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The 2nd Annual Palm Beach Vintage Regatta: February 20th

Waterfront Festival Features Vintage Yachts, Racing – and Free Admission!

February 10, 2016
The Palm Beach Vintage Regatta, presented by Camelot Yacht Club and Moores Marine, is returning for its second year on Saturday, February 20, 2016, bringing a century’s worth of nautical history back to the West Palm Beach waterfront. This fun family festival features vintage yachts at the docks, a land display of smaller antique boats and vintage hydroplanes, a sailboat race, and food and beverages for purchase. The event is open to the public and there is no admission fee, although VIP passes that include hospitality on the day of the event are available for advance purchase.

The 2nd Annual Palm Beach Vintage Regatta has been expanded beyond the inaugural event to include land displays of antique runabouts and smaller yachts. A crowd favorite, Jersey Skiff demonstrations and vintage hydroplane racing at speeds of up to 100 mph will buzz the waters of downtown West Palm Beach just off the show docks.

This year’s vintage fleet also will feature a “memory lane” of sportfishing yachts built by local builder Rybovich & Sons. Showgoers will be able journey through the times and designs of the innovative Rybovich family, credited with inventing the fighting chair and tuna door in the 1940s. One of the highlights of the 2016 Palm Beach Vintage Regatta for participating yacht owners and VIP Pass-holders will be a keynote presentation at the VIP and Captains Award Party on Saturday evening at Camelot Yacht Club by Michael Rybovich, a member of the family’s third generation, who has carried on its wooden boat-building tradition at Michael Rybovich & Sons in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The 1st Annual Palm Beach Vintage Regatta, held in February, 2015, drew more than 35 antique and vintage yachts including the 8th Presidential Yacht, Honey Fitz, known as the “Yacht of Camelot” because it was a favorite of President John F. Kennedy and his family. Over 8,000 people attended the event, strolling the docks to admire the vintage wooden boats and learn about their histories.
 
The Palm Beach Vintage Regatta is the brainchild of nightclub and restaurant mogul Rodney Mayo, owner of the popular West Palm Beach night spot Camelot Yacht Club, and renowned classic yacht restoration expert Jim Moores of Moores Marine in Riviera Beach, Fla. Their goal was to return the elegance and grace of vintage yachts to the Lake Worth waterfront.

Additional information is also available at pbregatta.com.