About

Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week is an annual premiere regatta for One-Design racing sailboats 20 – 80 feet in length, and PHRF and IRC racing sailboats 22 – 80+ feet in length. The 17th edition of this rapidly growing event will be held April 19 – 21, 2013. Race headquarters will be located at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. This resort location offers one central site for dockage, car parking, hotel accommodations, and the Race Village where evening festivities will occur beachside. Fleet action will include both harbor and offshore courses Friday through Sunday. Participants must arrive on Thursday, April 18th to sign-in and receive skipper packets before the festivities begin.

If a class is interested in utilizing the event for a championship or points regatta, STCRW may allow a select class to have a 4th day of racing starting on the 18th. There is also potential for a multi-hull class to develop.

Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week offers sailors an affordable, dynamic and fun race week experience. The three days of racing will prove to be tricky and competitive as local wind and current considerations can upset a traditional strategic approach. Whether racing an inshore harbor course or the offshore courses, the conditions and fronts that roll through the Lowcountry in April will challenge the best skippers and tacticians.

The dates of Charleston Race Week have been set to complement other premier regattas in the southeast.

 

History

Race Week was founded in 1996 by the Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA). The event acted as both a seasonal championship and a means to showcase the fine local conditions in Charleston. In 1997, the world-renowned sailboat builder Beneteau, together with St. Barts Yachts, signed on as primary sponsors. By 2007 Race Week grew to 151 boats with over 1,000 sailors and is now the largest regional keelboat regatta with boats hailing from as far away as Canada, Michigan and Florida.

In 2005 CORA announced a joint partnership with the South Carolina Maritime Foundation (SCMHF), a nonprofit organization, to organize and manage the event. This help create the event we have today.  In 2012 the event became completely run by the Charleston Ocean Racing Association for the benefit of local and regional sailing organizations. The event has become the largest keelboat regatta in the country with 260 competing boats on six courses and seventeen classes.  With new classes joining the event in 2013 we will again be seeing growth through out all courses.

For further information contact the event director Randy Draftz at rdraftz@charlestonyachting.com