News & Interest

September 30th, 2009

Sail For Hope – 50+ boats registered

Comments Off

couragefiremnwebsize As the sailing season winds up in Newport, sailors will gather for one more “blast around the island” in next week’s Sail for Hope. The annual regatta is organized by Sail Newport and starts on Saturday, October 3 at 11 A.M. outside of Newport Harbor. Proceeds from the regatta will benefit two non-profit organizations including the Seamen’s Church Institute and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

“It’s Rhode Islanders helping Rhode Islanders,” says Scott Murray of Middletown. Murray is a co-founder of the event and will compete onboard his sailboat Unplugged. Murray says donations raised through the event are intended to help with human service programs in the coming winter months.

“We really want to support the people in our community. We think globally but we want to act locally,” Murray says.

Over fifty boats are already registered for the event. Sail for Hope is open to all sailboats and registration is available online at www.sailnewport.org. Multiple classes of racing will be offered including handicap, One-Design and Multi-Hull divisions. In the PHRF Division, boats will be able to choose spinnaker or non-spinnaker classes. The race will be an 18-mile course around Jamestown Island. A J22 class and other boats will race on a course around Gould Island.

Organizers encourage all boaters and families to participate. “It’s a fun family race,” Murray adds. Sail Newport will assign ratings for those boats that don’t have them. Boaters may also participate by cruising or watching the event from the water.

An after-race party and fundraiser will be held at the Newport Shipyard following the race.

“Seamen’s Church Institute is celebrating its ninetieth year of community service and is proud to be affiliated with the regatta,” says Superintendent Jack Grant. “Both Sail for Hope and the Institute share the mission of providing assistance to individuals and organizations in our immediate community,” Grant adds.

The Seamen’s Church Institute will use funds from the event to help mariners and individuals in the Newport County community. The organization provides affordable and transitional housing, meals and clothing assistance. In addition, the institute delivers food to waterfront workers in their “Soup to Docks” program and serves holiday meals.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which will also receive funds from the regatta fundraiser, feeds more than 50,000 Rhode Islanders each month. The organization works through a through a network of 310 certified member agency programs across Rhode Island and reports that there will be a 28% increase in need over last year. Roughly one third of that amount is needed to feed hungry children.

Sail for Hope was launched in the weeks following the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The first event in 2001 was titled Sail for Pride. Sailors raised over $110,000 for firefighters’, police, widows’ and children’s relief charities.
Based on the success of the first event, organizers decided to hold the regatta as an annual event but focused on benefiting the local community. Since 2002, the event has been named Sail for Hope and to date has raised a total of over $300,000 that has mostly been donated to Ocean State charities.

Multiple organizations have received funds from past regattas including the RI Red Cross programs, R.I. Firefighter assistance funds and family and children’s charities. Also, the Newport Harbormaster’s Emergency Equipment Fund has received donations as has the R.I. United Way.

After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, however, R.I sailors again wanted to help beyond the borders of Rhode Island. That year, over $100,000 was raised and disbursed through relief charities to victims in the southern states.

Sail for Hope has also donated funds to Rhode Island public high school sailing teams and the Olympic and Paralympic Trails held in 2007 in Newport and Middletown.
Registration can be completed and donations can be made online at www.sailnewport.org. For more information check the website or call Sail Newport at 401.846.1983.