The Race to the Coast is the oldest running point-to-point distance sailing
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
and the second oldest regatta in the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...
. The first race was held on July 4, 1850, with a course that started on
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...
in
and finished in
Pass Christian, Mississippi
Pass Christian (), nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,307 at the 2019 census.
History
Pre-European history
...
. Today the regatta runs from New Orleans to
Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan ...
and finishes at the
Gulfport Yacht Club, where it acts as a feeder regatta for the 100nm Gulport to Pensacola Race and both regattas form the Sawgrass Series. The course has not changed since the inception of the regatta.
The
Southern Yacht Club
The Southern Yacht Club is located in New Orleans, Louisiana's West End neighborhood, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Established on July 21, 1849, it is the fifthe oldest yacht club in the United States and a founding member of the Gulf Y ...
, the second oldest yacht club in the United States, is the organizing body for the Race to the Coast.
History
The regatta originated with the annual migration of prominent New Orleans residents who sailed with their families to the Mississippi Coast to escape the heat and chronic yellow fever epidemics that would strike the city in the summer months. Maintaining residences along the coast and with sail the primary method of transportation, over time “The Race to the Coast” gained structure until it became an ‘official’ regatta with the formation of Southern YC in 1849.
On July 4, 1850, thirteen boats and crews took their start at Dan Hickock's Lake Hotel at New Orleans’
West End on Lake Pontchartrain and transited the
Rigolets
Rigolets is a 12.9 kilometer (8 mi) long deepwater strait in Louisiana. "Rigolets" comes from the word ''rigole'', French language, French for 'trench' or 'gutter'. The name is now locally pronounced "RIG-uh-leez".
The strait begins at and ...
Pass through the marsh leading into
Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne (french: Lac Borgne, es, Lago Borgne) is a lagoon of the Gulf of Mexico in southeastern Louisiana. Although early maps show it as a lake surrounded by land, coastal erosion has made it an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes fro ...
before finishing at a pier near the Montgomery Hotel along the
Mississippi Sound
The Mississippi Sound is a sound along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It runs east-west along the southern coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, from Waveland, Mississippi, to the Dauphin Island Bridge, a distance of about . The sound is sepa ...
. The sloop, the ''Roger Stewart'', sailed the 55-mile run in almost exactly nine hours and won on corrected time.
The first all female skipper and crew to compete in the regatta was in 1928 on board the yawl schooner ''Doris'' and helmed by Doris Zemurray.
Southern YC's regatta now runs on a set course from New Orleans to Gulfport on the Mississippi Coast and has the added dimensions of navigating several railroad, highway and interstate bridges transecting the marshes.
References
Further reading
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External links
Southern Yacht Club
Southern Yacht Club
Annual sporting events in the United States
Sailing competitions in the United States
Sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...
Yachting races
Gulfport, Mississippi
1850 establishments in the United States
Sailing in Louisiana
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