Figawi is a sailboat race from Hyannis to Nantucket. But it’s so much more than that; it’s a living history.

First contested among three boats in 1972, it has grown to become one of the premier yacht racing events on the East Coast.

Well known is that the first race was won by Bob “Red” Luby, besting the Horan brothers, Joe and Bob, to the island. Less well known may be that after his triumphant entrance to Nantucket Harbor, there was no welcoming committee, not even a party to go to. In a stunning anti-climax, the Boat Basin was closed.

Memorial Day on Nantucket in 1972 was, then, a quiet holiday. Now it’s like a floating Mardi Gras.

The 1973 version of Figawi drew nine boats.

On Saturday, the 45th celebration will unfold with 225 sailboats, escorted by a fleet of powerboats, all vying for glory, trophies, and a place in the history books.

Over the years, luminaries have won Figawi. The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, aboard, Mya, his class few times, and Bill Koch of Osterville won twice in the 1980s before going on to worldwide acclaim for winning the America’s Cup in 1992.

(As an aside: Koch is so wealthy he recently asked auction house Sotheby's to help him unload some wine — less than half of his collection— for $15 million.)

Figawi attracts all kinds of boats.

This weekend the 139-foot schooner America is scheduled to compete. It’s a replica of the original racing yacht that, in 1851, beat a fleet of British ships in a race around the Isle of Wight, in what was to become the America’s Cup, the oldest and still most prestigious trophy in sailing.

Owner Troy Sears is bringing America to Figawi as part of an international goodwill tour ahead of the 2017 America’s Cup, which will be competed in Bermuda.

Following Saturday’s race, the layday on the island on Sunday includes awards and other festivities, plus a high school invitational regatta. Scholastic sailors compete in 420s, 14-foot one-design boats designed for two crew to zip around a tight, highly contested course in the harbor.

Figawi organizers have always been good at remembering that this is, in fact, Memorial Day.

And to that end, Bob Solomon will again be coming all the way from Indianapolis, and again hosting soldiers on his boat, a Jeanneau 49, which will be crewed in part by a handful of veterans as part of the Holiday For Heroes charity. Another boat is made up of 10 members of the 101st Airborne unit.

Rendezvous II skipper Mike Mason, sailing on his Beneteau 461 out of Falmouth, has been in 10 Figawis, and one of his crew members will be on board for his 30th consecutive race.

Mason had some serious health problems a few years back. A severe reaction to medication led to a four-month hospital stay. He said his desire to get back on the water and to sail another Figawi was a “driving force” in his recovery.

“(It’s) great competition. It’s the start of the summer, and people get excited,” he said.

Harvey Jones took a few moments from his busy day in San Francisco to talk Figawi. It’s a complex chess game for him. On Monday, Jones’ boat, a gorgeous wooden W46 called Mustang, arrived from Maine. On Wednesday, he was scheduled to fly in from the West Coast.

Comparing sailing to riding a bike, he admits that he’ll be a little rusty at first since, “The first time I touch the helm will be the morning of the race.”

Jones has “lost count” of how many Figawis he’s sailed, but looks forward annually to getting back to Nantucket, where he spends most of his summers, between trips back to San Francisco.

“When the dog gets there, that’s when my center of gravity shifts to Nantucket,” he said.

Jones praises Figawi for being a superbly run event. “It’s beautiful out on the water, a great group of people, a lot of fun.”

Bill Finn and Francis Shiman-Hackett co-own a boat/lifestyle called Sparkle Pony. They raced 50 times in 2015, all over Massachusetts, and took a healthy collection of hardware, including winning C class at last year’s Figawi.

Their “win the party” ethos is evident all weekend. Sparkle Pony and crew are new on the scene, and are, as the writer Tom Wolfe would say, “the most busily and noisily arrived of the arrivistes.” Their large crew are conspicuous, hilarious and gregarious — and they often win.

William Riley of Chatham is racing his 30th consecutive Figawi. Aboard with him will be three of his brothers. They grew up in Fall River, sailing on Narragansett Bay.

Riley turns 71 this weekend, and he’s looking forward to the camaraderie of another festive race.

After 30 years, he said. “It used to be, oh what a great party, but now it’s an opportunity to see all our old friends, people we’ve been sailing with for years.”

Riley and his brothers will sail Simpatico, his Pierson ’39, again this year. The crew will include a couple of strong guys to grind the winches. He also has two charity riders each year, part of a fundraiser he does for Waterville Valley’s Adaptive Snowsports Program, which helps the disabled enjoy the slopes in winter.

“One guy paid $3,500 last year,” said Riley, not bad considering they are bidding only for seats on the rail — as the windward edge of the boat is called.

Constantly raked by wind and waves, it is the worst seat in the house, but Riley admits they don’t have to ride up there … unless the race gets close.

“If we need them on the rail, we put them on the rail,” he said with a laugh.

Forecasts for Saturday call for fair weather and moderate winds from the southwest. Not every edition of Figawi is so welcoming. Notoriously unpredictable New England spring weather still has a say and Riley remembers one memorable race in the late 1980s or early ‘90s when conditions were less than cooperative.

“We were running downwind, the wind was right out of the north,” Riley recalled.

They were in the non-spinnaker class, and had sails set wing-to-wing (the jib and the mainsail deployed on either side of the boat to maximize advantage of a following wind). Visibility was limited by fog and it was pouring rain.

But even with all that wind, “It was an unusually stable ride,” he said. In the days before GPS, a boat’s mechanical instrumentation was all you could rely on.

“The knot meter was pinned at 10 knots, the maximum reading,” said Riley, a bone-jarring, breakneck speed for a boat under sail.

He tried taking the jib down to ease the strain; still pegged at ten knots. Suddenly, the finish line at nantucket emerged from the fog and rain.

“I headed right for it,” said Riley.

But just as he was about to cross, he saw another Pierson, a sister ship, bearing down. This captain had their jib down and had even taken most of the mainsail down so as not to show too much canvas to the fierce gale.

Both boats crossed the finish line. Over a 30-mile, rain-soaked course under blinding conditions, Riley was edged out by six seconds.

Riley loves Figawi, which he has won several times and as recently as 2012.

“It’s the camaraderie, you’re on Nantucket, and it’s the beginning of summer.”

Contributing writer Rob Conery can be contacted at robconery@yahoo.com.