Versalite ½ Zip Top

Comfort is all about layering, and the midlayer is where magic happens. For climate control to happen inside your foul weather gear, moisture has to have a way to escape, and for this, Parker’s top recommendation is Helly’s new Versalite ½ Zip Top. It’s a technical, long-sleeved top with a waffle weave on the inside and a smooth face on the outside. The deep contours of the waffle, she says, trap air, which improves warmth and breathability so the shirt will never feel clammy against your skin. It’s an all-purpose layer for warm and breezy days, she says, but under foul weather gear it does the heavy breathing. “Think of your foul weather gear as the walls,” Parker says. “And think of this shirt as your thermostat.”

Foil Flyer Smock

For the “walls” that keep you dry, Helly has launched its new Foil Flyer Smock, which is an advancement of its high-tech Foil line. Wear it once and you’ll know why it gets rave reviews The fabric is incredibly lightweight and supple. “Buttery,” is how Parker describes it; it’s nothing like the stiff and crunchy fabrics of yesterday.

The Foil’s Helly Tech Professional fabric is a robust new four-layer construction, featuring a bi-component membrane sandwiched in the middle for even greater waterproofness and prolonged protection. The outer face layer is super stretchy, and the inner scrim, which protects the membrane, is silky smooth. The outer layer’s PFC-free water-repellent coating, used in lieu of banned water-repelling chemicals, effectively sheds water droplets, but it will need to be occasionally reapplied.

There are no shoulder seams, Parker points out, which are common leak points in foul weather gear tops, and the articulated elbow design minimizes fabric bulk in the sleeves. The smock’s high, quarter-zip neck gusset is offset so the zipper doesn’t dig into your chin, and when the gusset is unzipped, it fans open to ventilate. One great feature, Parker says, is the extended back panel with a neoprene and grippy waistband, which helps it stay put when bending over or hiking. There’s plenty of pocket action in this smock as well, with a chest pocket and a kangaroo pouch that’s easily accessible when wearing a PFD.

Helly’s Foil Flyer Salopettes

What pairs best with the Foil Flyer Smock, is Helly’s Foil Flyer Salopettes, which uses the same new four-layer Helly Tech Professional fabric. These awesome salopettes are loaded with features that dinghy and sportboat sailors will especially appreciate.

Start with reinforcements on the knees and seat, which Parker says are durable but not overly stiff. For excellent mobility, the stretchy upper panel does the trick and the knees are articulated to minimize bulk and excessive fabric in the folds behind the knees. Like the Foil Flyer Smock, the front gusset fans open for venting, and adjustable side cinch straps keep the salopettes above the waist. Thigh pockets have drainage and the ankle closures have both elastic and Velcro to get a snug fit around your ankles to avoid the dreaded flush.

Combine the Salopettes with the Smock, Parker says, and you’ve got yourself a legit high-end wet-boat gear setup that, when taken care of, will last many seasons.

Women’s HP Leggings

Now that we have our walls built, let’s take the conversation back to base layers, and here Parker is keen on the Women’s HP Leggings. These are all about fit and comfort, she says, with a high waist design and a half-moon stitch pattern over the backside, which ensures they sit securely on the hips. A polyester and elastomer fabric blend, she adds, has four-way stretch for unhindered movements and a snug fit. Flatlock seams prevent chafing. Parker says these leggings are excellent for warm, sunny conditions, but perfect as a thermal base layer, too. This is her go-to piece for sailing, perfect under shorts or foul weather gear.

Women’s Shine Solen

With a greater awareness of sun protection today, lightweight hoodies have become the fashion-forward statement of smart high-performance sailors. But hoods are often flappy and hard to keep fit on the noggin. With the Women’s Shine Solen half-zip sun hoodie, however, Helly has the ultimate design.

With UPF 50 protection, the elasticized hood on the Solen fits snugly around the face for maximum coverage, and thumb holes in the sleeves keep the cuff over the back of the hands—a common area for sun damage. The Solen’s raglan fabric sleeve material is smooth and less bulky, Parker says, and its shoulder seam design provides better mobility.

Viken SS Shirt

Now let’s take the action from the deck to the dock. For this, Helly has the Viken SS Shirt, which is made with a blend of organic cotton and polyester. Call this one a hybrid. The organic cotton part of the blend, Parker says, is what gives the shirt its soft feel. The polyester’s job is to extend the life of the cotton so it doesn’t wear out as quickly—plus it helps the shirt dry faster. For those who dislike the slippery feel of technical shirts, she adds, you’ll love the cotton touch.

The post Gear to Get, While It’s Hot appeared first on Sailing World.

Hello sailors and welcome to the 2026 season. Our friends at Quantum Sails are on deck to get everyone up to speed—on the water and on the next shift—with a weekend of coaching services and in-depth morning weather briefings with ace meteorologist Shea Gibson. Here are the essentials to take advantage of amazing services for your daily race planning.

