Charleston Race Week will be celebrating 30 years of the event in 2026 as professional sailors from around the country and the world come to Mount Pleasant to participate in one of the largest keelboat regattas in North America from April 16-19.
Now known as Charleston Race Week at Patriots Point, this annual event features premier sailboat racing and lively shoreside activities. According to Randy Draftz, executive director for Charleston Race Week at Patriots Point, event organizers expect a couple hundred boats competing on five different courses across 15 different sailing classes including J/70, J/22, J/24, J/105, J/88, Melges 32, Melges 24 and VX One. The J/70 Class and Melges 24 Class typically bring in international sailors from nations such as Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil and Argentina.
North American Championship comes to Charleston
For the very first time, Charleston Race Week has been selected to host the 2026 ORC Sportboat North American Championship during the event, one of the premier international regattas on the ORC (Offshore Racing Congress) calendar, which is expected to attract a competitive fleet from across the U.S., Canada and beyond.
The inclusion of the North American Championship has led CRW to expand by an extra day this year just for this one fleet of boats, which will be competing in a 20-mile distance race inside Charleston Harbor on April 16. The NAC race will last over the course of four days, while the regular race competitors will vie in the usual three-day Friday through Sunday event.
“It’s a big deal for us,” said Draftz of hosting the NAC. “It brings in a kind of high-end, performance-oriented group.”
It just makes RaceSense
Another exciting development in Charleston Race Week has been the evolution of RaceSense, a race management tool that tracks the boats around the various courses. “RaceSense has really taken over the sailing world by storm,” stated Draftz.
With the ability to know when a boat is over the starting line early, it saves Charleston Race Week organizers an incredible amount of time on race management, he explained. It helps avoid a general recall, which occurs when a boat or boats cross over the line early and the race committee decides to restart the race. The technology has advanced to the point where it can even help with monitoring the rules. “It’s our third year of using it, but it’s finally gaining acceptance among competitors,” noted Draftz. “It’s become such a popular program.”
Because it can track the position and speed of each boat, you can now actually watch the race online. “So we’re hoping to have a screen at the Yorktown where people can follow the race,” said Draftz.
In 2023, Charleston Race Week leadership got permission from the Town of Mount Pleasant to move regatta headquarters and the post-race parties onto the decks of the USS Yorktown. If CRW didn’t have the aircraft carrier to use as a race venue facility, the question of where you would host 1,200 sailors becomes quite a logistical challenge. “They’ve become a terrific partner for us,” said Draftz of Patriots Point, which in 2026 will be celebrating a milestone of its own: the 50th anniversary of its Naval & Maritime Museum, which preserves naval history and honors our nation’s heroes.
“It has been my privilege in life to compete as a sailor in Charleston Race Week quite a few times and now to work with the event as mayor of the host municipality,” said Mayor Will Haynie. “I think the dynamic partnership between the race and Patriots Point makes it the most unique regatta in the world as is evidenced by the number of people who are traveling from afar to participate. It gives a huge boost to our economy. I want locals to know that they can also enjoy the shoreside events and take in the excitement that Race Week has to offer.”
It takes a village
Still, to pull off an event of this magnitude requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work. There are 145 people who serve on their Race Week Committee who fly in on their own dime. While local people do house the members and race organizers provide them with meals to save on some expenses, it’s still not cheap. There are also 100 shoreside volunteers during the race. Another 23-person committee meets weekly leading up to CRW to discuss race management. Draftz said his wife Anna has played a major role now for many years, coordinating multiple aspects spanning volunteers, food service, registration, check-in logistics, sponsor activation and on-site operations. All this work and preparation is then closely integrated with Charleston Race Week’s partner, the Patriot’s Point Naval & Maritime Museum.
The coordination and preparation never really stops. “We’re already planning for 2027,” said Draftz, adding that they are looking at potential ideas for expansion. “It’s amazing the scale of the event and the exposure the event has.”
By Colin McCandless
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