Members of Harbor 20 Fleet 3 in Hilton Head, South Carolina sailed a five-race series against sailors from American Yacht Club of Rye, New York on March 31^st and April 1^st.  The team from American Yacht Club came to Hilton Head for the weekend for the first running of a home-and-home invitational regatta between the two clubs.  A team from South Carolina Yacht Club will go to Rye, New York in May 2013 to race in Ideal 18s, the class of boat that American Yacht Club uses for club racing.  The regatta was run as fleet racing with team scoring—no team racing tactics but the team with the best combined score at the end of the series won the trophy.  The South Carolina YC team won by 10 points—a relatively close score for a five-race series with four boats on each team.

The weekend included a welcoming reception at the Club on Friday evening, March 30^th, dinner at the home of Susan and Kevin Keogh on Saturday evening and breakfast at the home of Sally and Ned Nielsen on Sunday morning.  South Carolina Yacht Club Commodore Dudley King welcomed the visitors on Friday and exchanged Club burgees with Duncan Hennes, the Commodore of American Yacht Club who was racing on their team.  Commodore King also presented the trophy to the winners at the prize awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

The visiting sailors were housed by fleet members who live in the Windmill Harbour area of Hilton Head so they were all within walking distance of the Club.  The sailors racing on the South Carolina Yacht Club team were Don Buchanan, Marvin Carlson, Domenico DeSole, Joe Highsmith, Paul Miller, Ned Nielsen, John Rumsey and Tom Webster.  On the Race Committee for the event were Kevin Keogh, principal race officer, Peter Brower, Bob de Veer, Dwight Emanuelson, Bill Tyler and David Wilson.

The next events for Harbor 20 Fleet 3 are the Harbour Town Regatta run by the Yacht Club of Hilton Head Island on April 28^th and 29^th and the Domenico DeSole & Associates Regatta run by South Carolina Yacht Club on May 5^th and 6^th.   The DDS&A regatta is designated as the East Coast Championship for the Harbor 20 Class so visiting boats from Harbor 20 Fleet 5 in Annapolis, Maryland and other Harbor 20s from Savannah, Georgia and locations in Florida are expected to come to South Carolina Yacht Club to compete.

Following these regattas, Fleet 3 will run an event for Club members called “Learn What It’s Like to Sail a Harbor 20 in Calibogue Sound.”  Club members who are not regular Harbor 20 sailors are invited to sign up to sail with experienced Harbor 20 sailors on Saturday afternoon, May 12^th from 1:30 to 4:30.  They will learn how to handle the boat and enjoy the excitement of sailing it.  The afternoon will not involve racing but will be an opportunity to experience what Harbor 20 sailing is like.