Quantum Sails Weather and Coaching

Weather Briefings will be hosted on race-day mornings at 0800. To register for the briefings, Hit the Zoom link to register in advance.

Quantum Coaching Dave Gerber and Carter Cameron, the dynamic duo, will be onsite beginning Wednesday, February 11, working with early-arriving Melges 24 teams alongside Quantum’s Scott Nixon and Peter McClennan’s Team Gamecock for a Melges 24 clinic (see specific Melges 24 details at bottom). All regatta entries are encouraged to participate in Quantum Sails’ Thursday afternoon practice racing sessions with race starts, short courses, and live coaching. It all starts with joining the Quantum Sails St. Pete Coaching WhatsApp Group as a great way to stay connected with the coaches during and after the regatta.

Quantum Coaching Schedule—AVAILABLE TO ALL REGATTA ENTRANTS

Thursday, Feb 12, 2026

1200—Meet the coaches at the St. Petersburg YC Grill 1909 Patio (next to main entrance yard arm) for a pre-practice brief.

1300-1500—Practice Racing with Quantum Sails Coaches, monitoring VHF 72

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Feb 13 to 15

1000-1100—Individual Coaching by Quantum Sails, coaches monitoring VHF 72. As there are five race circles and more than 200 entries to date, we strongly encourage you to connect with the coaches in advance to let them know you’re interested in having them connect with you on the water. All of Quantum’s event resources are available to all entries, so don’t be shy to reach out and get faster.

QUANTUM SAILS DAILY TROPHIES

Win a race, win a Cup. During the post-race regatta socials, Quantum reps will be on station in the SPYC ballroom to present your hard-earned race-win cup(s). Stop by to collect your hardware, pop a question to the coaches or thank them for their go-fast advice.

OVERNIGHT SAIL REPAIR SERVICE

It happens. But so does the overnight repair service provided by Quantum. On your way in from the racecourse, text ‭+1 (843) 693-9435‬ and let them know you have a repair service request. The sail drop off and pickup location will be just outside the gate to the St. Petersburg YC marina. Look for the sign.

MELGES 24 CLINIC WITH GAMECOCK AND QUANTUM SAILS

All Melges 24 teams are encouraged to take advantage of this session. Teams can expect practical, race-course-focused coaching centered on boat handling, rig tuning, communication, and decision-making—everything needed to get the most out of a Melges 24 on Tampa Bay. This is an ideal opportunity to kick off the Midwinter Championship with structured practice, shared learning, and direct access to some of the class’s most experienced voices in a collaborative, fleet-building environment. The Clinic WhatsApp group is your connection to participate.

Quantum Melges 24 CLINIC SCHEDULE
Wednesday, February 11 (Optional – Early Arrivals)
1:00 PM – Meet on the docks at SPYC with on-water sailing to follow.

Thursday, February 12 (Full Clinic Day)
10:00 AM – Dockside meeting covering rig tuning, setup, and techniques
1:00 PM – Practice Racing begins, led by Quantum Sails, with on-the-water coaching from Dave Gerber and Carter Cameron, followed by dockside briefing.

The post Get Faster with Quantum Sails Coaching and Weather Services in St. Petersburg appeared first on Sailing World.

Heads up Melges 24 and J/70 sailors. This important PSA is for you.

With the support of the US Melges 24 Class Association, which will provide the necessary race committee units, Vakaros RaceSense technology will be used for both the Melges 24 and J/70 fleets at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in St. Petersburg. 

Vakaros Atlas 2 units are required for RaceSense integration. For teams that do not own a unit, Vakaros has rental units available at vakaros.com. Go to the “Event” drop down menu, scroll to the bottom of the list and select “HH SWRS St. Pete 2026.” 

Rental units will be shipped directly to Ed Furry, of Sail22, who will be onsite in St. Petersburg for the duration of the regatta to assist with setup and usage.

Important note: Competitors will need to reserve a rental unit at least 7 days before registration check in on February 12.

Ed Furry will be stationed in the Parkview Room at St. Petersburg YC (second floor, door adjacent to pool and Tiki Bar) during the Regatta registration window (1600 to 1900) on February 12 to assist with RaceSense unit sync, support and tutorials.

For direct contact or questions regarding Vakaros and RaceSense, contact Doug Wake at doug@vakaros.com or Ed Furry at ed@sail22.com

The post Vakaros RaceSense Deployed for St. Pete appeared first on Sailing World.

With more than 200 entries for the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in St. Petersburg, berthed and beached across multiple locations, the waterfront will certainly be active for the regatta weekend, so early registration and early arrivals are encouraged to help our team better prepare for your overall regatta experience. Please review the following and reach out the St. Petersburg YC waterfront team with any questions before your arrival. SPYC Dockmaster can be reached at dockmaster@spyc.org

Launching and Hauling

The majority of launching will take place on Thursday, February 12 and nearly all the boats haul out after racing on Sunday, February 15. Anyone who is able to launch earlier in the week, or haul on Monday is strongly encouraged to do so to avoid long lines and allow traveling teams a timely exit.

