EMSA needs another good beach regatta.

Any ideas, I miss the old ones. Carolina Beach - Cat Dash - Sandlapper. What do you think about starting a new one? Where could we have it?


P.S. I miss JW too!

Let's work on Charlie and Denise at Sail and Ski Connection to re-instate the Myrtle Beach one. Unfortunately Ted and Michael have been running it by themselves for the past several years and are burnt out. They may need so race support to do it.

Yeah, we need something at the beach somewhere...and Trey to market it.

Well, you'll all be glad to know that I am already working on a plan for a B.A. beach regatta. I think we may even call it B.A.R.
50 points if you can correctly identify what B.A.R. stands for.

I could dig myrtle, or anywhere else, that would be special. eD

Big butt Regatta
Celebrating all large bottomed N20 sailors

Denise no longer works for Charlie and last time I spoke to Charlie he wasn't interested in holding another regatta. I do think Taylor Damonte( guessing on the name) is back in Myrtle, he may be interested. I do have some contacts with NMB city council and would be happy to reach out to them if EMSA is interested. I don't have a clue what B.A.R. is Trey.

BAR- hum? Is that what Wick and Jake are raising on us N20 sailors? HA!

No one is correct yet...keep going, you know you want those 50 points!

bad butt regatta. I hope I win 50 pts on the first post, that would be a good start

BLR...what in the world is that avatar image from?

It's some picture I found from a race over in Europe. Apparently they get pretty serious about having right-of-way

Hey hey, you get 50 points!

Isnt that the image from the collision at the F18 Worlds in Australia?
anyway, I have approached springmaid Beach about a regatta several times, and they are in. Its right beside Huntington beach State Park(the beach adjoins Springmaid) and also has a big grassy staging area, a nice ramp to the beach and is relatively cheap place to stay. Ive sailed from there all my life, and it is also right beside Charlies Boat rental(Downwind sails) place. Grand Strand sailing Association's old place was also right beside it until thier lease ran out. That spot is still vacant, but this summer I saw the national Lifegaurd championships being run from thier. They tool over the whole lot with camping and beach access, so maybe they will be open to us taking over that spot for a long weekend too.
On another note, in the early 90's we ran the Cat Dash from thier to the Seay Bouy at Murrell's Inlet, about 24 total miles there and back. It was some of the best sailing ever, maybe we can do that again. The problem is a chase boat. If we have anyone that can do that, I can organize this regatta for us from Springmaid, maybe the other spot as well, but definitley Springmaid.
Can anyone Google Earth Springmaid Beach and surrounding area?

This it? I think Myrtle Beach area is good since it is pretty central to us inland guys and the north cackalacky folks.

I would love to see it happen, but it may be tough without some local support there. There is still the issue of getting a committe boat and chase boats and people to run them. You would need to run the boats out of Murrells Inlet which is about 10-12 miles away. That's a long way in rough seas with a small skiff. Charlie may let us use wave runners from Downwind Sails, but we would still need a couple of reliable power boats.

the south end(lower part of the screen shows the access and ramp, the grassy area right above could be boat storage/launching(not sure about power lines though) and the grassy/sandy area north of the pier is the old Grans Strand Sailing association club grounds which is now vacant. Damons ribs and liqour is just north of that, an dsandwiched between Damons and the sandy lot is Downwind sails. Lemans start/finish to sea bouy and back is roughly 24 miles.

What kind of boats would attend this regatta? Any beach-cat? If so, I'd love to try and attend. I have a buddy with a place and boat in Garden City, depending on when the regatta is. He may be willing to drive a chase boat, if he doesn't want to crew, but there would need to be someone with him that knew what was going on.

I guess I picked the right spot from Google Earth - huh?

I've got a 15' Boston Whaler that I'll volunteer up if another chase boat is needed.

Mosley, I'll commit to help with whatever I can. If I need to run a chase boat... so be it. I'd love to race but I really would like to see a good beach race take off. We could alway go on the steeplechase model, distance course, no chase boats, and everyone must carry a cellphone in a waterproof bag.

So is this leaning towards being a distance race? Let me know if you need someone to take care of t-shirts.

A distance race would certainly not require as much on the water support. A Lemans start may not require any. I wonder if the City of Myrtle Beach may want to reinstate the Cat Dash for their Sun Fun Festival. The Chamber of Commerse did a great job of coming up with lots of prizes and cash. I still have some savings bonds donated by area banks that I won. From what I understand the Chamber did most of that leg work with the local merchants.

My only question..and bare with me my knowledge of distance racing is minimal...is would making it a distance race affect the number of boats able/willing to participate? Either way, I'll be there! I'd love to lose my distance race v-card, and from the looks of it, I don't think there could be a better, more knowledgeable group to learn from than this one. I'm gonna go wipe the brown off my nose now.

I think it would depend on the distance of the race. Something too long may deter non-spin boats. The mere fact that it is a beach regatta, may deter a few teams that don't feel comfortable in the ocean. The past Cat Dashs would have 20-30 boats. I remember way back (late 80's- early 90's), there was a one day distance race in Atlantic Beach called Canonball Run. It would have 100+ boats. It was a race from Atlantic Beach to Cape Lookout and back. When we got to Cape Lookout, you would beach the boat inside the hook and run to touch the lighthouse. That would stop your time. They would have a keg and lunch waiting for about an hour break. They then restarted us for the trip back. It was a great race.

Okay, then Sun Fun Week it is, anyone know how to reach Taylor? He could provide the insight and contacts for the Chamber. I think 1st place won $350 the last time we raced it. Pretty cool prize money, plus they fed us well at LaBelle Amie Vineyard in Cherry Grove. Ummm,umm, muscudine wine...

Or maybe we're going about this all wrong. How about a fun sail/gathering where a race breaks out?

Taylor's Cat-Dash format was a good one with a beach start and multiple laps around a not-too-long course up and down the beach. It allowed the non-spin boats to sail fewer laps and still stops and starts at the same place (so logistics are easy). We just need to figure out how to get people to come. Personally, I would really like to have a campground (RV) very near the race site.