Make Races

The #2 Goal of Sail Pensacola is to Make Races.

For as long as sailors navigated the cut into Pensacola Bay, there have been contests of boat speed.  In modern times, sailors congregate to test their boats and helmsmenship in the format of a regatta.  In our sailing ecosystem, three yacht clubs serve sailors by organizing these regattas.  They are: Pensacola Yacht Club, Pensacola Beach Yacht Club and Navy Yacht Club Pensacola.  Many of the regattas organized by these clubs are annually recurring, such as the Alter Cup.  Others are organized at the behest of a non-local group of sailors who see our Bay as the ideal venue for a race.  These groups of sailors, usually sailing an identical design or “class” of boat, will travel from throughout the U.S. and Canada, just to conduct their competition on the Pensacola Bay.

What is needed for a regatta?

The basic ingredients of a regatta are: a race course marked with anchored inflated buoys; a principal race officer or PRO (official); a race committee crew to assist the PRO with signaling, timing and recording; an area to launch and store boats overnight; and, small runabout boats and operators to serve safety and utility functions. The PRO organizes and directs these assets to stage a timed race around a marked course, typically 3-5 times a day over a 2-3 day period. The rules governing these races have been established by years of concensus at the American Sailing Association.

Each local yacht club devises a schedule for the regattas they host which attract sailors from the other clubs and from out of town.

Why is Sail Pensacola Involved with Making Races?

The arrival of American Magic in the Port of Pensacola in 2018, and their subsequent decision to relocate here in 2023, have magnified the uniquely valuable year-round sailing conditions of the Pensacola Bay.  Not surprisingly, more out-of-town sailors now want to conduct their regattas here.  The new and expanding demand for regatta management exceeds the capacity of the local yacht clubs for hosting and conducting these events.  Widening appreciation of the optimal Pensacola Bay sailing conditions is a strategic objective of Sail Pensacola for advancing our long-term vision.  Hence, Sail Pensacola is invested in expanding race management capacity through a range of initiatives.

How do we do it?

As described above, the physical and human assets needed for managing a sailboat race are well established.  We just need more of all of them!  Here’s how Sail Pensacola will help:

Boats:  Sail Pensacola will develop funding plans to support the purchase and operation of a fleet of watercraft to serve the committee, mark-setting, and safety functions.

Marks: Advances in technology have produced robotic buoys that are controlled by radio and positioned by self-propelled electric motors at a designated GPS location (MarkSetBot).  This relieves the race team of repositioning the buoys when wind shifts occur, reducing the number of boats and operators needed.  Sail Pensacola will develop funding plans to support the rental and purchase of robotic buoys for use throughout the Pensacola Bay sailing ecosystem.

Software Race Management:  Since you can keep track of your phone and keys by GPS tracking, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that modern software, combined with specialized tranducers on each boat, allows the race team to continuously monitor the position of all boats on the course.  These software systems, such as one from Vakaros, can detect infractions and course violations, further reducing the number of human spotters needed.  Sail Pensacola will develop funding support and implementation of these software solutions in our Pensacola Bay events.

Staging Areas:  Getting boats launched and back ashore for the overnights between day racing is a critical requirement.  Traditionally, only a small amout of the shoreline available throughout the Pensacola Bay has been used for regatta staging, resulting in scheduling and congestion constraints.  Sail Pensacola will activate new areas of shoreline for regatta staging, increasing the options for organizers and spreading the visitors more evenly throughout our ecosystem.

Volunteers:  Most yacht clubs depend on a core group of dedicated and trained volunteers to support their regatta schedules.  An expansion of the race schedule can over-stress that team.  Through social media, community events, and public education initiatives, Sail Pensacola will help activate more volunteers to join the race management teams throughout the Bay.

Making Races!

The Pensacola Bay is an amazing sailing location.  The steady winds, year-round sailing climate, low waves, and abundant beaches make it truly spectacular for sailboat racing.  Over the next 20 years, Pensacola WILL become the epicenter of sailing, sailboat racing, high-performance foiling, and job creation from sailing and maritime industries.  Its in our DNA.  Hosting sailboat races that give the world a ‘taste’ of our secret sauce is just one avenue for getting us there.

If you’d like to learn more about being a volunteer or otherwise assisting in our vision, please sign up to be on our electronic mailing list.

Our Mission:

MAKE SAILORS

MAKE RACES

MAKE JOBS

#AddSailorsMakeRacesBringJobs

#FoilMore

#SailingIsOurBusiness

#SailPensacola

OUR GOAL: Deliver a fully equipped, staffed, state-of-the-art community sailing center to Pensacolan’s by Spring of 2025!

#SailingIsOurBusiness!

#SailPensacola