A couple of two considerations when launching from the Sailing Center: there is one 2-ton crane and one 3-ton crane. Traffic between Bayshore Drive and the Sailing Center will be strictly controlled.

Fleet berthing locations

29ers, Melges 15s, Nacra 15s and Windmills will be stored and launched at Elva Rouse Park (901 North Shore Drive NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701) for the duration of the regatta. These fleets may arrive to Elva Rouse Park on Wednesday, February 11, and must vacate the park on Sunday, February 15.

Please note, vehicles are not allowed on parkland grass and overnight RV parking and/or camping is not permitted.

There will be overnight event security at Elva Rouse Park, as well as the temporary dockage location south of the Sailing Center. Contents and belongings left unattended are entirely at owner’s risk.

The Lightning Fleet will launch at the Sailing Center prior to the start of the day’s racing and will haul at the conclusion of racing each day. These fleets may arrive to the Sailing Center on Thursday, February 12, and must vacate the Center on Sunday, February 15.

All other fleets will be distributed between the St. Petersburg Sailing Center and the SPYC Downtown Marina. Please refer to the dockage map below for the division of fleets.

Parking

Please note that there is no vehicle parking allowed at the Sailing Center for the duration of the event. There is also no regatta vehicle parking available at the St. Petersburg YC. A map with our recommended parking locations can be found by Clicking here.

Also, consider using widely accessible rental bikes. The City of St. Petersburg has partnered with Lime to offer bike share service in downtown St. Pete. Lime’s smooth, eco-friendly, and comfortable e-bikes are available for rent through the Lime app.

Daily parking is available at the following locations:

• Al Lang Stadium 72 1^st Ave SE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (Not available for Saturday, February, 14)
• South Core Parking Garage 101 1^st Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
• McNulty Garage 175 2^nd St S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
• Sundial Garage 117 2^nd St N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Trailer Storage

Free trailer parking is available at Harborage Marina. Trailers must be registered and tagged before going to the Harborage Marina, and all trailers must be removed from the Marina property no later than February 16. Register Trailer Here and receive your trailer tag by visiting the Sailing Center at 250 2^nd Ave SE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701).

Notice of Area Sand Bars

All competitors should be aware of two shallow areas they may encounter while transiting to and from their respective racecourses.

The post 2026 St. Petersburg Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Logistics appeared first on Sailing World.

never before in our lifetime have we been so reliant on technology. For an aging Gen Xer, it’s a frightening and dangerous place to be. Our phones are loaded with apps that drive and distract our daily lives. We’re shackled to our computers for productivity, creativity and connection. And even on the racecourse now, once a place of digital escape, we’re less able to get around the buoys without staring at displays, or now having a screen to tell us how close we are to the starting line.

Indeed, digital creep into every aspect of our sport is real, but when tech eventually glitches—as we know it will—we find ourselves either apoplectic, confused, angry or unsure what to do. We might ask ourselves what we did before we became so reliant on technology. Why do we have to know right now?

In the months leading up to the first regatta of our 2025 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in St. Petersburg, Florida, our event team knew that they were staring down a regatta-­management-system apocalypse. Yacht Scoring—the ubiquitous and antiquated platform that we and hundreds of regattas rely on for event registration, payments, communications, scoring and so much more—was unexpectedly and haphazardly relaunched late in 2024. It was prettier on the surface, but behind the walls were more bugs than a seedy ­interstate motel.

The event and club teams scrambled to implement plans B, C and D, but even before nearly 200 skippers lined up outside the registration room to complete the process, ­organizers were bracing for the nightmare.

St. Petersburg YC’s experienced and dedicated volunteer army kept the in-person registration proceedings to a snail’s pace. The standing line weaved through the building as competitors patiently waited their turn to complete the entry process and pick up their essential race documents and swag bag. The lucky ones were getting drinks delivered from the bar by caring crewmates.

The unlucky ones grumbled, obsessively looking at their watches and then the same photograph on the wall they’d been staring at for the previous 10 minutes. There was one silver lining, which one skipper candidly shared with me. He felt as if he were standing at a receiving line at a wedding. He was having fun catching up with friends as they passed by toward the back of the line.

Registration was, perhaps, the “easy” part without a functioning system. Another hurdle was communications. Most of us can remember the days when the official noticeboard was the go-to physical location for all essential race-committee notices. Every morning before dockout, someone on the team would pay it a visit. Then hours after racing, we’d pile shoulder to shoulder, maneuvering for a closer view of the scores and protest logs printed on white paper and pinned to corkboards. These too were gathering places where we commiserated or celebrated our and other’s results. I kind of miss those days.

