The Friendship Sloop Society’s 23rd annual Southwest Harbor rendezvous and race begins on Saturday, July 11 in the Great Harbor of Mount Desert Island at approximately 1:00 pm.

The fleet includes both wooden and fiberglass boats, mostly built in the last 50 years, but also a few sloops built over one hundred years ago.

There is typically good viewing of the start from The Claremont Hotel located at 22 Claremont Road in Southwest Harbor.