Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series sails into St. Petersburg this weekend

Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series © Paul Todd / www.outsideimages.com

Skippers and crews on nearly 275 race boats will compete in the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in the waters off downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, from February 17 to 19 as the first event of the celebrated national sailing series steps off on Tampa Bay.

With the guarantee of warmer winds and water, thousands of competitive sailors from across the United States and abroad are drawn to the Sunshine State every winter. The racing calendar today is packed with high-caliber sailing regattas from Miami northward, but the marquee event of the season is the Helly Hansen Sailing Regatta Series St. Petersburg, now in its 33rd year running.

The three-day sailing competition will feature nearly 275 teams and 14 different classes of boats, and will be hosted by the venerable St. Petersburg YC, which will conduct races on four different courses set on Tampa Bay.

As America's premiere and longest-running regatta series, the event will showcase the breadth of competitive sailing today, from the smaller high-performance multihulls that will launch from and return to St. Petersburg's North Shore Park each day to the larger keelboats berthed at the yacht club marina. While the multihulls will be racing further out on the bay, closer to the St. Pete Pier will be several of the regatta's mid-sized and small-boat classes that showcase the sport's past and present. Newer sailboat designs will be sharing the same racecourses with several historic designs campaigned by veterans and professionals alike. The proximity of these racecourses to the shoreline will provide spectating opportunities from the end of the New Pier, but the action will be best observed from the water.

Further south, the racecourses will showcase the regatta's keelboats, which make up the bulk of the fleet. These courses will be packed with several premier classes of boats, including the 50-boat J/70 class, which is the most popular pro-am and coed keelboat today. St. Petersburg Yacht Club will host the J/70 World Championship in November, drawing the attention of many international teams who will be using the Regatta Series to train in the venue to better understand its conditions and acclimate to the venue.

The southernmost racecourse will feature the regatta's largest keelboats, which vary in lengths and types and race under an elapsed time handicapping system. The majority of these boats are raced by local teams hailing from area yacht and sailing clubs including Davis Island Yacht Club, Tampa Sailing Squadron, SPSA and Gulf Harbor Yacht Club. With the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta serving as the major event of their annual calendar, teams will vie for important points for their season championship titles.

A new feature to the regatta for 2023 is the addition of two days of distance-racing courses that will send as many as 40 teams on a challenging daily course to predetermined navigational markers located around Tampa Bay. Depending on the wind strength and conditions, these competitors will sail dozens of miles before finishing in the vicinity of the St. Pete Pier in the late afternoon.

St. Petersburg YC and its Sailing Center will serve as regatta headquarters where competitors will gather each morning for weather briefings and evenings for post-race socials, a highlight of which will be the Friday evening appearance of Terry Hutchinson, skipper of the New York Yacht Club's American Magic team, which will challenge for the legendary America's Cup in Barcelona in 2024.

Racing scheduled for 10am-3pm on Friday, February 17 - Sunday, February 19th. Start and finish times are dependent on weather. Race headquarters located at St. Petersburg Yacht Club. For on-site media inquiries, interviews and accredited media boat access, contact Dave Reed (401-835-4435) or Sarah Renz (312-543-1458).

Find all the race information here