It’s all digi now. We log in, follow a QR code or link, or stare at a television as scores scroll slowly past our eyeballs. Sipping our rum while we wait. Now our essential race notices are dispatched digitally by whatever ­race-management platform. This, we know, is problematic. The breakdown of Yacht Scoring before the regatta already had the team scrambling to shift communications protocol to emails and WhatsApp chats.

While these were effective means for most competitors, the exercise highlighted a real challenge for others who missed the updates—distance racers, for example, who may or may not get updated waypoints. When we’re hustling to park, get to the boat, tune the rig, load the right headsails on board, then get off the dock on time, it’s easy to miss those messages, especially when your phone is in the chart table or deep in the community dry bag.

In the old days, it all seemed simpler: Check the noticeboard on the way to the boat, hit the head, and wait for further instructions on the VHF on the water.

Perhaps our communications weren’t perfect, but this too came to pass in St. Pete, in no small part thanks to the yacht club’s experienced communications team skillfully crafting WhatsApp updates at key times throughout the day. 

The real bull in this china shop of digital horrors, however, was scoring. In the old days, we wrote down our finishes, and we were OK with the scores not being posted until the rum pour was well underway. Today our on-demand desire results in anxiety and teeth gnashing when the scores aren’t posted on time—or, God forbid, are wrong. I get it; we live in an age where technology should enable us to know the results the moment we cross the finish line. The emergent race-management platforms of Vakaros and Velocitek are well on their way to doing that, but what then, when and if they glitch?

We go back to paper. And people.

So, here was the real heroism in St. Pete. With Yacht Scoring being a wreck abandoned on a reef and 14 fleets to score, including ORC and three PHRF distance-race fleets, the miracles made behind the curtains at the club were astounding. Volunteers and yacht-club staff rolled up sleeves and pummeled through results, ­finish times, handicaps and an onslaught of scoring inquiries, laboriously plugging digits into spreadsheets.

Volunteers and yacht-club staff rolled up sleeves and pummeled through results, finish times, handicaps and an onslaught of scoring inquiries, laboriously plugging digits into spreadsheets.

One morning, I overheard one of them say that all they could see when they closed their eyes to sleep was floating numerals. For a man of words, that’s terrifying.

I witnessed the ­frustration of so many competitors, understandably eager to know exactly where they stood in the fleet pecking order. A few were seriously ticked off at our ineptitude.

“Dude, what’s with the messed-up scores?” they asked. To diffuse the tension, I would lightheartedly opine that experts tell us we shouldn’t be looking at the scores until the final race anyway. One skipper gave me a stink eye and said: “No. I want to know. When will they be done?”  

The whole situation eventually brought someone to tears, and I tried to comfort them with a heaping pile of reality: The racing that the sailors were enjoying on the water was outstanding—sunshine, great breeze, elbows-out one-design and distance racing. The best assembled race-committee team in all of Florida was banging out races. The parties were jamming, the rum was going fast, and the St. Pete nightlife was off the hook. Don’t sweat it. Results matter only to those actually keeping score. 

In a mad rush on Sunday afternoon of the regatta, we had “final” scores for the awards show, and even those were wrong for the PHRF sailors—to which I extend my most sincere apologies. Two teams were denied the stage, and they were certainly worthy of it for having raced two incredibly challenging distance races. Otherwise, awards were given, pictures taken. All good.  

Our Yacht Scoring experience does, however, make me lament our sport’s digital dependency. We now have robotic marks, laser-sharp OCS software, tablets that tell us when to tack, and racks of displays to stare at. That’s all fine and good development, but when we get to AI software calling real-time tactics, we are, indeed, screwed.

The same is true if we become too reliant on technology to enjoy our sport. If, and when, something goes haywire, as it almost did in St. Pete, we can always rely on ourselves to deliver the outcome we desire. I’m talking about the volunteers, race-committee officials, mark boaters, rode haulers, flag raisers, recorders, scorers, judges and the club staff smiling in the photo at the beginning of this article. And the event team, of course. Because of them we go racing and enjoy ourselves. And unlike our software platforms, they didn’t glitch.

The post How Race Officials Saved The Regatta appeared first on Sailing World.

On the morning of the final day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in St. Petersburg, sailors were pacing the docks of St. Petersburg YC in anticipation of a high-wind outing on Tampa Bay. A few classes and individual sailors opted to stay ashore—A Class Catamarans, S2 7.9s, Windmills and Hobie 33s—but those who did set out for ultimate races of the long weekend were rewarded with spectacular fast races and stories to share.

“I’m glad we went out,” said perennial Lightning Class champion Dave Starck, who was keen to race but happy to oblige whatever his fleet mates decided. Starck and his team—brother Tom and forward crew Becca Jordon—were sitting on a 1-point lead, so the goal for the day was simple: minimize the maneuvers and the mistakes. Let others make them.

