Pensacola FL – October 1, 2020 - Due to damage from Hurricane Sally, the Pensacola Yacht Club must cancel all organized water-based events for the remainder of 2020 including the Melges 24 Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast Championships for the Bushwhacker Cup. 

Zane Yoder, Gulf Coast District Governor and Southeast District Governor Tony Stanley for the U.S. Melges 24 Class Association worked quickly and have confirmed that instead, the Mobile Yacht Club in Mobile, AL will host the event as an alternate venue. The dates remain the same — November 13-15. The new location is approximately only 45 minutes west of PYC.
 
Hal Smith, the PRO for the Pensacola YC Bushwhacker Cup, will continue as the PRO in Mobile with part of the Race Committee that would have run the regatta in Pensacola. 
 
All of the 21 current entries will be honored for the replacement location. Future entries will continue to be made on YachtScoring. The location and race documents are being updated on the site. 
 
The event was moved because of the damage inflicted on the Pensacola YC marina and hoist area by Hurricane Sally. Pensacola YC learned that Gulf Power will not be able to restore power to the club marina, docks and ancillary facilities for at least 2 months after removal of the 11 boats which are sunk in the marina or aground ashore.  
 
Work to repair the dock and hoist cannot start until power is restored.  An optimistic plan is that it will take 3 months for this to happen. Even without COVID, Pensacola YC has a major hurdle to clear in restoring normal functions to our marina and shore areas.  A powerboat is on the bottom leaking 600+ gallons of diesel, slowly.  Other boats on the bottom also have leaking problems, but not on the scale of this powerboat.  

Local government and the USCG have placed strict limits on how this and other sunken vessels are handled.  It seems that at the end of each day of recovery we find that we are farther from completion.

Pensacola YC looks forward to hosting the next Melges 24 Atlantic & Gulf Coast Championships for the Bushwhacker Cup in November 2021.