Bristol, Rhode Island, USA – Three well-known names in the recreational boating world have signed on as sponsors of the Salty Dawg Rally, according to Bill Knowles, rally co-founder. West Marine, the nation’s largest boating supply retailer, premium yacht builder BENETEAU America, and Florida’s Earle Yachts, a major brokerage firm, have all joined in support of the Salty Dawg Rally (SDR), the U.S. East Coast’s most popular annual cruising rally for sailing yachts heading south to the Caribbean in the winter. “We’re delighted to have our new sponsors aboard,” Knowles said, “Our valued sponsors bring a great deal of benefit and support to our cruising members who make the passage south, and then back north again every year. Now there’s no reason not to be a Dawg!” Bill and Linda Knowles, co-founders of the rally.
West Marine, headquartered in Watsonville, California, is well known as the nation’s largest supplier of boating-related products and services. BENETEAU America, headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, is the U.S. division of one of the world’s finest yacht crafters. Founded in Croix-de-Vie in Vendée in France more than a century ago, BENETEAU has launched more than 42,000 yachts that have sailed the seas of the world. Earle Yachts, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a family owned company founded on principals of integrity, cooperation and hard work, a brokerage firm that specializes in working with clients throughout the buying or selling process and advising current and future owners.
These firms join a long list of SDR sponsors that include nv-charts, Blue Water Sailing magazine, the Bitter End Yacht Club, Jeanneau North America, Hylas Yachts, and many others.
About The Salty Dawg Rally
The Salty Dawg Rally is free for all participants, founded by cruising enthusiasts Bill & Linda Knowles of Bristol, Rhode Island, with their Jeanneau 54DS, Sapphire, and their Jack Russell terrier, Brie, the original ‘Salty Dawg’. The rally leaves Hampton, Virginia in the fall, headed for the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other ports in the Caribbean, and returns to the participants’ various home ports in the spring. Members of the Rally receive sponsor-supplied products and services. The Salty Dawg Rally is comprised of blue water sailors who have completed at least one blue water passage. There is no formal inspection of each boat, since it is the responsibility of each skipper to have proper safety equipment and to ensure that the vessel is prepared for the passage.
For more information about joining the Rally or becoming a sponsor, visit www.saltydawgrally.org.