“I said before we left that dock that we’re going to sail conservatively, do as few maneuvers as we have to and do them perfectly,” he added, “and that’s exactly what we did.”

Starck and his crew won the race with a wire-to-wire lead and closed out the Lightning class’s eight-race series with 28 points, an impressive win given the high caliber of the sailors in the 25-boat fleet this weekend.

On the same racecourse, which had been repositioned closer to the St. Petersburg shoreline in anticipation of the building breeze, less than half of the Melges 15 fleet ventured out to play, leaving an open course for the class’s top teams to battle it out for the top three positions. Patrick Wilson and Lauren Koch won both races, but a 3-2 was just enough for Mike Funsch and Hal Gilreath to win the regatta by 4 points. Top juniors Cole Schweda and Grayson Tella were third overall with an impressive series of top-10 finishes over 10 races.

The Melges 24 class hosted its Midwinter Championship with a fleet of 14 with Peter McClennen’s Gamecock winning eight of 10 races.  “Today was fast,” McClennen said. “The Melges 24s love big breeze. We hit 18 knots going downwind today and it was just super fun. We knew it was gonna be windy, and we had to really work the boat really hard. And that’s what we did today.

“The waves were pretty significant, maybe two to three feet, and especially down at the start line they were even higher. So, it was, it was a battle. Many times, we would slide the tactician in to help with the main sheet so that we could move the mainsail a lot, but the waves were great. They make it fun. And then downwind, when you come around and you can surf those waves, that’s where you get the gains.”

On the same circle, J/70 sailors were chasing the hard-charging team on Al Minella’s Level 5, which won seven of 10 races to close the series with a 25-point win. Onboard Level 5 as tactician was reigning J/70 world champion Jeremy Wilmot, and Minella’s team were indeed at another level.

“We’d won it before the last race so we went at it as a learning experience for the next regatta, working on upwind driving and downwind sailing,” Wilmot said. “They’re fast so I didn’t have to do much on the tactics.”

Minella, who’s been sailing J/70s for years and has won plenty of hardware in the class, picked up a few new pointers that had him faster in the weekend’s breezy conditions. “The thing was to heel the boat more than you think,” Minella said. “I’m trained to not let the boat layover, but you need the heel angle to get through the waves. The level of activity of these guys is constant. They’re making adjustments all the time.”

There were six classes sailing for their Midwinter Championship titles at the regatta, including the Hobie 33s, which went to Craig and Deborah’s team on Hoof Hearted, the defending champions. Pat Huntley and his teammate, from Pennsylvania, won all but one race to secure the Windmill class title; Kevin Holmberg’s Team Fawkes was the top Sonar; and Jeff Padnos’ team on K2 returned to Michigan with the S2.7.9 title in hand.

As a class winner, Padnos’ win also earned his team the regatta’s overall title and a berth at the Helly Hansen Caribbean Championship in October. “The weekend was a real thrill,” Padnos said. “I had my son as tactician and the crew are good friends that we’ve sailed with for a long time.”

Throughout the weekend, the racing was impressively tight in the S2s, with boats clustered at the marks and overlapped at finishes, which Padnos says is the draw that has kept him racing these vintage boats for four decades. “You gotta get the boat moving, and then it will point,” is his one tip to mastering the S2.

The same skill will apply on the Sunsail-provided bareboat that Padnos and his team will race against the Regatta Series’ other winners come October, and the opportunity to race in the BVI, he says, has been a long time coming. “My wife and I have been married over 50 years,” Padnos said. “We’re coming up on 55 and COVID came right during our 50th Anniversary year, so we have a pent-up demand for doing stuff like this. We’ll be there. We will definitely be there.”

Only three of six L30 class teams ventured out to the racecourse today, and Michael Norris’s team on Morning Breeze wasn’t among them. Having won every race of the L30 North American Championship on Friday and Saturday, Morning Breeze‘s win was assured.

The A Class Catamaran sailors, also not keen to take on the big waves and strong winds, packed up early, with past world champion foiler Ravi Parent sweeping the series. Parent, who’s been racing high-performance catamarans internationally over the past year, was in a world of his own, often finishing races legs ahead of his competitors.

For the big boats of the regatta in ORC and the PHRF distance-race fleets, today’s big breeze conditions had reefs tucked in mains and crews battling hard over the long miles and around the buoys. Ian Hill’s immaculately-prepared Melges 32 won the long battle with its rivals on Jeremy Alexis’ Fleetwood.

“The Melges 32 is a really good boat in either extreme,” Hill said. This was his second time bringing the boat to the St. Petersburg regatta and coming away with a win. “It’s a good boat in the light air, and it’s a great boat in the heavy air. And it seems like when we come here, that’s what we get. We either get really light or bigger breeze, and we’ve had a lot of fun with this boat in both conditions.”

