Racing with the St Lucie Sailing Club

For people interested in sailboat racing, we have something for everyone: we race both on the river and the ocean, formally (with a Race Committee boat and a “Trophy”) and informally (a.k.a., Beer Cans). All use the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), and use PHRF handicaps and mixed fleets, so anyone with a sailboat can come out and join us (we’ll help you get your PHRF rating) and for those without a boat, opportunities to crew, develop your sailing skills or just go for a ride are available.

A River race is held almost every weekend on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River – a typical race runs between 1 and 2 hours and we use multiple courses of varying in lengths to keep skippers and crews on their toes. Ocean races occur perhaps 2-3 times per year and most use a 16-mile course that starts just outside the St. Lucie Inlet and runs up and down the coast. Some years we even do a pair of longer Ocean races that sail up and back to Fort Pierce with an “overnight stay” in between.

In a typical month of weekends, the club holds one “Named Regatta” and one “Six Pack” race.

• A “Named Regatta” awards a “Trophy” and commemorates either club member(s) (e.g., the Don Ellis Regatta) or an event (e.g., the Summer Sailstice Regatta) -- two of these Regattas require that there be a “woman at the helm” for the duration of the race. Named Regattas are formal: they have a Race Committee Boat and are scored using Corrected Time based on handicaps. There is usually a party and award ceremony immediately after the race to which all club members, whether or not they were on a racing boat, are encouraged to come and join in the fun.
  
• A “Six Pack” race is one of a series of races – the winner of the series wins, you guessed it, a six-pack “Trophy”. We usually hold two series a year: Winter and Summer. The Six Pack races have no Race Committee boat, use a Pursuit start and are scored based on finish order.

So as you can see, our racing program has something for everyone whether you have a boat or not, whether you’ve ever raced before or not, come out and join us – get involved, you will have fun.

To get further details about the status of any race please contact Jack Molinelli @ 732-673-7303 or jack.molinelli@gmail.com