Feb 08, 2011 20:04 EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE EDGARTOWN, MA: Mount Gay Rum Returns To Sponsor Edgartown YC ‘Round-the-Island Race July 9, 2011. After a successful inaugural sponsorship of the Edgartown Yacht Club’s 68th annual ‘Round-the-Island Race, Mount Gay Rum will return as sole sponsor of the 2011 circumnavigation of beautiful Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, July 9. Participants launched the event with the Mount Gay ‘Jump Up’ cocktail party and buffet on Friday night before the race. Entries were up 30% in 2010 and the Club expects even more entries in 2011 RTI. Past notable winners of this 52.8 mile race include RAMBLER, SCHERAZADE and MONEYPENNY. The event is open to PHRF, IRC, cruising class yachts, and, for the second year in a row, one-design classes. This is a highly competitive, fun race for all classes of participants. The Notice Of Race and on-line registration can be found on the ‘Round-the-Island website: http://www.rti.org Edgartown Yacht Club held its first race around Martha’s Vineyard Island in the summer of 1938. Except for the years of the Second World War, the race has been an annual event ever since. The course itself is a splendid sail. It is reminiscent of the race around the Isle of Wight in England, which was the course of the first America’s Cup. The distance around Martha’s Vineyard is similar (only a few miles longer); both courses have views of cliffs, headlands, villages and open water; and the tidal currents and wind effects are important in both. The course around the Vineyard passes in sight of the seven lighthouses of Cape Poge, Gay Head, Tarpaulin Cove, Nobska, West Chop, East Chop and Edgartown. In the morning the fleet sails between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket along the east beach of Chappaquiddick. At midday they are in the open Atlantic Ocean with views of the south coast of the Vineyard. In the afternoon, rounding the gorgeous cliffs of Gay Head, the fleet sails up Vineyard Sound, which was the second busiest body of water in the world during the age of sail. With the prestigious addition of Mount Gay Rum to the race (a Northeast sponsorship addition to a calendar containing premier sponsorships throughout the country and the world), the Edgartown Yacht Club is looking forward to the most exciting, fun-filled ‘Round-the-Island Race ever. ...