The distance racers set off on another 20-miler or so and returned to the docks exhausted but exhilarated by the challenging conditions, especially William Marsh and his teammates on the Beneteau First 36 Ruse, which hails from Cape Cod, but has been relocated to Florida for a full winter season of regattas to prepare for a slate of planned events this summer in New England. After more than three hours of hard sailing, Ruse collected its overall hardware in the PHRF Spinnaker division, while Tangeaux was the top Racer/Cruiser team and Charisma was the standout Cruising division winner.

The post Racers Reap Rewards of Windy Final Day in St. Pete appeared first on Sailing World.

We are pleased to welcome 190 teams this weekend for the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series 2025 kickoff. Thank you to our host St Petersburg Yacht Club, its staff and Race Committee for the weekend ahead. Sailing World is here to capture the passion and enjoyment on and off the water. If you have a story – post @sailingworldregattaseries @sailingworldmag or email us for a follow up.

There are three critical items to resolve for registration. We appreciate your patience as we create ‘work-arounds’ for the online sign up process. The entire team should complete all items before Registration on Thursday. 

1. Signed Waivers (Adobe) – All sailors must complete the waiver for communications and racing.
2. Crew List – If you are unable to update your crew list, Yachtscoring will be available to assist.*
3. Payments – If you experienced difficulty processing an Entry Fee and/or Social Pass, we will accept payments at Registration.

*If you are still having issues on Yachtscoring, there will be a Yachtscoring Service Desk on-site to assist you. 

Thank you again for traveling to St Petersburg. We have missed you and look forward to a beautiful weekend together on and off the water. 

The Sailing World Team 

Chalk Talk & Practice with Quantum // Thur – 12pm – 4pm

Information below includes: Sailing Instructions, Docking, Trailer Parking, WhatsApp link for race comms, Schedule of Events, and much more.

Quick Glance

Race Registration Feb 13 – 4:30pm – 6:30pm ET
Speaker Series with Travis Feb 13 – 6:30pm Skippers Meeting
Mount Gay Rum Cocktail Contest Feb 14 – 5:30pm
Sign Up for Race Comms: HHSWRS/SP Whatsapp
Questions? Contact Us

Join the Sailing World Regatta Series WhatsApp Group

Scan or upload the QR code using the WhatsApp camera to join

Sailing Instructions & Course Details

The Sailing Instructions are posted on the Regatta Website (sailingworld.com/regatta-series) and the Official Notice Board. 

Course Details for the Distance Race and Buoy Races are posted.

Attend the Skippers Meeting (SPYC Ballroom) on Thursday at 6:30pm

Regatta Logistics – Local parking, Launching and Docking details, Derby Lane Info, Sunday Haul Out Info
Trailer Parking Signup – Trailer parking at Derby Lane.
Email dockmaster@spyc.org to confirm your reservation.

Thursday Chalk Talk & Practice

12pm – 4pm Thursday, February 13
Quantum Sails Coaches: Dave Gerber & Carter Cameron
Onboard & Overhead Media: Sailing World Team
Meeting Location: SPYC Front Terrace
All Classes welcome – Questions: regattas@sailingworld.com

Quantum Sails Weather & Speed Tips

7:30AM Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Shea Gibson, David Mendelblatt, Carter Cameron, Dave Gerber
Host: Libby Tomlinson
Meeting Location: Virtual Link; SPYC Lobby
Register for weather in advance

Sailing World Speaker Series

7pm – 8pm Thursday, February 13
Join Sailing World ‘s Editor’s take on a Deep Dive x Roast x Between Two Ferns x Sailing. We promise a few laughs and always a few surprises as welcome Travis to St Pete with two new World Championship titles.

Sailing World: Dave Reed
Special Guest: Travis Odenbach
Location: SPYC Ballroom
Immediately following the 6:30pm Skippers Meeting

Mount Gay Rum Cocktail Contest

Wear your red hat & come to the SPYC Ballroom for Hearts & Tails ~ Mount Gay Rum Cocktails curated by your very own competitors! 

We will provide you with the Mount Gay and the mixers. There is one spot remaining – Sign Up. 
Or come enjoy two hours of cocktails & apps – Friday 5-7pm

Avoid the line & pre-purchase Social Passes – Singles are available.

Helly Hansen – Team One Newport

The Helly Hansen Regatta Store is Open Thursday – Sunday at St Petersburg Yacht Club. Test the new Rig Fleece, Tyri ½ Zip, and additional line. 

The Regatta Store is now located just outside of Registration – outside the South SPYC Entrance. 

Won’t Last Long: Be sure to shop on Thursday for items from the New 2025 Helly Hansen Line. Try and buy the All Club Burgee Belt, 2025 Crew 2.0 Jacket, New Line of HH Fleece and tech tops.

The post 2025 Regatta Series St. Petersburg Information appeared first on Sailing World.

