The 25th Harvest Moon Regatta Texas Coast Yachting Event which has yachts sail from Galveston to Port Aransas is this weekend, October 13-16 2011

The Island Moorings Marina is having a live band Friday evening poolside from 7-10 PM with a lasagna buffet and a breakfast buffet from 8-11 AM on Saturday morning.

Harvest Moon Regatta® is a Category 3 (ISAF Offshore Regulations Governing Offshore Racing for Monohulls & Multihulls) open regatta for all racing, cruising, spinnaker and non-spinnaker sailing yachts. Yachts must be at least 27 feet length on deck ("LOD").

Monohulls must have a minimum crew of four capable sailors. Multihulls must have a minimum crew of three experienced and capable sailors.

The race starts in front of the Flagship Hotel Pier, Galveston, at 2 p.m. on Thursday in order to allow participating yachts to leave the Seabrook and LaPorte areas the same day.

The course is a direct sail to Port Aransas of approximately 150 miles and should take cruising vessels 20 to 25 hours in a fair breeze.

Yachts may return on the following Monday and join the informal race home, or remain docked in Port Aransas at one of two marinas for a later return.



HARVEST MOON REGATTA® HISTORY

One Lakewood Yacht Club Friday-bar-night following a long Board of Directors’ meeting, the often discussed subject of “we need to use our boats more” led to a new twist in the discussion: “We need to sail offshore more.” Sail maker John Cameron piped up saying, “The best sails I’ve had were late in the fall in the Gulf after the summer doldrums are over and the winter Northers haven’t started.” Ed Bailey, a competitive racer, said he agreed and missed the old TORC offshore sailing events. John Broderick, a dedicated cruiser and club officer, also agreed from his offshore sails and said, “Why don’t we organize something?” With a few more Bacardi drinks and some wild ideas to think about, the bar talk was over for the night. Bacardi-flavored bar talk about Gulf of Mexico sailing didn’t die that night as many bar ideas do. Instead, it quickly germinated into plans for “an all sailors from the Bay area event” to accommodate as many sailors as possible for late fall offshore sailing.

The idea was to maximize boat use for the fun of it and the Harvest Moon Regatta® was born. Year one (1987) the regatta was designed to run for about a week, sailing from the Galveston jetties to Port Isabel for race #1, then back up the coast to Port Aransas (Port A) as race #2. Then there was Port A to inside the Galveston jetties for race #3 and on to the Seabrook marker two for race #4. Seventeen yachts sailed that first year. In 1988 the regatta changed forever when Hurricane Gilbert blew away the facilities in Port Isabel and the start of Harvest Moon Regatta®, year two, was delayed for three weeks.

This began the tradition of sailing to Port Aransas under a magnificent full moon each October. The Harvest Moon Regatta® steadily grew from the 17 yachts of 1987 to over 260 yachts in recent years due in large part to the perfect destination, Port Aransas. This ideal Texas port allows yacht owners and sailors to use minimal days from work to join in on what can be a most memorable overnight sail down the Texas coast during traditionally the best offshore sailing time of the year.

Visit www.harvestmoonregatta.com for more information.