Regatta

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

A regatta is a boat race or series of boat races. This can include both powered and unpowered craft. The term regatta may describe either a rowing race or sailing race, however it is not usually used to describe a race between powerboats. The term is also used to describe the festivities that occur during the lead up to the races, often a large social event for the town in which the regatta takes place.

A view from the Race Committee boat at the start of Vanderbilt Sailing Club's annual SAISA regatta in 2005.

Typically regattas are amateur competitions. They may be organized as championships for a particular area or type of boat, but are most often held for the joy of competition and camaraderie alone. Regattas may be hosted by a Yacht club, sailing association, town or school as in the case of Inter-Scholastic Sailing Association (high school) regattas or Intercollegiate Sailing Association (college) regattas.

One of the largest and most popular is the Henley Royal Regatta held on the River Thames, England. The oldest running regatta in the world is Cowes Week, which is held annually by the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, England and usually attracts over 900 sailboats. North America's oldest regatta is the Royal St. John's Regatta held on Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John's, Newfoundland every year since 1826. Additional examples of regattas are listed below.

[edit] Rowing Regattas

• Dad Vail Regatta, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Head of the Charles Regatta, on the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts

[edit] Sailing Regattas

• America's Cup
• Bay Week, Put-in-Bay, Ohio
• Balmain Regatta held annually on Sydney Harbour, Australia.
• Block Island Race Week, Rhode Island
• CORK Regatta, Kingston, Ontario, annually in August.
• Cowes Week, Royal Yacht Squadron, England
• Fowey Royal Regatta, Fowey Cornwall annually in August.[1].
• Key West Race Week, Key West, Florida
• Larchmont Race Week, Larchmont Yacht Club, New York
• Long Beach Race Week, Long Beach, California
• National Offshore One Design (NOOD)
• Round Texel, Texel, Netherlands
• Youngstown Levels, Youngstown, New York
• Bass Week, Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria

[edit] College Sailing Regattas

• Charleston Open, College of Charleston
• Kennedy Cup, US Naval Academy
• The Roth Regatta, Roth Pond, State University of New York at Stony Brook
• Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Championships, various locations

[edit] High School Sailing Regattas

• Mallory Cup, United States high school sailing national championships.
• The National School Sailing Assosiation Regatta, UK. Annual Sailing reggatta held in various sailing clubs and competed in by many secondary school students.

[edit] Other Regattas

• The Madison Regatta, Madison, Indiana. (hydroplanes)
• Kingston Multi-Hull Regatta, Kingston, Ontario (multihull sailboats and sailing hydrofoils)
• Henley-on-Todd Regatta - an Australian dry-land event.

[edit] External links

• How to Start Racing a Boat
• The photos and videos of Borneo regatta
• Watski Skagerrak TwoStar, online yacht race in Norway, Denmark and Sweden
• Aegean Regatta Photos