Spirited sailors and their sleek sailboats arrive this week for the start of the 86th annual Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta. The regatta appears to be recession-proof. Sailors love to sail, no matter what appears to be going on ashore. Competition begins on Thursday and runs through Saturday. As many as 250 youths and as many people are expected to compete on the water, possibly more than a year ago.

Roughly 50 boats with captains and crew will participate in the day-long ’Round the Island Race, which starts early Saturday morning.

“I think the regatta is the July event when it comes to activity on the water in Edgartown,” said Bill Roman, yacht club manager. “I think sailing is the economic way to enjoy the water. You don’t have to put gas in your boat to go sailing. Plus, I think sailors are a particularly thrifty bunch.”

This is also the weekend of the Vineyard Cup, the sailing regatta held in Vineyard Haven. The timing of these two events on the same weekend offers the sailor some tough choices. Mr. Roman said the Edgartown Yacht Club chose this weekend because the tides and currents are favorable for the ’Round the Island Race. He said it also lines up nicely without conflicting with other events on Cape Cod and elsewhere. The Edgartown Yacht Club regatta attracts participants from around the region.

The regatta is a colorful sailing event made for spectators. On any one of the three days there is an opportunity to watch these classic and quick sailboats maneuver in, out and around the harbor. The viewing stand can be atop Memorial Wharf or it can be out in a boat strategically placed for show time. Racing begins Thursday morning when the boats leave the harbor at 10 a.m. They’ll be filing out of the harbor up until noon. The sailboats return around 3 p.m.

The racers are as small as sailing dinghies called Optimists. And they are as large as one-design sailboats that require two and four-member crews with boat lengths up to 30 feet. The Edgartown Yacht Club regatta reaches across all generations for participants.

More than 90 youngsters aged eight years old to their young teens will compete in the Optimist races outside of Edgartown Harbor. Views of these little sailboats can be had from Edgartown Lighthouse Beach. Older teens will sail the faster and larger 420s.

Mr. Roman said they are expecting as many as 80 boats. With so many sailors and boats on the water, Mr. Roman said there are a number of different starts taking place at different times and in different places in the outer harbor. Motorboat enthusiasts who want to watch the events will grab a spot near the many different marks that are set up outside the harbor. The marks are buoys where the sailors make their turns to head in a different direction along a designated course.

A dozen Shields-class sailboats will race. The Shields sailboats are 30 feet in length and look much like a small version of the 12-metre sailboats that race for the World Cup. Shields are exciting to watch because they come equipped with colorful spinnakers. Crews work as efficiently as clocks to get those huge light sails aloft quickly and to bring the boats round the mark and head downwind.

There are as many as 18 Herreshoff 12 1/2-foot sailboats competing in the outer harbor. Among adults, this small boat rules in Edgartown harbor in both popularity and nautical appearance. There are a number of these gaff-rigged sailboats with barn red sails in Edgartown harbor. They require two-man crews and also have a small spinnaker.

As many as 25 Wianno Senior class sailboats will arrive in Edgartown harbor Thursday afternoon at about 4 p.m. and they’ll be in a rush. It is their annual race from the Cape to the Vineyard and most of them will slip into the harbor about the same time. These 25-foot gaff-rigged sailboats are classic.

The Wianno class sailboats and the Shields will race Friday and Saturday off Cow Bay. Their racing can be watched from the Joseph Sylvia State Beach or that eastern portion of the beach familiarly known as Bend in the Road Beach.

The big race of the weekend is Saturday’s ’Round the Island Race. There is an 8 a.m. start to the race, which will be in waters not far from the Edgartown Lighthouse. Boats ranging in size from 28 feet to as large as 60 feet will race 63-miles clockwise around the Island. Mr. Roman said most them will be back by mid-afternoon to late afternoon. The start is far more spectacular than the finish.