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| Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta, ProvincetownSchoonerRace.com, September 1-7 |
The Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta is an eight day educational and sailing event that honors our maritime history and the great natural resources of our region. We promote public awareness of the important role that Schooners and other historic vessels played in our economic and cultural history. The Regatta takes place each year starting on the first Saturday of Labor Day weekend and ending on the following weekend.
Mission
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| ProvincetownSchoonerRace.com |
The Mission of the Great
Provincetown Schooner Regatta is to celebrate the role of the Great Atlantic
fishing bank schooner in Provincetown’s maritime history while providing
educational opportunities for residents and visitors to experience these historic
vessels both in port and at sea. Additionally, we educate the public about the
schooner races held off the New England coast from 1886 to 1938, and
commemorate Provincetown’s 1907 Lipton Cup victory. The Regatta shares the
story of Provincetown’s place in the traditional fishing industry as well as
educates the younger generations about the days of Cape Cod’s past, when
commerce and transportation truly ‘ran with the wind’. We work in tandem with
cultural and research institutions in Provincetown and Cape Cod to enhance and
reinforce the links between our local maritime history, fishing schooners,
sailing, the great resources of our region, our culture and our economy.
History
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| ProvincetownSchoonerRace.com |
Located at the outermost tip of
Cape Cod and well-noted for being the first landing place of the Pilgrims in
1620, Provincetown was the first great fishing port on the eastern seaboard
dating back to the time of the Norsemen. Many of the leading fishing vessels
that plied the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans throughout America’s
early maritime history called Provincetown home. Her skippers were well known
for their skill and seamanship. At the height of the commercial fishing in the
19th century, Provincetown harbored as many as 100, 90-ton Schooners and 700
vessels. The port of Provincetown was also responsible for three times the
catch of any other fishing port in New England.
The first Great
Provincetown Schooner Race was held in 2002. Provincetown resident Captain
John Bennett had been racing his Schooner Hindu in the Gloucester
Schooner Festival and was inspired to organize a schooner gathering in
his homeport. Although Captain Bennett did not live to see his dream come to
fruition, supported by the Provincetown community, the committee that he had
formed hosted the inaugural regatta that September in his honor. All who
participated in this effort were inspired by Captain Bennett’s passion for
sailing, his love of historic Schooners and his philosophy that good fellowship
and good times are an important part of everyone’s life.
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