By Captain Paul Sullivan

We all know and love the New England waters. From Massachusetts Bay to Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound, thousands of sailors spend their summers exploring new anchorages, swimming, barbecuing and enjoying their time on the water with family and friends.

Charterers (l - r) Doug Rigsbee, Cindy Rigsbee, Candice Haight, Becky Haight and Brian Haight aboard their CYOA catamaran   © Doug Rigsbee

Dinghy and catamaran sailors of all types are cordially invited to compete in the 6th Annual Connecticut River Dinghy Distance Race on Saturday, May 21, 2016. Known to many as “the island of misfit toys regatta,” this popular event is open to any boat with a Portsmouth Yardstick rating and it’s estimated that at least 25 different one-design classes have participated since its inception.

Dan Rennie leads the fleet past Gillette Castle.   © Jane Reilly

By Richard C. Ilse

As winter marches towards spring, I peer out my backyard window watching the steady stream of snowflakes cap the array of lobster pot buoys I have strung across a fence and hung from a small tree seemingly burdened by the weight of them all. These renegade buoys have been collected from the many gunkholes and beaches I have visited aboard my 19-foot O’Day Mariner that has been in my family since before man last walked on the moon.

© Richard C. Ilse

By Lincoln White

Editor’s note: Although this month’s topic isn’t about buying or selling a boat, the author offers very useful information whether you’re planning the delivery of a boat you’ve just bought or commissioning one you’ve had for years.

The difference between a good experience while boating and a very bad experience can all come from an annual pre-season vessel inspection. Finding what looks like a small issue in the spring could likely avoid a catastrophe. I recently saw Sailing World’s post on the Farr 40 that had a lower lifeline failure, which gave me the idea to share a few thoughts on safety that I’ve learned over years of boating, witnessing accidents as well as being first on scene after some catastrophic events around the water. 

MudRatz, a youth sailing team in Southeastern Connecticut founded “to complement the local sailing programs offered by the yacht clubs of the region by enabling enthusiastic sailors to practice in the spring and fall as well as travel as a team to regattas around the country,” is the lucky recipient of a donated Melges 24.

© 2015 JOY/USMCA

My Adventures in Protecting the Future of Our Planet

By Peter Willcox with Ronald. B. Weiss

Published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press,  336 pages

As a captain with the environmental organization Greenpeace for more than three decades, Peter Willcox has had more daring adventures than most of us could expect in ten lifetimes. This South Norwalk, CT native, who began his career as second mate aboard the sloop Clearwater with Pete Seeger at age 20, is well known for his tireless devotion to saving our planet.

By Betsy Frawley Haggerty

Want to go sailing, but don’t own a boat? No problem. Clubs where members share boats abound at yacht clubs, sailing schools, community sailing programs and fractional sailing businesses in greater New York and elsewhere. This is the story of one of them—the club-boat program at City Island Yacht Club (CIYC) on Eastchester Bay in the northeast Bronx.

Sarip, a Catalina 25 in the CIYC club-boat fleet, sailing in Long Island Sound near Hart Island   © Betsy Frawley Haggerty

New England Science & Sailing Foundation (NESS) in Stonington, CT is looking for young artists to participate in a drawing contest for a calendar entitled “Long Island Sound and Its Watershed: What It Means to Me.” NESS is working closely with the Long Island Sound Foundation, which has overseen the contest for the past 19 years, to assist them in the transition of the drawing contest program. “We are looking forward to overseeing the drawing contest,” said NESS’s Executive Director Cindy Nickerson. “It’s a wonderfully creative way for students to learn about Long Island Sound, marine science, and the environment.”

Manuka Sports Event Management in Newport, RI has announced 11th Hour Racing as the presenting sponsor for the 2016 Atlantic Cup. With the support of 11th Hour Racing, a program of The Schmidt Family Foundation that establishes strategic partnerships with the sailing community to promote collaborative systemic change for the health of the marine environment, the Atlantic Cup is the most environmentally sustainable sailing race in the U.S.

SoundWaters and the Young Mariners Foundation are merging under the SoundWaters brand to enhance the educational opportunities for students in Stamford, CT and environs.

Dr. Leigh Shemitz, center, President of SoundWaters, flanked by board chairmen Tom O’Connell, left, of the Young Mariners Foundation and Scott Mitchell of SoundWaters at the SoundWaters Coastal Education Center on Cove Island.