Two Week-ends of Great Sailing Action for Grenada Sailing Festival 2010

Friday 29 January to 7 February

For the first time the 2010 Grenada Sailing Festival, presented by Port Louis and Camper & Nicholsons Marinas, will offer not one, but two weekends of great sailing action. The ever-popular event, run in association with the Grenada Board of Tourism, will start on Friday 29 January, with four days of international yacht racing off the island’s southern coast in the Port Louis Racing Series. The local workboats will head for Grand Anse Beach the following weekend 6 & 7 February, when the traditional Grenada Sailing Festival Digicel Work Boat Regatta becomes an integral part of the island’s National Independence Celebrations. Two very exciting events, both with their unique Grenadian character – Pure Sail, Pure Spice – what better way to start off the 2010 sailing calendar in the Caribbean.

The Festival is part of the 2010 Southern Caribbean Regatta Circuit, the great new initiative which started last Season. Once again, skippers and crews can start the New Year with the Carriacou Sailing Series (13 – 16 January), move down to Grenada and enjoy our Sailing Festival, then on to Tobago for the Carnival Regatta (18 – 21 February) – Stay South and Sail!

For the second year, the Festival’s Home Port will be at Port Louis by Camper & Nicholsons Marinas, the newest international class marina in Grenada, which will have slips for some 160 yachts of all sizes. Racing will start and finish from this base, and there will be new, longer courses, including an extended South Coast Ocean Triangle, providing more challenging racing to attract bigger yachts and competitive crews.

The Grenada Sailing Festival Port Louis Racing Series will be run from Friday 29 January to Tuesday 2 February, and, as always there will be four days of great parties Grenadian-Style as well as tough racing. The Victory Bar at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina will be “the place to be” for the end of race Happy Hours, and a new selection of After Race Parties, including the Mount Gay Red Cap Party and Festival Farewell Prize Presentation Gala Dinner. True Blue Bay Resort’s Dodgy Dock is still on the calendar too, when the popular Festival venue hosts Monday night.

The sailing continues on Saturday and Sunday 6 & 7 February when the crowd-pulling Grenada Sailing Festival Digicel Work Boat Regatta comes to Grand Anse Beach. Exciting new plans will twin this spectacular weekend of racing with the island’s Independence Celebrations to make a bigger event which will be a great attraction to locals and visitors alike. The all-action competition on the water between the sailing communities of Carriacou, Gouyave, Grand Mal, Petite Martinique, Sauteurs and Woburn will complement a new tented Heritage Village set up for two days of live entertainment. There will be steel pan and drummers; a cultural showcase with folk song and dance, games and activities for the children, arts and crafts on sale, plus Community food stalls with all the best traditional dishes on offer – plenty of participation and fun and something for everyone to enjoy.

Check the Festival website www.grenadasailingfestival.com for news and updates.