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  Newport International Boat Show Presented by BankNewport September 14 – 17, Newport, RI Walk the docks and view a spectacular display of shiny new sailboats and powerboats, some making their first ever debut in the United States. newportboatshow.com   Newport Brokerage Boat Show September 14 – 17, Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard Newport, RI This show features the largest collection of quality brokerage sailboats and powerboats from 40 to 140 feet. brokerageboatshow.com   Progressive Norwalk Boat Show…

I recently had a gam with the co founder of J Boats, the company that launched 16,000 boats beginning 1977. I listened to him spin me the history behind his dedication to performance boating. I knew that already. But how many 80-somethings write a memoir and go on the road to promote it? He is Bob Johnstone, and he is a brand new author. His book is a memoir called Maverick Marketer: Time to Get Creative. Published…

Giving old race sails a new life for the planet With our global reach, Oceanum Vela strives to make positive moves toward keeping our oceans thriving. We collect Ocean Race Sails that have been around the planet and give them a new life for the planet (#aroundtheplanetfortheplanet).     Here in the U.S., the Clean Water Act has made tremendous progress since 1972 in keeping our waterways and our playground clean and safe to play in. However,…

A century ago, the establishment of a U.S.-UK challenge, the British American Cup (“BAC”) brought with it a golden age of innovative racing keelboat design. In our 2021 Conversations with Classic Boats series on the development of the Six Metre, we marked the BAC as an inflection point in modern yacht racing. The BAC was a challenge in 1921: You designed a boat to the International Six Metre rule (then virtually unknown in the U.S.). Each side…

Story & photos by David Hemenway A group of United States East Coast Finn sailors have started a new organization called the Classic Finn Organization and have developed a website at classicfinns.org. Our goal is to revitalize older, often unused, Finns and get them out sailing. Classic Finns are a great way to go sailing at a reasonable cost in a fantastic boat. This website provides information on available Finns and equipment, in addition to upcoming Finn…

Presented by the National Women’s Sailing Association at Sail Newport The National Women’s Sailing Association (NWSA) is holding their 2023 National Women’s Sailing Conference on Saturday, June 3 from 8 am – 5 pm at the Sail Newport Marine Education and Recreation Center, located at 72 Fort Adams Drive in Newport, RI 02840. The event welcomes women sailors of all levels and ages to workshops including the popular Take the Helm® track — an introduction to sailing…

When the 50th Anniversary edition of The Ocean Race reaches the United States in May, the sailing-centric community in Newport, Rhode Island will be out in force to greet Rhode Islander Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team and the rest of the IMOCA 60 fleet. “One of my proudest moments came in 2015, the first time we hosted the race,” says Brad Read, Executive Director of Sail Newport. “Thousands of fans waited at Fort Adams State Park through the night…

Our Hardwater Sailing President By Tom Darling, Conversations with Classic Boats Who would have thought that the 32nd President of the United States, a known yachtsman, honed his skills in hardwater sailing on the Hudson River. In fact, Franklin Delano Roosevelt followed in a long family tradition of ice yachting.     Records at the FDR National Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York tell the story of the active ice yachting scene on the Hudson in…

By Sean Duclay, SailAhead Co-Founder Photos by Jennifer Duclay, SailAhead Photographer & Boat Jumper SailAhead is an organization on a mission to fight veteran suicide with the power of sailing. By providing free and frequent access to sailing, we hope to save lives and provide support to those who need it most. SailAhead’s mission is threefold: 1. Use sailing and the ocean as a therapeutic platform to foster healing in our military community. It can be easy to…

By Chris Otorowski   One hundred years after its founding, the Cruising Club of America threw itself a big party in Newport, RI last September. More than 400 CCA members and spouses took over the Newport Harbor Hotel and its marina for four days of fun and education. Cruising “royalty” attending included featured guest Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who delivered a keynote at the opening dinner on Monday night. Knox-Johnston was the winner of the 1968 Golden Globe,…