The vessels are a bit smaller and slower than those in the America’s Cup,
but the sailors will have at least as much fun – and it’s all for a good cause.
The Community Boating Center recently began taking applications for the “Corporate Challenge,” part of its fourth annual Renaissance Regatta, set for Saturday, Aug. 23 at India Point Park in Providence.
The challenge format gives local businesses and organizations the opportunity to sponsor teams of employees, who compete in 18-foot sailboat races on the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay. The action takes place from the center’s Harry Carr Memorial Sailing Center at 25 India St., on the waterfront.
Crews of two or three sailors will rotate boats in a series of short sailboat races throughout the morning and afternoon. Standings will be tracked through a cumulative scoring system.
The non-profit center hopes to attract a field of 10 corporate teams, said Marshall Maran, the Community Boating Center’s vice president and fund-raising chairman. Sponsors in prior years have included Citizen’s Bank and Gilbane Building Company Although dubbed the “Corporate” challenge, any organization can sponsor a team, Maran said.
In past years some sponsors have fielded teams of employees, while others have simply provided sponsorship support without actually competing. But organizers this year will urge sponsors to use the day as a team-building exercise for employees.
“This year we’re trying to really encourage our corporate sponsors to get much more involved in the regatta,” Maran said. The center hopes to offer free sailing lessons to sponsor teams in the weeks leading up to the regatta, he said.
In past years, though, some companies have taken the regatta seriously, according to John O’Flaherty, a former board member and a vice president at Aardvark Design Group, which provides some pro bono graphic design services to the boating center.
“Everybody starts the day with smiles on their face, but when the racing starts, the game faces come on,” O’Flaherty said. “Some people are there to win, frankly. We’ve had some heated races.”
There are four levels of sponsorship: Admiral ($2,000); Skipper ($1,500); First Mate ($1,000); and Crew ($500). All sponsorship proceeds will benefit the center’s inner-city youth outreach program, which provides free sailing lessons to low-income kids. Sponsorships qualify as a charitable donation for federal tax purposes.
The regatta also will include the annual “Mayor’s Cup,” in which kids from the center’s youth-outreach program compete against one another in 14-foot sailboats. Maran said Verizon Communications recently made a $3,000 donation toward the program.
Peter Gengler, president and co-founder of the Community Boating Center, said the regatta is a good chance for sponsors’ employees and families to visit the center and watch the action from India Point Park.
“There aren’t many regattas where you can sit on the shore and watch the whole thing,” Gengler said.
Since its founding by a group of local sailing buffs in 1994, the Community Boating Center has taught more than 1,800 inner-city kids how to sail. Its fleet has grown from five to 35 sailboats, and the center now boasts more than 200 family memberships. Last year it completed construction of a new boathouse, through funding from the Carr family.
Gengler said the program opens the world of sailing to kids who would otherwise never be able to get out on the water.
“If you give a troubled kid a little responsibility in the way of taking care of a boat, some kids really bloom with the trust that’s implied in that sort of contract,” Gengler said.
The Corporate Challenge serves as the center’s annual corporate fund-raising event. A cocktail reception will precede the event on Friday, Aug. 22 at the sailing center. For more information on the Renaissance Regatta, contact Marshall Maran at (401) 454-SAIL, or visit www.communityboating.com.
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