Racing

By Bill Robinson, ECYC Commodore Essex Corinthian Yacht Club (ECYC) hosted the 2nd Annual Eastern Connecticut Women’s Invitational Regatta on Sunday, May 19 in Essex.  Sailed in Ideal 18s offered up for charter by ECYC and neighboring Essex Yacht Club, ten crews representing eight yacht clubs battled it out in classic Connecticut River spring conditions. Shifty winds and an ever-present ebb tide challenged the locals and visitors alike, with virtually every boat scoring a top 3 finish…

It’s not often you run into two guys in their early twenties who have already racked up some serious performance credentials in the sharp-elbowed world of professional offshore solo sailing. German sailors Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are two such characters. I spoke with them at Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard during the Newport stop of The Atlantic Cup.     Coop: Guys, congratulations on your third-place finish in Leg 1. You must be pretty happy with that……

The International Yacht and Athletic Club (IYAC) hosted its second annual Rhody Regatta on Saturday, June 1, and Matt Brooks’ (Freemont, CA/Jamestown, RI) 1929 Sparkman & Stephens yawl Dorade stole the show. Not only was the 52-foot classic yacht visually striking by virtue of her sleek lines drawn by Olin Stephens, but she also appeared to be “always in the right place” despite a variety of often-fickle conditions. Sailing to win its five-boat Class 3, Dorade also claimed overall victory when scored collectively with the…

The 15th Annual Robie Pierce Regatta ran from May 30 to June 2, 2024 at the American Yacht Club in Rye, NY, co-hosted by the Larchmont Yacht Club. Seventeen boats hit the starting line for the Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta (the Open) and four boats raced in Thursday’s Women’s Invitational.   It was skipper Eric Rose (Bennington, VT) along with crew Dalina Delfing (New York, NY) and able-bodied sailor Richard Jaffe (NY, NY) who won the 3-day…

By Kate Somers, risingT     The 77th annual Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race took place the weekend of May 24 – 26, challenging sailors with light winds and testing their patience and strategy. Starting and finishing in Stamford, CT, the fleet of 76 boats embarked on the 186-nautical-mile journey around Block Island. Described by some as a race of “chutes and ladders,” with multiple restarts in light conditions, 52 boats successfully completed the race. David Greenstein’s Mills…

By Robyn Earley, 20HC Commodore   The Twenty Hundred Club (20HC) hosts seven races a year including island circumnavigations, destination races and unique formats that challenge sailors to exercise their navigation and strategic prowess on the water. Twenty Hundred Club was started in 1946 by a group of racers who felt that the true test of sailing was found outside traditional buoy-to-buoy races. The Bridge Fiasco race, inspired by San Francisco’s Three Bridge Fiasco, starts just south…

A strong return of past participants and an energetic influx of new teams (over 30%) says a lot about Edgartown Race Weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, coming up June 20-22. The event endears itself to veterans and newcomers alike with varied distance racing, including Saturday’s ’Round-the-Island Race (’RTI) – one of the oldest distance races in this country – and the preceding Thursday/Friday’s ’Round-the-Sound Races (’RTS), which are separately scored and a keen tune-up for Saturday, not to mention…

The 2024 American Yacht Club Spring Regatta wrapped up three solid days of sailing May 3 – 5, with Friday’s coastal race leading into the weekend’s mix of windward-leeward and coastal courses. On Friday, five classes (ORC, PHRF 1-3, and PHRF Non-Spinnaker) hit the starting line. PRO Nick Everett set up three courses ranging from 9.5nm to 18.5nm. The sailors finished off the day in full sunshine, hanging out on the club lawn with a band and…

Story & photos by Buttons Padin Larchmont Yacht Club’s annual distance race, the Edlu Race, was sailed without a hitch on Saturday, May 11, compared to last year when this venerable event was abandoned after an extended postponement due to lack of wind. This 32-mile annual event saw forty-six boats crossing the line ranging from flat-out ORC racers to PHRF club racers, J/88s sailing as one-designs, and doublehanders. With a nearly east/west racetrack on western Long Island…

Essex Yacht Club’s seventy-second Wetherill Race was sailed May 17-18. With a strong northeasterly to easterly breeze blowing through most of the race, this year’s event was exciting. The Line Honors boat, Frank Flores’ Neo 430 Rhumb Runner, finished the 140-mile course in less than 19 hours, the quickest run since the race course was lengthened in 2021 to run from the mouth of the Connecticut River to Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard and back, leaving Block…