Nantucket Race Week is an eight -day experience that marshals the entire Nantucket community together in a fun-filled week of regattas, awards ceremonies, and parties. The races provide sport for everyone from young dinghy sailors and families in the household knockabout to grand prix racers at the very top of their profession. The racing begins on Saturday, August 9, 2008 with events scheduled daily through Sunday, August 17, 2008.

Nantucket Race Week is hosted by Nantucket Yacht Club and the Great Harbor Yacht Club to benefit Nantucket Community Sailing (NCS), a non-profit, educational organization that provides affordable access to sailing and water sports to the public. Now in its thirteenth year, NCS served over 2000 sailors last year, providing free equipment and instruction through many community outreach programs, including sponsoring and coaching Nantucket's High School Sailing Team, offering scholarships to year-round island youth, running informal sailboat races for all levels and teaching adaptive windsurfing and rowing clinics for disabled athletes.