By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Some of the prettiest and fastest sailboats in the region will be in Edgartown this weekend for the 17th annual Edgartown Yacht Club 12-metre regatta. At least seven are expected from Newport.

At the foot of Main street in Edgartown two 80-foot masts tower over the yacht club clubhouse.

Today is a practice day, and all the boats will leave the harbor early for an 11 a.m. start. Race starts will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow and Sunday. The boats will race in Nantucket Sound off the Cape Pogue Lighthouse at the northern edge of Chappaquiddick. For boaters wishing to have a view, the sailboats will be racing between government buoys R 2 and R 22, off the Edgartown outer harbor and Cow Bay.

The 12-metre class is a fast, elegant sailboat that competed in the America’s Cup years ago. Many of this weekend’s participating boats are living museums, maintained by some of the world’s greatest sailors.

The 12-metres measure about 64 feet in length and their masts are over 80 feet. All but one of the boats have been here before; K-22, Victory ’83 is visiting for the first time.

The others in the fleet include USA, Courageous, Columbia and American Eagle. The oldest boats participating are Gleam and Northern Light.

Memorial Wharf and Edgartown Lighthouse beach are good spots to see the vessels enter and leave the harbor. The sailboats will leave the harbor before 10 a.m. and return in the mid to late afternoon.

Once the boats are racing, they can be seen from Fuller street beach and Bend in the Road Beach.

Yacht club manager Bill Roman said: “This is an exciting weekend for us. It brings a lot of activity to the waterfront.” He added: “The weather is expected to offer perfect sailing conditions.”