Carlisle Classic Regatta 2011

The Carlisle regatta was a huge success, with an impressive fleet of over 80  boats, perfect sailing weather, fantastic courses for all the fleets, slick on-shore co-ordination and superb catering for all.

For this kind of event to happen, we rely on our volunteers – and they really made the difference with regards turning this event into the festive well-run regatta that it was. Eddie Lyons and his team of shore-side volunteers made sure that right from a cheery greeting at our gate, to being shown where to park, through registration, safety check, lunch packs, award ceremonies, dinner, The Saltine Challenge, amongst others, were all well-handled, ran smoothly and made for a fun and festive time for all. Thank you Eddie and your awesome team. Kelly from the Center’s front-office also did an incredible job, it was her first big regatta and she handled it like a seasoned professional!

Rich White was the Regatta Chairman and he too had an impressive team of volunteers who ensured that the racing was smooth, professional and enormously successful. His enthusiasm and optimism were not one bit dampened by the challenge of creating so many different courses for so many different classes. The success of the regatta is a huge credit to Rich and his volunteers. Westmarine provided us with the buoys and flags we needed for our courses – thank you Westmarine  - and we look forward to being able to grow our regattas thanks to us now having the necessary equipment.

The fact that we were even able to raise funds from this regatta for our Youth Sailing is unbelievable, given the incredibly low entry fee. But this was made possible by the enthusiasm of our Youth Sailors who sold raffle tickets (who could refuse their heartfelt sales pitch??) and the generosity of Frank Chivas’ catering wizards – Salt Rock Grill provided the awesome fresh MahiMahi sandwiches which were enjoyed by the parents, shore-side volunteers and the windsurfing class who had them delivered hot to One Tree Island!  Island Way Grill catered the delicious dinner buffet – what an impressive spread!!! All this food was included in the entry fee for competitors, and their family and friends were able to join in for a nominal charge, making for a gourmet weekend for all.

Publix on Islandway made up our sandwiches on both Saturday and Sunday – kudos to their staff who were up at 3am each day to make sure our sailors had the freshest possible lunch packs!! They also gave us a great discount – once again enabling us to keep our costs to a minimum for the benefit of Youth Sailing. The welcome hot coffee you drank each morning and the table linen was made possible by the generosity of the Sand Key  Sheraton Hotel across the road – they graciously stepped in after a last-minute cry for help despite the fact that they were bursting at the seams with their Dixieland Jazz Festival.

Clearwater Community Sailing Center is a non-profit organization striving to provide affordable sailing to our community. To this end we rely on volunteers and donations – and this weekend was a perfect example of how we were able to work together to provide exactly that! We ask that you pitch in and help whenever possible so that our volunteer pool is wide and the load is spread evenly. We also ask that you support our sponsors – it is their generosity that enhances our events and actually makes them possible.

For results check out our Recent Racing Results page!

A big thank you to our new member Lynn Buchholz who took over 1,000 amazing pictures of the Carlisle Classic for us!