In my hometown of Boston, MA — a town with a strong maritime tradition — a big sailing event typically gets a passing nod in the local newspapers, or perhaps some spot coverage by the local newspaper. Sure, the devoted turn up in droves to see the boats, but the excitement falls far short of a Red Sox’ World Series victory or even the St. Patty’s Day parade.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened my email this morning and found these pictures:

You see, in the Caribbean, sailing is as intrinsic to life as Guinness and baseball are to Beantown. Almost everybody sails, or knows somebody who sails, or has an interest (personal or business) in the sport. Enough so that an airline (albeit an event sponsor) paints one of their birds in the spirit of the event. From where I sit, that’s a pretty cool marketing strategy, especially if you love to sail.

Too bad the same excitement isn’t emanating from sailing’s Holy Grail, the America’s Cup, but that’s a different story.

For more information on the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, check out www.sailingweek.com/v2/index.php. Be sure to stay tuned to www.sailmagazine.com and to the July issue of Sail Magazine, as two of our editors will be on location for this year’s event.

Posted: March 24, 2008