topics are modified to fit every level of experience, so everyone from novices to experienced sailors are welcome to join. You can expect to see women of all ages and abilities in our workshops.
MARCH’S TOPICS
With all this racing going on, it only made sense for March’s WOW to focus on Racing/Cruising Workshops. “Racing is an art form,” says Points. “It’s fun, exciting, and oh my goodness is it thrilling!” It is composed of multiple boats racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point to point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
RULES OF THE ROAD
The first week’s meeting will focus on getting participants familiar with the boat. Racing involves quick actions, so knowing the ins and outs of the boat is critical. The other important thing to know? The rules – you can’t play if you don’t know the rules. That’s why we take the remaining three meetings in March to go over racing rules, going from basic to intermediate to advanced. You’ll be ready to sign up for next year’s Race Week!
LET’S GET SAILING
If you or any of the women in your life are ready to embrace the world of salt, sea and sailing, visit our WOW! page for information on classes, future topics and more. To learn more about our instructors, visit our crew pages for Rose Ann Points and Kim Walther.
For more information about St. Augustine Race Week, visit the Race Week website and mark your calendars for all of the fun events. We can’t wait to see you out on the water!
