The Race to the Coast is the oldest running point-to-point distance sailing regatta and the second oldest regatta in the Western Hemisphere. The first race was held on July 4, 1850, with a course that started on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Louisiana and finished in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Today the regatta runs from New Orleans to Gulfport, Mississippi and finishes at the Gulfport Yacht Club, where it acts as a feeder regatta for the 100nm Gulport to Pensacola Race and both regattas form the Sawgrass Series. [1] The course has not changed since the inception of the regatta. [2] [3]
The Southern Yacht Club, the second oldest yacht club in the United States, is the organizing body for the Race to the Coast. [4]
The regatta originated with the annual migration of prominent New Orleans residents who sailed with their families to the Mississippi Coast to escape the heat and chronic yellow fever epidemics that would strike the city in the summer months. Maintaining residences along the coast and with sail the primary method of transportation, over time “The Race to the Coast” gained structure until it became an ‘official’ regatta with the formation of Southern YC in 1849.
On July 4, 1850, thirteen boats and crews took their start at Dan Hickock's Lake Hotel at New Orleans’ West End on Lake Pontchartrain and transited the Rigolets Pass through the marsh leading into Lake Borgne before finishing at a pier near the Montgomery Hotel along the Mississippi Sound. [5] The sloop, the Roger Stewart, sailed the 55-mile run in almost exactly nine hours and won on corrected time. [6]
The first all female skipper and crew to compete in the regatta was in 1928 on board the yawl schooner Doris and helmed by Doris Zemurray. [7]
Southern YC's regatta now runs on a set course from New Orleans to Gulfport on the Mississippi Coast and has the added dimensions of navigating several railroad, highway and interstate bridges transecting the marshes. [8]
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, 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.
Pass Christian, nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,307 at the 2019 census.
Lake Pontchartrain is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of 630 square miles (1,600 km2) with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet. Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about 40 miles (64 km) from west to east and 24 miles (39 km) from south to north.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting.
The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) is a biennial sailing race which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. It runs between Marblehead, Massachusetts and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is believed to be the longest running offshore ocean race in the world and is considered one of the pre-eminent ocean races of the North Atlantic.
Long Beach Race Week (LBRW) is an annual sailing regatta for keelboats and ocean racing catamarans conducted annually at the end of June. Organized by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club it is organized on multiple courses in the ocean off Long Beach, California, United States. It is the final leg of the major Southern California regattas which are Ahmanson Cup, Yachting Cup (SDYC) and Cal Race Week. With the end of Golison Race Week after a 20-year run, Long Beach Race Week has taken the role of the preeminent regatta in Southern California at which the racers hope for the big breeze to roll down from Hurricane Gulch.
The Southern Yacht Club is located in New Orleans, Louisiana's West End neighborhood, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Established on July 21, 1849, it is the fifth oldest yacht club in the United States and a founding member of the Gulf Yachting Association.
The New Orleans Yacht Club (NOYC) was founded in June 1949 and is dedicated to further the sport of yacht racing, marine safety and seamanship. The club is located at West End's Municipal Yacht Harbor on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and is a member of the Gulf Yachting Association since 1953.
West End is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Lakeview District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the New Basin Canal and Pontchartrain Boulevard to the east, Veterans Boulevard to the south, and the 17th Street Canal to the west. The area was largely built on land reclaimed from Lake Pontchartrain. It is a commercial seafood and recreational boating hub for the city and has been known for its seafood restaurants. In recent years, the area has seen large condominium-complex developments built which overlook the Lake, marinas, and centrally located 30-acre (120,000 m2) West End Park.
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Buccaneer Yacht Club is a member-run sailing club which has operated out of Mobile Bay, Alabama since 1928. It is a member club of the Gulf Yachting Association and the United States Sailing Association. Its members are active competitors in Finn, Viper 640, 420, Fish class sloop, Flying Scot, Laser, Optimist, Sunfish, PHRF and Portsmouth class events. While the Mobile Yacht Club predates it, BucYC remains arguably the oldest continuously operating sailing club in Alabama.
The Biloxi Yacht Club (BYC) is located in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA, on the shores of the Mississippi Sound. The BYC is a founding member of the Gulf Yachting Association, as well as the Mississippi Coast Yachting Association. Established in 1849, it is the fourth oldest yacht club in the United States.
The Mississippi Coast Yachting Association was organized to promote the sport of yacht racing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and nearby areas.
The Clifford Day Mallory Cup, or Mallory Cup for short, is the competition for the United States Adult Sailing Championship.
The Houston Yacht Club is the oldest yacht club in Texas. In LaPorte, near Houston, it is a member of the Gulf Yachting Association.
The Sugar Bowl Regatta has been held since 1934. The races have taken place on Lake Pontchartrain every year since 1935, except during World War II and immediately after Hurricane Katrina in 2006. Lake Pontchartrain is a 630 square mile lake with a mean depth of 10–16 feet.
The Gulf Yachting Association (GYA) formed in 1901, is a non-profit organization consisting of 39 member and affiliate yacht club's from Houston, TX to Sarasota, FL along the Gulf of Mexico in the United States. Organized specifically to further the sport of yacht racing, marine safety and seamanship, the GYA is the oldest organization of yacht clubs in the United States.
Rathbone Emile DeBuys was an American architect and sailing enthusiast based in New Orleans, Louisiana. On December 1, 1874, he was born to James Gaspard De Buys, a cotton magnate, and Elizabeth Maria Stella Rathbone.
Sailing is a popular sport and recreational activity in Australia with its varied coastline and often warm climate.