Annual Wheelchair Regatta removes barriers

Silver Gate Yacht Club hosts “Day on the Bay” sailing event to benefit disabled individuals.

SAN DIEGO — Silver Gate Yacht Club brings its annual Wheelchair Regatta back to San Diego on June 10, providing disabled individuals an opportunity to spend the day on the water.

The yacht club hosts the Wheelchair Regatta as part of its “Day on the Bay” festivities, where hundreds of people come together to enjoy lunch, music and the water.

This year’s regatta, which is its 58th installment, brings together yacht club members and volunteers to host physically and/or mentally challenged individuals for a tour of San Diego Bay.

Food, drinks and service items are often donated to the regatta; fuel has been provided at a discounted rate for previous regattas. Service members from Miramar Air Station also volunteer their efforts to the Wheelchair Regatta, attending the sailing event to help challenged participants onto boats.

The regatta has drawn somewhere between 400 and 500 people in recent years. Silver Gate YC’s boat owners volunteer their boats (and time) to the cause.

Silver Gate YC hosted its first Wheelchair Regatta in 1960 and provides those who might not otherwise have the chance to be on the water to experience a boat ride.

“Every year since 1960, the Silver Gate Yacht Club has been joined by the boating community and military volunteers to provide a day on the water for hundreds of physically challenged guests from San Diego and surrounding communities,” the Silver Gate YC website stated about the Wheelchair Regatta.

Call Silver Gate YC at 619-222-1214 for details or more information, or visit the yacht club’s website at sgyc.org.

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