Above: Some of the boats competing in the REALgatta off Goddard Park Monday night. Photo by Stephen Susi

When you find something that works well, you stick to it. That’s also the philosophy for the Greenwich Bay Sailing Association (GBSA) and a group of local real estate companies who teamed up again for the second official REALgatta. The event is coordinated by the GBSA and the real estate offices sponsor the event to raise money for new sails for the Sailing Association. 

I was fortunate enough to ride along on a spectator boat with Lauren Swanson, President of GBSA. I’m not much of a sailor and have never seen a sailing race, so to ride along with Lauren was a great and memorable experience. Not only was she sterring our boat and helping coordinate the races, she was still thoughtfully explaining to me what was happening in the races along with the basics of sailing. 

Each boat had a two-member crew from the local real estate office, piloted by one GBSA instructor or junior instructor. A lack of wind was not an issue which kept the race moving at high speed. The Hunter style and 420 sailing boats were racing for a couple hours, proudly showing off logos from their respective real estate office. Afterwards, at the East Greenwich Yacht Club, awards were given and fun banter was had. It was nice to see the local groups come together for a great cause and have some fun while doing it. 

Here are the real estate companies that participated:

Slocum Realty
Blue Star Properties
Residential Properties
Keller Williams
Abbott Properties
Milestone Mortgage
REMAX Professionals
Phipps Realty
Real Broker
Mott & Chace Sotheby’s
HomeSmart
Greenwich Bay Brokers
Williams & Stewart
RI Real Estate Services

Stephen Susi manages social media for EG News.