Still Rollin’

With gas prices through the roof, the US economy in shambles, and
regatta attendance down at nearly every major ’08 event, we weren’t
optimistic about the turnout for the
2008 OSA Melges 24 Nationals in our home town of Charleston, SC.
Charleston has a small but growing local Melges fleet and 20-odd boats
show up every April for Charleston Race Week, but nobody really thought
they’d get near what Anarchist Napoleon Dynamite achieved in Detroit.

Fast forward to this weekend, when 50 Melgi will hit the prettiest
harbor in the US, with talent overflowing and a field full of olympians
and national and world champions from dozens of different classes. Event
Chairman Reggie Fairchild chose a much more subtle approach than Bayview
did last year – no professional PR (cough…cough), no big international
sponsor – just full-on grass roots regatta promotion. And it worked.
We’ll be on the water all weekend shooting pics and video from the event,
and you’ll get the dope right here. In the mean time, here’s a little
Q & A with Reggie.

SA: So without much of a web presence or a major sponsor,
you pulled together what looks to be an awesome regatta. How’d you do
it?