Past Regattas
Race Results
HISTORY OF ST. CROIX'S
INTERNATIONAL REGATTA
Yacht Clubs get started for many reasons, but mostly as a way for people to race on the water. In the 1930's, before there was a St. Croix Yacht Club, the newly-invented Snipe, a 15½ foot two-person, one-design racing dinghy, inspired a couple of St. Croix men to build kit boats and start racing on Sundays. Soon others including Buck Island charter operators, joined the fun and began competing occasionally against local fisherman and sailors from St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.
Around 1949, a group of sailing enthusiasts formed the Comanche Sailing Club, intending to build a fleet of seven one-design small boats for racing in Christiansted harbor. Only four of the planned "seven dwarfs" were built, but organized racing had begun on St. Croix.
By the time a partially-completed clubhouse building at Teague Bay on St. Croix's east end was acquired in 1959, members had added more racing boats to the fleet including home-built wooden Penguins and Sailfish. The club held its first Sailfish one design series in August 1961, and a second one in February 1962 with a fleet grown to 25.
In 1963, St. Croix Marine began importing professionally-built Snipes and the St. Croix Yacht Club found itself with a fleet of internationally-recognized sailboats. The active Snipe fleet was directly responsible for creation of the International Sugar Mill Regatta, which drew sailors from other islands and the United States. As wood led to fiberglass, St. Croix's Sunfish fleet grew, with club members eventually winning national and international championships.
In the mid-1960's, club members started a junior sailing program, first utilizing five plywood Optimist Prams built from official plans issued by the Optimist Club Association. Kids took sailing classes every Saturday from October through May and learned to compete in their own waters and off island. Through a series of fundraisers, members gradually upgraded the club-owned fleet which now includes Optis, 420's, Sunfish, Lasers, and a Rhodes 19. Today, the club holds a Summer Sailing Camp for children from late June to early August.
Memorial Day weekend and Boxing Day (December 26) have presented members with race action for years. The club sponsors one design races in the fall, winter and spring, an Around the Island two-day race in November, and a series of fun races all year for sailboats of varied sizes and classes.
The original Sugar Mill Regatta led to the club's international regatta in 1992, first known as the Mumm's Cup, later called the VitelCellular regatta, that began drawing sailors from all over the Caribbean and U.S.
Today, in addition to club racing now held year-round, the St. Croix Yacht Club sponsors its premier event, the St. Croix International Regatta in February over the three-day Presidents' Weekend, sponsored by Innovative Communications Corporation. Since 2004, the club welcomes sailors under 16 years of age for the Valentine Optimist Regatta held the same weekend.
In an era of corporate management for sporting events, St. Croix races remain volunteer-driven. As Regatta Director Julie San Martin says, "The St. Croix Yacht Club International Regatta has the reputation as the welcoming regatta that goes out of its way to see that visiting sailors have a good time!"
Photo Galleries
2005
2004, Page 1
2004, Page 2
2003
2002, Page 1
2002, Page 2
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