Bay Area Celebrity Sailing Event Kicks Off Summer Sailstice International Holiday For Sailors

SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA (May 21, 2009) - Since 2001, sailors from around the world have come together on the summer solstice each year to set sail for Summer Sailstice, the global celebration of sailing in the Northern Hemisphere. Founded as a holiday uniting the international community of sailors – from cruisers to racers to recreational boaters - Summer Sailstice now hosts a wide range of celebrations by sailing clubs, classes and organizations. This year's Sailstice will be celebrated on the weekend of June 20th and 21st by over 12,000 sailors worldwide with participation from every sort of sailing craft from windsurfers and kite boards to tall ships and multihulls.

Kicking off 2009's Summer Sailstice in the Bay Area will be a warm-up event for the media, the Summer Sailstice Celebrity Regatta, to be held on the 14th of June. A benefit event for BAADS, the Bay Area Association for Disabled Sailors, the regatta will host local San Francisco media personalities from popular radio and broadcast stations including KFOG, CBS Channel 5, KGO, Live 105, KNBR, KTVU among others. The group will take to the water and compete against each other in J120's in a regatta based out of South Beach Yacht Club near McCovey Cove. South Beach will then host the post-race kickoff party celebrating sailing and the start of the 2009 Summer Sailstice just before the Giants square off against the A's in Pac Bell Park next door.

Following the Summer Sailstice Celebrity Media Event will be the 4th annual Summer Sailstice Festival at Treasure Island's Clipper Cove marina on June 20th. This popular and free event will kickoff at 11am on Saturday with free sailboat rides and continue with music until 10pm. The Summer Sailstice Treasure Island Festival will host 4 bands, food and beverages, boat building contests and free sail boat rides in a full day of activities including YRA races and a BAYS youth regatta, a photo treasure hunt on the water, kids treasure hunt and new boat displays. A number of yacht clubs will be bringing their members to join in the fun along with an expected 2,000 sailing enthusiasts.

Founder John Arndt notes "What I love about Summer Sailstice is the tremendous camaraderie it inspires across the sailing community. Each year we see new, more creative ways that sailing enthusiasts are finding, through Summer Sailstice, to reach out to new sailors as well as their current sailing friends and share their joy in just being out on the water. It's also great to support the ultimate 'green' sport which harnesses the natural energy of the wind. And the best part (especially in an economy like this one), participation in Summer Sailstice is free!"

This goal of this global event on June 20th and 21st is to empty all the berths and harbors in the Northern Hemisphere as sailors and their extended friends and family get out on the water on the first two days of Summer. Sailors can sign up as participants on the Summer Sailstice website (www.summersailstice.com/sf), and list their boats and crew which are sailing on the Summer Sailstice. All participants are automatically eligible to win one of over 300 sailing industry prizes. The site also lets sailors, Sailing Clubs and Classes alert others in their local areas about their weekend sailing plans so sailors can find events nearby. In past years, Summer Sailstice has seen sailors from 50 states and 20 different countries registering their participation on the Summer Sailstice website.

Summer Sailstice is partnering with Sailors for the Sea, a Boston-based non-profit organization that educates and empowers the sailing community to protect and restore our oceans and coastal waters. Sailors for the Sea and Summer Sailstice are hosting a virtual Summer Sailstice circumnavigation of the Americas. Participating sailors can
sign up at the Summer Sailstice website and can pledge funds for every mile sailed on the Summer Sailstice weekend with all funds raised going towards Sailors of the Sea's advocacy and educational programs supporting ocean conservation.

For more information and to sign up for this year's Summer Sailstice celebration, visit www.SummerSailstice.com.

About Summer Sailstice
Summer Sailstice is the global holiday celebrating sailing, held annually on the summer solstice and the weekend closest to it, the longest sailing days of the year. This international event was founded in 2001 to connect the global sailing community in a fun, creative, and participative sailing holiday. Every year, Summer Sailstice connects over 12,000 sailors all over the world-from cruisers to racers to recreational-to celebrate the joy they experience on the water under sail. Summer Sailstice has expanded to include participants from Japan, across the Americas to Europe. For more information, please visit www.SummerSailstice.com.