To all Melges 24 sailors:
 
This year Pensacola Yacht Club will host a new Melges 24 Regatta timed as a stopping off place as some of you head to South Florida for the Bacardi Winter Series or as a racing destination for others not wanting to make the drive to Miami. 

It’s the First Annual Atlantic and Gulf Coast Championship for the “Bushwhacker Cup” with racing scheduled for November 16-17, clinics and check-in are Nov. 15.
 
Pensacola Yacht Club will offer a fun regatta executed to championship standards in a fantastic venue. To that end, begin now to plan to enter the 2019 for the inaugural Melges 24 regatta on Pensacola Bay. We have dates reserved and Pensacola Yacht Club is ready to shine. Join us for a great new regatta with pre-race clinics and check-in on November 15 and racing on November 16-17.  Register Here.
 
We will plan a great party and schedule fantastic wind for fun on Pensacola Bay. We have just hosted the Flying Scot North American Championships at Pensacola YC. The Championship Series winner, Zeke Horowitz, said this about our race management team— “I can’t think of a single flaw from the Race Committee standpoint.” 
 
That said, we promise to give you the best possible racing… fair and fun.
 
Come catch the Magic of Racing your Melges 24 in Pensacola.
 
Hal Smith
PYC Fleet Captain
864-275-6290
hal_smith@mindspring.com
 
The preliminary schedule for the regatta calls for Melges 24 sailing, tuning and tactical clinics to be offered on Friday November 15, along with regatta check-in. The competitors briefing will be Friday, November 15 before the first party and racing on the weekend. 

Pensacola Yacht Club has a 22 acre, powerline free campus. Owners can arrange to store their Melges 24’s before and after the regatta in order to accommodate travel plans for their teams. See Pensacola Yacht Club.

Sailing on Pensacola Bay
Pensacola bay and Santa Rosa Sound are naturally protected by Santa Rosa Island to the South. The pass to the Gulf of Mexico is located to the southwest, across from the Naval Air Station Pensacola and divides the Gulf Islands National Seashore on Santa Rosa Island from the western park on Perdido Key.
 
The racing area is a matter of minutes from the Bayou Chico channel and the Pensacola YC marina. That’s close racing… more racing and less transit time.

Fleet captain and PRO Hal Smith noted, “In summer months, sailors find a daily sea breeze that builds from a mid-day southeasterly to the afternoon 12-15 knot southwesterly they love. In other seasons, the winds are determined by frontal passages, temperature variables, sunshine and other factors. Tides are minimal, about one foot to one and a half feet.”
 
“Pensacola Bay,” he added, “is naturally deep with a white sand bottom. The water is clean, seasonally warm and just choppy in a breeze, but not often rough. The east-west shoreline in downtown Pensacola to the north is perfect for regatta spectating.
 
All sailors— race or cruise— are invited to come sail on Pensacola Bay. Organizers of both amateur regional, national or international sailing championships and professional sailing events should contact Pensacola Yacht Club to discuss racing on beautiful Pensacola Bay. http://www.pensacolayachtclub.org
 
Pensacola Yacht Club, the South's Finest—
Pensacola Yacht Club is a championship sailing venue on approximately 22 acres at the mouth of Bayou Chico just west of downtown Pensacola, Florida. Part of that area is approximately 250 feet of sparkling white beachfront property on Pensacola Bay adjacent to the marina in Bayou Chico. 
 
PYC has been the site of numerous one design and handicap championships over the years. These include the 2000 USODA Nationals, and the inaugural Gulf Coast Championships in 2010 and the highly successful 2013 USODA Southeast Optimist Championships and the 2015 USODA Optimist National Championships which drew 320 sailors from 12 foreign countries and the USA to the competition. The 2018 Optimist Nationals, just completed, drew 301 sailors and featured an opening ceremony keynote presentation by the team from the AC36 NYYC American Magic Challenge. 
 
PYC hosts the Junior Olympic Sailing Festival every year near the Fourth of July. PYC hosted the US Sailing Single Handed Championships in 2010. The club hosted several Flying Tiger East Coast Championships, and the Flying Tiger Nationals were held at PYC in 2011. The club hosted the Ultimate 20 Nationals in 2012, and the Thistle Nationals in 2011. In 2009, PYC hosted both the Corsair Nationals and the Snipe Nationals. Also in 2009, PYC hosted the Junior Lipton Championship, the Gulf Yachting Association’s Junior Championship.
 
In 2019 PYC hosted the Thistle Class Southeast Championship in April, the 2019 Junior Olympic Sailing Festival presented by BBVA Compass in June, the Flying Scot North American Championship in July and will host the Melges24 Atlantic and Gulf Coast Championship in November. PYC stages local regattas throughout the year and offers a youth Summer Sailing Camp in the summer. 
See Pensacola Yacht Club
 
For More Information 
Contact:
Tom Pace, Jr. — Chairman
Mobile: 850-572-6727
Email: tomracechair@gmail.com
 
Hal Smith—PRO and PYC Fleet Captain
Mobile: 864-275-6290
Email: hal_smith@mindspring.com
 
Talbot Wilson— Regatta Marketing & Communications 
Mobile: 850-217-7138
Email: talbot@talbotwilson.com