By Teri Ficken
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| Photo by Fiona Brown |
In 1992, Buddy Melges won the America’s Cup with America3 in San Diego, California. Success for Melges was at an all time high. The America’s Cup Challenge donned a high-tech look and a high performance attitude. In a boat designed by Reichel Pugh, Buddy Melges captured the America’s Cup title alongside Bill Koch. Their campaign symbolized the last successful defense of the Cup by an American team. That same December, the Melges 24, also designed by Reichel Pugh, was tested in the snow on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
In 1993, the Melges 24 was officially introduced to the sailboat market. With its development and introduction, it set the standard in the high performance, sportboat category. In just four years, the Melges 24 championed the keelboat market by holding its very first World Championship in Torquay, England and five years later in La Rochelle, France expanded to the largest World Championship with an overwhelming attendance of 127.
And now this spectacular event is coming to Corpus Christi as the Corpus Christi Yacht Club hosts the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds. While we would love to say we are expecting 100 boats, realistically, in this economy, we are planning on around 50 boats, which still means as many as 250 sailors from all over the world will converge on Corpus Christi Bay to take part in this event. (This does not include Regatta Officials, Support Personnel, and National & International press.) While the Yacht Club has resources to dedicate, one entity cannot do it all. So, we’ve reached out to the Community for help and the response has been terrific.
An Economic Impact Study was done by Texas A&M Corpus Christi which showed that the 2002 Opti Worlds and the 2002 J/22 Worlds brought over 4.2 million dollars into Corpus Christi. It is estimated that the 2006 J/80 Worlds brought in about the same amount for just the one event. We feel that the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds will bring in far more, and we want the focus to be downtown.
We are not new to running Championship events. In 2002, we hosted the Opti Worlds and the J/22 Worlds, and in 2006 we hosted the J/80 Worlds for which we won the prestigious St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy awarded by US Sailing for excellence in Race Management. The majority of folks that ran that event are back to run this one as well.
The OMNI Marina is the “official” hotel of the Regatta, so we are working to partner with downtown businesses to provide incentives to keep these folks from wandering south. We’ve been telling the participants that anything they need or want can be had with in walking distance downtown.
We are really happy to be working with the Downtown Management District and its members to help make this an exciting and successful event. Some members such as the Yachting Center at Harrison’s Landing and Water Street Seafood Restaurants are already on board, as well as some other non-member Downtown businesses. The racers will know who’s involved in providing discounts or freebies of some sort by a flyer to be displayed at the entrance to the business. These folks are coming from all over the US, as well as Europe and some from as far away as Australia. You can see a list of entrants by going to the regatta web site, www.melgesworlds.com . When they get here, they’ll be ready to race hard and party harder.
There is a Facebook page created by the US Melges 24 Class Association called “the Road to Corpus”. It’s promoting 4 events, Key West Race Week which was in January, Miami Mid-Winter’s which was in February, the Bacardi Cup in Miami in March and Charleston Race Week in April all leading up to the Worlds here in May. So, you can see there is a lot of effort being made to bring as many boats as possible to this event. Boats may start arriving as early as April after the conclusion of Charleston Race Week. Storage on the L-Head is available as is offsite storage being offered by Vince Denais, Rugged Cycles.
The majority of boats and participants will begin to arrive the weekend of May 8th. Corpus Christi Marina, a partner in this venture, is closing the Boat Ramp on the L-head from May 9 – 15 so we can have a staging and launching area. The Nueces County Boat Ramp off the Nueces Bay Causeway will be open for public use as always. The Regatta officially begins on Wednesday, May 11th, when we start registering and weighing boats. The weekend of May 14th is a Pre-Worlds Regatta, which is more of a practice venue for all concerned, racers and race committee alike. Then the fun really begins on Monday, May 16th when the Worlds racing begins. The first signal is at 11am daily and there are two races per day. Racing concludes on Saturday, May 21st with an Awards Ceremony being held at the OMNI Marina. So as you can see, there will be plenty of opportunities for the participants to make use of the bars, restaurants, and shops downtown, as well as for downtown folk to view some awesome racing.
While you can’t really see the start from Shoreline, you will be able to see the spinnakers on the down wind leg of the course, and what a sight that is to behold. If you’re really lucky and have access to one of the office buildings downtown or on the bluff, you’ll certainly get an eyeful. Let’s all pray for sunshine and wind for this event.
Should you want to go out on the water to view the start of a race, contact Monte at the Yachting Center at Harrison’s Landing. They will be providing a spectator boat for on the water viewing at a reduced rate, but you’ll probably need to reserve a spot so be sure to call first.
