Racing

By Phil Dickey, MD, Skipper, Flying Lady Sam Wetherill, a founding member of the Cruising Club of America and early advocate of ocean racing, would have been pleased with the wind and sea conditions that prevailed during Essex Yacht Club’s 70th running of the race created to honor him. Two years ago, the race received a reconfiguration, which provides a longer (140nm) and more challenging open ocean race, which is especially suitable as a warmup to the Newport Bermuda…

By Chuck Gilchrest   The 2022 New England distance racing season kicked off in earnest as the New Bedford Yacht Club’s annual 109nm Whalers’ Race ran in ideal late spring conditions. After an hour-long delay to allow the breeze to build, the fleet left Padanaram Harbor in Dartmouth, MA in a light southerly as the start gun sounded at noon Saturday, June 4. Seventeen boats in five classes headed towards the Elizabeth Islands and a rounding mark…

Our friends at Oakcliff Sailing in Oyster Bay, NY have taken another large step in “Building American Leaders Through Sailing.” On Friday, May 27 at 1400h, 70 sailors from Oakcliff were aboard five of the 86 boats competing in the Storm Trysail Club’s 75th Block Island Race. Amongst the race’s largest fleet in over a decade were eleven young women of Team Bitter End, sailing Oakcliff Farr 40 Blue. For Team Bitter End, the Block Island Race…

After being thwarted in 2020 and 2021, our friends at the Storm Trysail Club were finally able to run their May distance race in classic spring conditions. During the virtual weather briefing the night before the start, STC Commodore Ed Cesare said, “Welcome to the third annual 75th Block Island Race. Here’s hoping third time’s a charm.” Seventy-seven boats started the race on Friday, May 27 off Stamford, CT, with most of the fleet opting for the 186nm Block Island…

By Bill Wagner     Consistent breeze that ranged from light to medium to heavy? Check. Close competition and exciting racing across the broad spectrum of classes? Check. High-quality race committee work? Check. Factor in three days of beautiful, warm, sunny weather and the 2022 Charleston Race Week demonstrated why sailors come back year after year. Kevin McNeil, Farr 30 Seabiscuit skipper, was a newcomer to this iconic event and came away impressed. “I thought it was…

By Peter Becker Photos by Bill Shea Photography Last spring, I sailed an amazing race called the Bermuda 1-2. The first leg to Bermuda is sailed single-handed followed by a double-handed return to Newport. The solo offshore part was particularly rewarding and a great awakening to the joys of solo sailing. Short-handed sailing is so much fun that with the help of the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and the Cruising Club of…

Our friends at the Storm Trysail Club are pleased to be hosting (at last!) the 75th running of the Block Island Race. The 186nm spring classic starts Friday, May 27 off Stamford, Connecticut. “In 2020, the race was canceled due to the pandemic and in 2021, ‘N over A’ was hoisted to abandon racing the morning of the start due to a combination of extreme weather conditions that would have made racing unsafe for competitors,” said John…

52nd Newport Bermuda Race starts June 17 By Barry Pickthall for WindCheck It is one of the great classic races. The biennial Newport Bermuda Race, now in its 116th year, was first conceived back in 1906, the same year as the Transpac from San Francisco to Honolulu. Between these two pioneering events, they seeded the other great races around the globe including the biennial Fastnet Race in the UK and the annual Sydney/Hobart classic in Australia, now…

By John Burnham, Newport Bermuda Race Media Team Co-chair At press time in mid-February, with entries open until April 3, 202 boats had entered the 635nm Newport Bermuda Race, which starts Friday, June 17. Organized by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the race has a limit of 220 entrants, but anyone who ends up on the waiting list will likely make the start, as some attrition is normal between April and…

Story & photos by Tom Darling   In this second pandemic winter, we rediscover the ultimate socially distanced outdoor recreation for sailors. That would be Frostbiting, or as they say on the Larchmont Yacht Club website, Winter Sailing. Emerging in the depths of the Great Depression, winter dinghy sailing consumed some of the greats of that time, including the inestimable Arthur Knapp, Jr., considered the godfather of winter sailing with his pipe and professorial approach to yachting….