Charleston Race Week sails into Charleston Harbor with a weekend full of activities

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – Thursday marks the official start of Charleston Race Week, which includes four days of sailboat races and activities all kicking off at Patriots Point.

Organizers say it takes a year to prepare for this weekend of races as they’re not preparing just for the competition, but also for a handful of community events happening on the USS Yorktown.

Organizers said they have 16 different classes of sailboats and over 180 boats registered. Those boats will compete in a variety of courses both on and off Charleston’s shore.

Charleston Race Week will utilize the entire USS Yorktown this year for post-race events. The first of those events starts Thursday night with an opening party.

Organizers have planned a race party buffet on the ship with live music from the band High Tide. There are also a handful of vendors set up including Charleston Community Sailing, Veterans on Deck, and the College of Charleston Sailing.

Charleston Race Week event director Randy Draftz said his team is working to use the USS Yorktown’s space to better connect with the community.

“How do we leverage this new relationship and partnership? And I think one of the things is, is how do we take 1,000/1,200 people that are visiting the ship during the course of race week and turn them into sailors, right? I mean there’s going to be a few of them in there I think, so what we’ve done is provided a space in the sponsorship area on hanger B, for the community of organizations,” said Draftz.

Registration day for the race begins at noon on Thursday. If you’re looking to get an early start to the weekend, the opening party will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, with the first set of races taking place Friday morning.