Performance Racing Clinic 2025 – Learn Advanced Sailing and Sailboat Racing Techniques
Dive into our Performance Racing Clinic, which is designed to transform novice racers and sailboat racers seeking the skills to win, into seasoned competitors.
Steve Colgate started Performance Race Weeks in the Bahamas in 1967.
Hosted at the picturesque Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina, this clinic is a must for any sailing enthusiast looking to boost their sailboat racing skills.
An Olympian, America’s Cup Competitor, and 2015 Hall of Fame Inductee, Steve Colgate is the innovator of sailboat racing instruction. Starting in 1967, his sailboat racing programs have been held in the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, and Florida. In 2025, our Performance Race Week Performance Racing Clinic returns to the beautiful Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina on Ft. Myers Beach, Florida.
JOIN OUR NEXT GO-FOR-THE-GOLD PERFORMANCE RACING CLINIC
JANUARY 11-16, 2025
Four Exciting Days of Race Training at Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina on the Gulf of Mexico
The Performance Race Week Performance Racing Clinic starts with a Meet and Greet Orientation party on arrival night, January 11, 2025. The next morning, you set sail on Offshore’s fleet of Colgate 26s, learning go-fast sailboat techniques, how to do a perfect mark rounding, how to maximize your speed when sailing closehauled and on a close or broad reach, how to set asymmetrical and symmetrical spinnakers when sailing off the wind, and what you need to know about sailboat racing rules. Coached by Offshore Sailing School’s expert racing team of instructors, you will be advancing your sailboat racing knowledge and sailboat racing skills in 2 three-hour sessions with multiple starts and actual races, each of the first three days. On the morning of Day 4, you head out again for another on-water coaching session and practice starts. That afternoon you are racing for trophies in an an intense sailboat regatta as the entire fleet vies for line honors in at least four races with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies awarded.
Who Should Participate
- Sailors with strong sailing skills, ready for racing
- Race skippers and crew who want to improve skills
- Pre-requisites: US Sailing Basic Keelboat Certification and Performance Sailing courses or equivalent experience on boats at least 20′ LOA
- Capable of steering and crewing 20’+ sailboats
- Racing resume required
- Minimum age 16, with adult family member
Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina – Florida Sailing School
Family and Friends Welcome
If you have family and friends who want to take this Performance Racing Clinic with you, sign them up! If they just want to relax on the beach and explore the many fun eco- and historical retreats in the area, bring them along. There is a ton to do at Pink Shell Beach Resort! Guests are invited to the Welcome Orientation Party, the Beach BBQ, and the Awards Dinner following the Regatta for a per-person fee.
The program ends on January 15, so plan to return home on January 16 unless you book extra nights to enjoy the resort’s many amenities and relax on the beach to work on that healthy, warm-weather glow in the heart of winter up north.
Get Your Sailboat Racing Adrenaline Going!
Performance Racing Clinics are most effective if you already have US Sailing Basic Keelboat and Performance Sailing certifications. We offer 3-day Learn to Sail and Performance Sailing Courses year-round. Racing Clinics are for experienced sailors, so if you have never raced before but have good sailing skills on keelboats like the Colgate 26, we ask that you take these courses before joining the Clinic. 
Saturday
Arrive and check in late afternoon
6:30 meet and greet party with island punch and hors d’oevures
Sunday – Tuesday
9am-noon and 1:30-4:30 pm on-water race training
12:15-1:15 pm seminar with box lunch ashore
Monday
6 p.m. BBQ Buffet on the beach
Wednesday
Regatta – 9am-1pm and 2-5pm
1-2 pm race recap ashore with box lunch
6:30 pm cocktail party and 7:30 pm gala awards dinner starts
Thursday
Depart for home or stay and play another day or two
888-454-7015 ♦ 239-454-1700
Sail@OffshoreSailing.com
While sailing, you’re likely to be surrounded by pelicans diving, herons and egrets wading along the shore, ospreys nesting on channel markers . . . and best of all, you might very well be accompanied by dolphins on the racecourse!
Learn on the Most Popular Race-Training Sailboats!
You’ll have lots of open water, wind, and wave conditions to challenge and improve your racing skills. Our fleet of race-ready Colgate 26 sailboats is fun and fast to sail. Known for high performance, the Colgate 26 is a responsive, comfortable, safe, and fun keelboat to race!
It turns on a dime, accelerates quickly, has sophisticated adjustments not generally found on a 26-footer, and is set up for easy sail trimming and steering. A coach station behind the helmsperson allows for plenty of room for a busy crew of four to work together as your coach keeps you in aggressive learning mode. Expect tons of starts, lots of drills, and practice
races to get you tuned up to win.
888-454-7015 ♦ 239-454-1700
Sail@OffshoreSailing.com
DRILLS, PRACTICE STARTS AND MORE STARTS . . .
“The Performance Race Week clinic was fantastic. What you learn iis more valuable than anything you’ll learn in years of sailing.”
