No sailboat race for Yarmouth this year. The Yarmouth Cup Shriners International Sailboat Challenge has been cancelled however organizers say they plan on promoting the 2009 event to be even bigger.
Carla Allen photo
Sailboat race cancelled
By Carla Allen
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
The Yarmouth Cup Shriners International Sailboat Challenge has been cancelled for this year.
David Faulkner, director of development for Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston said the committee officially pulled the plug this morning.
“We had two single-handed sailors that were going and they were very apprehensive as of last night,” he said.
“We were getting reports of eight to 12-foot swells in the Gulf of Maine.”
Four boats were registered for the race, which was a partnership between the former Yarmouth Cup Ocean Race committee and the Shriners.
The vessels were scheduled to depart Provincetown, Massachusetts for Yarmouth on July 19. The race was a fundraiser for the Boston Shriners Hospital for Children and the Shriners Hospital in Montreal.
The disappointment in Faulkner’s voice was obvious.
“I’m not happy but I can’t do anything about it. It’s a 240-mile trip across open water and safety is paramount to anything we do,” he said.
He added that many groups and corporations had stepped forward to sponsor the boats and expects next year’s race to have a lot more entries.
by Carla Allen/The Vanguard 
