Charleston Race Week 2014

Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week has grown insurmountably since its inception in 1996 when Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA) combined two area regattas – the Charleston Palmetto Cup and the South Atlantic Yacht Racing Associations PHRF Championships – into one super regatta, which is coming into its 19th year with Charleston Race Week 2014.

The event originally took place mid-summer and was initially known simply as Charleston Race Week. Teams from around the Charleston area largely participated, with a Wilmington, NC or a Savannah, GA entrant here and there. However, the entrants have changed drastically over the last decade to include not only local entrants but entrants from all over the world. The internationally renowned success of the competition is due to a lot of foresight on CORA’s part.

Around the year 2000, event organizers began developing a new strategy to grow the regatta. After the Caribbean regatta season, boats migrated north and, to attract them, event planners moved the event to the spring. Further, in 2005, the South Carolina Maritime Foundation came on board to help CORA’s leaders organize the event. Working together, they established Charleston Race Week as a premier regatta on the East Coast, and their success was partly due to policies that allowed all prospective participants to afford the regatta.

With these changes, Charleston Race Week sprang to life in 2006, drawing entries from California, Michigan, Canada, and as far away as England. Only 30 percent of the competitors were local. The number of participants increased every year, and Charleston Race Week is now growing by 15 percent on average and has become the largest keelboat regatta in the Western Hemisphere.

The first year saw 29 entrants. Last year, in 2013, 2,500 participants from 27 states and seven countries, with 278 boats competed. And Charleston Race Week 2014 is expected to drum up even more entrees, maintaining its rank as the largest regatta of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. With its main events taking place on April 10-13th, 2014, a new event being held this year is the Charleston Fort 2 Battery race on April 6th.

At Charleston Race Week 2014, you can also win fabulous prizes! Stop by the Torqeedo tent at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina Beach and sign up to have a chance to win a Torqeedo engine.

Purchase your Charleston Race Week 2014 event passes before April 1st and save $15, after which they cost $60 each.

Photo Credit: .mary via Compfight cc