June is the best month for sure. Why? Because of the solstice of course! And not only should you be getting out to every weeknight race, pre-work fishing outing or on the water BBQ opportunity that you can, but there are also events aplenty to partake in.
One we want to really push on was invented by our friend John Arndt, the associate publisher of kindred publication Latitude 38 from the San Francisco Bay area. Summer Sailstice was founded in February 2001 by John as the global, annual celebration of sailing held on the weekend nearest the summer solstice. This year it falls on Saturday, June 18, the day after the start of Newport Bermuda. So around 220 sailboats will be celebrating a hundred miles or more offshore. That leaves it to all of us who are not thrashing to the Onion Patch to take up the slack! But as usual, I digress. Let’s roll it out properly. Here is what John has had in mind since 2001.
Vision: Unite sailors worldwide to celebrate and share their passion for sailing.
Mission: Host a spectacular weekend uniting and bonding a critical mass of sailors worldwide in a common, publicly visible, inspiring event to demonstrate and celebrate sailing resulting in a significant, positive impact on participation. And, like sailing, have fun doing it!
And on top of that, John has joined with our friends at Sailors for the Sea powered by Oceana to further inform and mobilize sailors, their families and communities to enjoy and conserve the beauty of the oceans while raising awareness of human impacts on the fragile marine environment and wildlife. The annual Summer Sailstice sailing event is free to all participants and has grown from 200 boats signed up in 2001 to almost 5,000 boats today. Since many sailors join in the fun on many different boats around the world, the actual number of participating Summer Sailstice sailors is estimated at almost 19,000 annually.
Now, as we have mentioned, around 2,000 of us will be out to sea and not really publicly visible. So again, we need to make our plans and make them doubly visible to make up for it. So do yourself, family and friends a solid and log your plan at summersailstice.com. John has organized all manner of fun to unite us, literally across the oceans.
See you on the water on June 18!
Publisher
Benjamin V. Cesare
ben@windcheckmagazine.com