While sailing events may not be as visual as say power boat races, kiteboarding or windsurfing, the benefits can be greater. Regattas usually last anywhere from 5 – 10 days while these other 3 – 4 days and all the participants need to eat, sleep and be entertained for the entire period. All events that bring revenue into our City are important. A lot of time is spent marketing our beaches, fishing, etc., now is our opportunity to show the world once again what a world class sailing venue this is and how hospitable and welcoming our business community can be. Working together with all of our sponsors, we can make the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds an event to be remembered and talked about for a long time.
In 1993, the Melges 24 was officially introduced to the sailboat market. With its development and introduction, it set the standard in the high performance, sportboat category. In just four years, the Melges 24 championed the keelboat market by holding its very first World Championship in Torquay, England and five years later in La Rochelle, France expanded to the largest World Championship with an overwhelming attendance of 127.
And now this spectacular event is coming to Corpus Christi as the Corpus Christi Yacht Club hosts the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds. While we would love to say we are expecting 100 boats, realistically, in this economy, we are planning on around 50 boats, which still means as many as 250 sailors from all over the world will converge on Corpus Christi Bay to take part in this event. (This does not include Regatta Officials, Support Personnel, and National & International press.) While the Yacht Club has resources to dedicate, one entity cannot do it all. So, we’ve reached out to the Community for help and the response has been terrific.
An Economic Impact Study was done by Texas A&M Corpus Christi which showed that the 2002 Opti Worlds and the 2002 J/22 Worlds brought over 4.2 million dollars into Corpus Christi. It is estimated that the 2006 J/80 Worlds brought in about the same amount for just the one event. We feel that the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds will bring in far more, and we want the focus to be downtown.
The OMNI Marina is the “official” hotel of the Regatta, so we are working to partner with downtown businesses to provide incentives to keep these folks from wandering south. We’ve been telling the participants that anything they need or want can be had with in walking distance downtown.
We are really happy to be working with the Downtown Management District and its members to help make this an exciting and successful event. Some members such as the Yachting Center at Harrison’s Landing and Water Street Seafood Restaurants are already on board, as well as some other non-member Downtown businesses. The racers will know who’s involved in providing discounts or freebies of some sort by a flyer to be displayed at the entrance to the business. These folks are coming from all over the US, as well as Europe and some from as far away as Australia. You can see a list of entrants by going to the regatta web site, www.melgesworlds.com . When they get here, they’ll be ready to race hard and party harder.
There is a Facebook page created by the US Melges 24 Class Association called “the Road to Corpus”. It’s promoting 4 events, Key West Race Week which was in January, Miami Mid-Winter’s which was in February, the Bacardi Cup in Miami in March and Charleston Race Week in April all leading up to the Worlds here in May. So, you can see there is a lot of effort being made to bring as many boats as possible to this event. Boats may start arriving as early as April after the conclusion of Charleston Race Week. Storage on the L-Head is available as is offsite storage being offered by Vince Denais, Rugged Cycles.
The majority of boats and participants will begin to arrive the weekend of May 8th. Corpus Christi Marina, a partner in this venture, is closing the Boat Ramp on the L-head from May 9 – 15 so we can have a staging and launching area. The Nueces County Boat Ramp off the Nueces Bay Causeway will be open for public use as always. The Regatta officially begins on Wednesday, May 11th, when we start registering and weighing boats. The weekend of May 14th is a Pre-Worlds Regatta, which is more of a practice venue for all concerned, racers and race committee alike. Then the fun really begins on Monday, May 16th when the Worlds racing begins. The first signal is at 11am daily and there are two races per day. Racing concludes on Saturday, May 21st with an Awards Ceremony being held at the OMNI Marina. So as you can see, there will be plenty of opportunities for the participants to make use of the bars, restaurants, and shops downtown, as well as for downtown folk to view some awesome racing.
While you can’t really see the start from Shoreline, you will be able to see the spinnakers on the down wind leg of the course, and what a sight that is to behold. If you’re really lucky and have access to one of the office buildings downtown or on the bluff, you’ll certainly get an eyeful. Let’s all pray for sunshine and wind for this event.
While sailing events may not be as visual as say power boat races, kiteboarding or windsurfing, the benefits can be greater. Regattas usually last anywhere from 5 – 10 days while these other 3 – 4 days and all the participants need to eat, sleep and be entertained for the entire period. All events that bring revenue into our City are important. A lot of time is spent marketing our beaches, fishing, etc., now is our opportunity to show the world once again what a world class sailing venue this is and how hospitable and welcoming our business community can be. Working together with all of our sponsors, we can make the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds an event to be remembered and talked about for a long time.
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