Because a good party is needed

During a time when nothing is official, Figawi 2021 says it is and if needed, intends to will it into existence to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. After the past year, a good party is not to be denied, and the Figawi is, if nothing else, a good party

A New England tradition for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the typical race between Hyannis harbor and Nantucket harbor will be getting revised in 2021, but the objective remains to welcome (hopefully) a promising season of sailing. Anything can be better than 2020.

“We have been working really hard to get our racers back on the water this year for a safe fun and competitive weekend,” reports race czar Chris Standish. “With the current State Guidelines and Nantucket’s understandably conservative interpretation, we were not able to have our event on the island and we will only offer social gatherings in Hyannis as permitted by the State.

“That being said, we are taking it back to the roots…before big tent parties. We will be having two days of racing starting and finishing off of Hyannisport (May 29 and 30) and we are happy to have our Principal Race Officer Tom Duggan on board squeezing it in between his busy schedule as the Principal Race Officer of the up-coming Olympics in Tokyo.”

The Figawi may be the only race with an entry in the Urban Dictionary:

An annual sailboat race from Cape Cod to the island of Nantucket, taking place at the beginning of summer. It has become a weekend long event for the island, and is really nothing more than an excuse to get wasted and walk around town. It doesn’t matter who wins the race, as long as all contestants and townsfolk have consumed copious amounts of alcohol. The word figawi supposedly comes from drunken sailors with the New England accent landing on Nantucket and asking the question, “Where the f#ck are we?”

To facilitate the fun, the 10th Falmouth to Hyannis Race will start May 28 for the 15.7 nm race/delivery before the legendary Figawi Race. Hosted by Falmouth Yacht Club (Falmouth, MA), the idea came about after watching countless boats sail past FYC on the way to the Figawi race.

Launched in 2009, competitors coming from the North and West had a stopping off point in Falmouth where they could spend the evening at FYC, and then enjoy a sendoff breakfast the morning of the race. With the starting line directly in front of the yacht club, it proved to be a great warm-up race down to Hyannis to shake off some rust before the Figawi.

And with the pandemic, there’s plenty of rust to shake off.