Blink, and the season is over. Blink again and the new season is underway and full speed ahead. We are, of course, talking about the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, which kicks off its 37th year this week in St. Petersburg, Florida, with nearly 200 boats across 11 one-design classes, a strong ORC division, and two days of distance races for Tampa Bay’s avid PHRF sailors.

Six of the regatta’s one-design classes will be racing for coveted championship trophies, including the L30s for their North American Championship. Sailors of the Hobie 33, S2 7.9, Sonar, Windmill and Melges 24 classes will vie for their midwinter titles. The regatta will also serve as a North American Sailing Series qualifier for the Melges 24 class, which continues to enjoy a resurgence as one-design sailing’s most exciting keelboat.

As Tampa Bay continues to be an emergent American hotspot for handicap racing, the budding ORC fleet has been growing its ranks with new owners embracing the international measurement rule. Nine entries ranging in size from Bob Harkrider’s Aerodyne 38 to John Cooper’s Cape 31 showcase the diversity of the boats in this exciting fleet. Harkrider’s Shark Rider was the top PHRF team in St. Pete in 2024 and they’ve made the switch to this more competitive environment where they’ll be facing, among many others, Ian Hill’s team on the Melges 32 Sitella, which has recently returned from racing in Europe and is on top form.

While the regatta’s ORC entries will enjoy three days of buoy racing, PHRF teams—divided into Spinnaker and Cruiser/Racer fleets—will be challenged on Saturday and Sunday with a long course that takes them to various turning marks on Tampa Bay. These fleets will start near the St. Pete Pier each morning before finishing much later the day, in time for the evening parties at St. Petersburg YC, the regatta’s longtime host, which has opened its doors and docks for hundreds of visiting sailors.

While larger keelboat boats have long been the core of this St. Petersburg winter classic, organizers have progressively included a handful of popular dinghy classes that now deliver the excitement and vibe of small-boat sailing in larger numbers. The Melges 15, only a few years old, but the hottest two-person dinghy in the US, has been enjoying 100-boat regattas on Florida’s east coast at the new Melges Watersports Center.

The Regatta Series’ first event is also a prelude for the Lightning class’s winter Southern Circuit, which steps off in St. Pete in mid-March before the sailors hitch up their boats and move to Savannah the following week. Progressive growth initiatives over the past several years to attract young sailors to the class will be evident at the regatta this weekend in St. Pete, with many teams made up of post-collegiate sailors that are driving the class’ “U32” movement. Jenna Probst, recognized last week by US Sailing for her and teammate Maya Weber’s organization of the U32 Lightning Class Invitational Regatta in Ontario, Canada, last summer, will be one of them, racing in St. Pete against many of the class’s longtime legends and mentors, including past world champion David Starck and Hall of Fame inductee Augie Diaz.

With 25 entries at press time, the Lightning contingent is now the largest fleet at the SWRS St. Petersburg regatta, and the class will rejoin the series in Annapolis in May and Marblehead in July. 

Sailing off the beach in Downtown St. Pete will be the A Class catamarans and Windmills. The A Class catamaran, considered to be the most high-performance singlehanded multihull in the world, will have two separate fleets on one course: the foilers and the classics. Among entries in the foilers is past Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and A Class World Champion Ravi Parent, who has been campaigning equally high-performance doublehanded catamarans at international events over the past year. He will no doubt be the one to watch, as will local ace O.H. Rodgers, who won the classic division in 2024 with three race wins in four races—most of those race wins by large margins.

The J/70 fleet, with 18 teams currently on the scratch sheet has the greatest geographical spread among its entries, with teams hailing from as far away as Michigan and Minnesota, Missouri and Washington State. The promise of warm water and winds that make Tampa Bay a winter sailing mecca is undoubtedly a strong draw for these teams, but the level of competition is also an easy sell. Among the fleet are many top amateur and professional sailors, including Rolex Yachtsman of the Year nominee and two-time world champion (J/24 and J/22) skipper Travis Odenbach, who will be racing with Canadian Kelly Hansen.

Odenbach will also be the feature guest at Sailing World’s Speaker Series, immediately following the opening competitors briefing on Thursday evening at St. Petersburg Yacht Club. The club will host the Regatta Series’ legendary parties each evening after racing, with a full agenda of activities for sailors, friends and families.

On Sunday evening, following the conclusion of races and awards, event organizers will select one overall team among class winners to represent St. Petersburg at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship in the British Virgin Islands in October, where they will face the 2024 champion, and challengers from the four other Series regattas.

Blink and we’ll be in the BVI.

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No matter how you serve it, the essence of Barbados always radiates.

Sir John Gay Alleyne, credited for perfecting this versatile Bajan spirit back in the 18th Century, would likely lean neat, but were he alive today to judge the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta’s Mount Gay Rum Recipe Contest, he would no doubt cast his vote for sailing mixologist Mark Macke’s Low Tide Old Fashioned, our undisputed 2024 winner in St. Petersburg (and, frankly, the best of the entire series).

