Week-long Caribbean Club Vacation Among Auction Items at Annual Flip Flop Regatta

Sunsail USA supports Flip Flop Regatta in its quest to raise money for the ALLY Foundation. Regatta this weekend expected to raise $50,000: silent and live auctions have host of goods and services available.

BOSTON, MA & ANNAPOLIS, MD August 11, 2004 - Annapolis-based Sunsail USA, the leading sailing charter company in the US, is donating a one-week trip for two to Club Colonna, a beach and sailing resort on the Caribbean island of Antigua, valued at $1,960, to the second annual Flip Flop Regatta held August 13 and 14 in Boston Harbor. Proceeds from the regatta benefit The Ally Foundation.

The two-person Caribbean trip will be auctioned live on Saturday, August 14 as part of the fundraising activities during the regatta. The Flip Flop Regatta is a U.S. Sailing sanctioned race and one of the few originating in Boston Harbor. With more than 60 boats and several hundred sailors expected at the starting line this year, the regatta is quickly proving itself as an important sailing event.

Its also an important fundraising event for the ALLY Foundation, which honors the memory and charity work of a young woman killed at a Massachusetts rest stop in 2002. Last year, the regatta raised $50,000, much of it from the events auction, all of which supports the organizations lobbying efforts to change sex offender laws.

One of the premier auction items this year is a week-long vacation to Sunsail USAs Club Colonna, a beach club designed for the adventure and active vacationer. Accommodations include use of all on-site sailing facilities, including a wide range of dinghy sailboats, catamarans, windsurfers, kayaks and use of the clubs power boats, informal sailing instruction, breakfast and afternoon tea daily, three lunches and four dinners throughout the week. The auctioned trip is good for a year.

Other live auction items include a Spinnaker from Doyle Sails and Hylas Yachts; a walk-on extra role in an upcoming movie Under My Skin, a comedy by The Cerrone Brothers and donated by Nourjian Ventures; and a custom-made handcrafted Scalamandre Rug from Preservation International.

The Ally Foundation honors Alexandra Nicole Zapp, a young woman murdered at a Massachusetts rest stop in the summer of 2002. Zapp volunteered at Courageous Sailing Center, the host of this years regatta, and worked with the children at Sail Newport, in Newport RI.

Sunsail is part of the new wave of adventure travel, offering bareboat, flotilla, and crewed yacht charters, power catamaran charters, and unique water sports beach club resorts worldwide. As the world's largest yacht charter and water sports beach club company, Sunsail operates more than 1000 yachts from 36 bases in 23 different countries and 7 water sports beach clubs. Headquartered in England, Sunsail was originally founded in 1974 and now employs more than 1,300 people around the world. Acquired by First Choice Holidays PLC in 1999, Sunsail, as part of First Choice Marine, has increased revenues by more than 50% since 2001, much of that from acquisitions and mergers.

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