Winter Solstice to Summer Sailstice – Countdown!

The sun is headed North
Ok – the Southern Hemisphere is enjoying summer sailing now but on December 22nd the sun will touch the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere and begin its 6 month journey North. Of course, it heads North so we can all celebrate Summer Sailstice on the weekend of June 23rd and 24th – the longest sailing days in the Northern Hemisphere. Now is a good time to connect with your club, class or fleet and plan next season’s activities which, for all sailors, should include a celebration of sailing on Summer Sailstice. What are you going to do June 23/24?

For 2007 you can win a Summer Sailstice celebration in Antigua!
Sunsail and American Sailing Association have teamed up to offer a fantastic new prize for 2007 – a one week trip to Sunsail’s sailing resort at Club Calonna during ASA’s American Sailing Week. To win you must sign up for Summer Sailstice by April 18th to give yourselves time to be in Antigua by June 15th. This one week celebration runs Friday June 15th until June 22nd so you’ll be sailing from the beaches of Antigua on the solstice. Summer Sailstice will be open for entries from January 1st so sign up now to be sailing in Antigua in June!

Why participate?
Besides the obvious perfect weekend for a sail, Summer Sailstice is a chance for your fleet to sail and connect locally while also participating in a worldwide celebration of sail. It’s the one event allowing you to connect all far-flung members of your sailing community. Imagine all 165,000+ Lasers or all 900 Westsail 32s or every Cal 20 sailing ‘together’ in a virtual holiday celebrating the sailing life. In addition to the chance to win individual prizes your club, class and fleet can win awards and recognition for getting your local and worldwide fleets out sailing. Pass the word.

Empty your marina or harbor
Can you imagine a day when your marina or harbor has all the sailboats out on the water for the day or weekend? At times doesn’t it astound you when, on a beautiful spring or summer day, you head out on the water and leave behind a harbor or marina that’s 90% full of idle sailboats? Who knows if we can all fit on the oceans, bays or lakes at the same time but wouldn’t it be fun to try? Summer Sailstice is on the weekend closest to the solstice, naturally a fantastic day for anyone in the Northern Hemisphere to be on the water. We’d like to challenge all harbormasters to show us the emptiest marina on the planet on June 23rd – we’ll post your pictures and award a couple of Summer Sailstice gear bags to the winners.

Want to be a Summer Sailstice ambassador?
Are you the person to tell your worldwide fleet about Summer Sailstice? Flying Scott or Catalina 30, Melges 24 or West Wight Potter, there are thousands of boats who have already participated in Summer Sailstice and should be joined by their sisterships around the world. If you’d like to be the ambassador we’ll post your fleet and contact information on our fleet page, supply you with communication information and appoint you as a Summer Sailstice ambassador. We’ll then look for the class with the largest numbers of boats participating and offer free Summer Sailstice t-shirts and prizes to the largest participating classes.

"At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much." -Robin Lee Graham