The ingredients of Macke’s winning concoction were curious yet simple, but the delivery to the judging panel’s palate was complex. The submitted recipe card read: 2 ounces of Mount Gay Black Barrell, 1/3 ounces banana liquor, 5 drops Angostura Bitters and 4 drops Peychaud’s Aromatic Cocktail Bitters.

How to make Macke’s Low Tide Old Fashioned is even simpler: mix ingredients in a stirring glass, then dress your cocktail glass with a dark simple syrup and generous ice ball, layer the rum and add the banana liquor. Dust with a grate of cinnamon and garnish with a cinnamon stick, dried banana chip and Luxardo Maraschino cherry (worth the price).

Sit back, sip, savor and let your worries go out with the tide.

Macke, now retired and embracing his new mixology hobby with gusto, is the official bartender and trimmer on board Michael Cichon’s Beneteau Oceanis 41 Va Bene. When he envisions new recipes, he says, his approach is to reimagine the classics from a sailor’s point of view.

Rum, however, is a rare ingredient among the classics of weathered bartender’s bible, but therein lies Macke’s opportunity to get creative. He doesn’t just substitute a spirit and slap on a new name; he explores and tests every element of it. “That’s what is exciting to me,” he says. “It has to have fresh ingredients and it also has to be pretty. You want to pick it up, look at it and say, ‘I really want to drink this,’ and the ratios have to be right.”

When he crafted his award-winning Low Tide Old Fashioned, he knew nothing of Mount Gay’s Black Barrel.

“I bought a bottle and wrote up my own tasting notes. I love Old Fashions but I wanted to take it in a different direction that brought it to the Caribbean.”

Macke’s creation for this year’s contest, he says, may just be better than the Low Tide. “It’s more complex and more nostalgic,” is all he will reveal, and it’s been properly vetted by his in-house tasting team (his wife and daughter). His daughter has advised him to stop perfecting perfect, but Macke can’t help himself.

“It’s now down to just a few minor tweaks,” he says, “but everyone’s happy with this one.”

And for those with aspirations of dethroning Va Bene’s Cocktail King, all he can say is, “I’m ready. Bring it.”

Macke and registered mixologists will be posted up at the St. Petersburg YC’s Ball Room during the post-racing party. Entrants (a sign-up link is at the QR code above) will be provided Mount Gay Rum and basic mixers, but mixologists are encouraged to bring their own special ingredients. With limited mixing stations available, selected teams will be announced at the Skippers Meeting on Thursday evening, and on the regatta’s social media channels.

The post Rising the Tide On the Cocktail Contest appeared first on Sailing World.

With registration and race planning now at full speed for the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series St. Petersburg anticipation is building for another outstanding gathering of racing sailors in the Sunshine City. Updates are coming fast from event organizers, including news of two new hotel partnerships, giving competitors cost-saving options that will enhance this year’s regatta experience because a well-rested crew is a fast crew.

The Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, across from the Salvador Dali Museum and a short walk from the St. Petersburg YC and the vibrant downtown nightlife and foodie scene, has been a go-to hotel for sailors for decades. This year, the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront is offering a discount room rate for regatta competitors. Close to the action, with a heated outdoor pool and ample parking makes this an easy option for visiting teams to enjoy all that St. Pete offers before and after racing.

Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront Booking Link. If calling Hilton Reservations directly at 1-800-445-8667, provide the group code: HHSR. Guests have until January 12, 2025 to reserve rooms at the group rate of $252 per night.

For competitors looking to slip away from the downtown bustle after racing, 10 minutes south of the St. Petersburg YC, the Regatta Series has an exciting new partnership with the chic SkyBeach Hotel and Marina. This hidden gem is excited to open its doors, its white-sand beach, pools, pickleball courts, marina and bars to regatta participants and their families and crews.  

Tucked away at the north end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge near Eckerd College, the SkyBeach property has been an establishment with many lives since the 1950s, a unique urban beach-front oasis smack dab on Tampa Bay. Its new owners have gutted the old and ushered in a brand new and hip hideaway with a cool and eclectic vibe that aims to be a haven for people that love the water, live music, and appreciate inspired drinks and food that come with a panoramic view of the bay. An ideal place to unwind after banging around the buoys. Onsite trailer parking (for an oversized vehicle parking fee) and transient marina slips are available to hotel guests, and there are numerous gathering spots and fire pits for informal class gatherings and team debriefs.

Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series SkyBeach Hotel Booking Link. The 20-percent discount is redeemed by applying the discount code “sailing.” Starting at $255.60 per night.

With 113 rooms and sprawling resort grounds with pickleball, volleyball and tennis courts, water sports, and electric bike rentals, and of course a beach with bungalows, you might just be in the perfect place should an AP over A ever keep the action ashore.

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