Racing

By Dave Easterbrooks, NBYA Communications Director     The inaugural Narragansett Bay Yachting Association ‘Round the Bay Regatta – with an innovative and exciting new format – will debut Saturday, July 24. This is the first regatta that starts and finishes in every Narragansett Bay sailor’s backyard! Why travel hours to get to and from the starting area for a race? You won’t have to if you come out for this one. There will be four different starting areas, so…

A remarkable victory for Roust in the 2013 Marion to Bermuda Race By Ian N.H. Gumprecht In February 2013, I had been doing my best for the previous couple of months to pull together a crew for the 2013 Marion to Bermuda Race. Of the four individuals I was hounding, only one, Mark Swanson, had thus far committed. Mark and I had done five Newport Bermuda Races together as crew on a J/44. For this race however,…

Courtesy of the Larchmont Yacht Club Mainsheet After a pandemic-impacted season in 2020, the 2021 summer racing season will kick off with Larchmont Yacht Club’s traditional season opener, The Edlu Race, on Saturday, May 8. Following the off-cycle running of last year’s race in September, The Edlu returns to its early May schedule, where it has traditionally served as a classic tune-up race for the summer racing season. The Edlu Race was named after LYC Commodore Rudolph…

Our friends at the Manhattan Yacht Club in Jersey City, NJ are hosting the Statue of Liberty 12 Meter Cup, the first 12 Metre regatta ever held in New York Harbor, on June 3 – 6, 2021. There will be three days of racing with two races each day. Racing will take place in the Upper Bay between Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and the West Side of Manhattan. Four boats have currently entered, and the…

Our friends at the New York Yacht Club have announced dates for this year’s Robert H. Tiedemann Classics Regatta, which will be held in Newport, RI the weekend of June 26 & 27. For the first time in its history, the regatta—traditionally held in July—will be the first event in the 2021 Classic Yacht Owners Association’s Challenge Series.   “We are excited to activate the classic sailing community earlier in the summer,” said NYYC event chair Jesse Terry, “and…

By Beth Fleisher and Celeste Flick, Regatta Co-Chairs     Southold Yacht Club in Southold, NY is hosting the 50th Annual World’s Longest Sunfish Race Around Shelter Island, NY on Saturday, July 10, 2021. This unique nautical marathon is open to single and doubles Sunfish sailors per the event NOR. As the crow flies, the nautical distance around Shelter Island, starting and finishing at Southold Yacht Club, is 21.3 miles. Since crows don’t tack, however, it is…

  Of course, my first doublehanded race of 2020 had to be sailed in 18-26 knots – trial by fire. It was a 20-mile race where the course was a 10-mile dead run followed by a 10-mile square beat. My 40-footer is usually raced by a crew of 10 or 11 people, but to respect the need for social distancing and in the absence of any other racing on the calendar, I created a five-weekend series of…

Block Island Race Week presented by Margaritaville is June 21-25   Despite the pandemic, Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week presented by Margaritaville is enjoying the build-up of tremendous enthusiasm. As of this writing, nearly 160 boats have signed up for this biennial classic to be held June 21-25, 2021. In an era where participation has been trending down for many events, that’s almost 20% more than came racing in 2019. “We see this growth as…

Our friends at Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT are hosting the inaugural Viper 640 Women’s North American Championship and the 2021 Viper 640 North American Championship on October 2 & 3 and 7 – 10, respectively. “The original plan was to hold a two-day Women’s International Championship, a two-day North American Championship, and a four-day World Championship this coming October,” Viper 640 Class Administrator Buttons Padin explained. “Because it appears likely that COVID restrictions will prevent…

  This April, Charleston Race Week will celebrate its 25th anniversary. The event will actually be a reprise because like so many regattas last year, the actual anniversary – Race Week 2020 – was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. With safety paramount in their planning, the organizers in Charleston, SC are forging ahead and making plans for a special edition of this annual sailing extravaganza, one befitting a silver anniversary. According to Randy Draftz, the longtime…