Winter Hawley – Manitowoc, WI
Read more testimonials here
Go-For-The-Gold Performance Racing Clinic Packages
Here’s what’s typically included in our Performance Racing Clinic packages:
- 15 hours of on-water race training with expert racing coaches
- Two half-day Regattas with trophies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd overall winners
- Daily one-hour seminars with box lunches
- First-night welcome party with island punch and hors d’oeuvres
- BBQ on the beach
- Last night’s awards cocktail party and dinner
- 5-night resort accommodations at Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina, including applicable taxes and resort fee
- Daily breakfast at Jack’s Restaurant
- Two bottles of Evian Water (per room)
- Signature Pink Shell Beach Tote (per room)
- Performance Racing Clinic Program Book
- Complimentary use of fitness center, pools/hot tubs, beach chair and umbrella, paddleboards
- Event t-shirt and cap
- Logbook and Race Clinic certificate
- Steve Colgate’s Performance Sailing and Racing Clinic
888-454-7015 ♦ 239-454-1700
Sail@OffshoreSailing.com
“I’ve attended many courses in 37 years as a Navy pilot and airline pilot. The course and particularly the Offshore instructors were outstanding.”
Tom Corboy – Annapolis, MD
Read more testimonials here
The Greatest Classroom In The World!®
888-454-7015 ♦ 239-454-1700
Sail@OffshoreSailing.com
Depending on weather conditions and the learning pace of all those aboard your boat, Performance Race Week® will cover the following:
- Starting tactics
- Sail shape
- Stalling and accelerating
- Upwind and downwind tactics
- Racing strategy
- Covering and breaking cover
- Racing rules
- Proper sail trim on all points of sail
- Boat speed and tuning
- Spinnaker techniques
- Finishing tactics
- Weather and wind shifts
- Rounding marks
- Teamwork and crew preparation
Prerequisite: Colgate Performance Sailing Certifications or sailing skills and knowledge equivalent to the Offshore Sailing School Performance Sailing Course. All Race Week participants will be required to submit a completed Sailing Resume before you are fully confirmed.
888-454-7015 ♦ 239-454-1700
Sail@OffshoreSailing.com
Please call one of the numbers above or email for more information on package rates. There is an extra per person charge for non-sailors traveling with you who wish to attend dinners and social events.
Florida or the British Virgin Islands. Call 888-454-7015 for more information
SAMPLE SCHEDULE:
Saturday
Arrive and check in late afternoon
6:30 meet and greet party with island punch and hors d’oevures
Sunday – Tuesday
9am-noon and 1:30-4:30 pm on-water race training
12:15-1:15pm seminar with box lunch ashore
Monday
6 p.m. BBQ Buffet on the beach
Wednesday
Regatta – 9am-1pm and 2-5pm
1-2pm race recap ashore with box lunch
6:30pm cocktail party and 7:30pm gala awards dinner starts
Thursday
Depart for home or stay and play another day or two
Daily schedules are subject to change.
Here’s what our Performance Race Week® and Racing Clinic participants have to say:
“This has been a great learning experience and it delivers. With the same skipper (back home) we never finished better than 4th. Yesterday we got a second and 2 firsts!”
John Breyfogle – Countersville, AL
“I’ve attended many courses in 37 years as a Navy pilot and airline pilot. This course and particularly the Offshore instructor were outstanding.”
Tom Corboy – Annapolis, MD
“If you love to go fast and strive to be better, you can’t bet the combination of owning your own Colgate 26 and taking the Performance and Racing classes. They are top notch instructors.”
Phil Weintraub – Hopewell Junction, NY
“I was not comfortable taking the helm during a race until I attended this course. I have since become quite confident in my driving skills and feel very competitive with the rest of the fleet – hence 3rd place finish in the Marblehead NOODS!”
Shawna Gauthier – Marblehead, MA
“The curriculum was even more power-packed than I expected. I have walked away with more knowledge and experience than I ever expected. This was a total success.”
Diana Augsburger – Kenmore, NY
“Race Week was absolutely the BEST!!! Many thanks for a wonderful and really educational week. I can’t believe how much I learned, and I loved meeting all the other participants and, of course, our coach.”
Kim Frisbie – Ft. Washington, PA
Here’s what our Performance Race Week® participants have to say:
“This has been a great learning experience and it delivers. With the same skipper (back home) we never finished better than 4th. Yesterday we got a second and 2 firsts!”
John Breyfogle – Countersville, AL
“I’ve attended many courses in 37 years as a Navy pilot and airline pilot. This course and particularly the Offshore instructor were outstanding.”
Tom Corboy – Annapolis, MD
“If you love to go fast and strive to be better, you can’t bet the combination of owning your own Colgate 26 and taking the Performance and Racing classes. They are top notch instructors.”
Phil Weintraub – Hopewell Junction, NY
“I was not comfortable taking the helm during a race until I attended this course. I have since become quite confident in my driving skills and feel very competitive with the rest of the fleet – hence 3rd place finish in the Marblehead NOODS!”
Shawna Gauthier – Marblehead, MA
“The curriculum was even more power-packed than I expected. I have walked away with more knowledge and experience than I ever expected. This was a total success.”
Diana Augsburger – Kenmore, NY
“Race Week was absolutely the BEST!!! Many thanks for a wonderful and really educational week. I can’t believe how much I learned, and I loved meeting all the other participants and, of course, our coach.”
Kim Frisbie – Ft. Washington, PA
