Racing

By Talbot Wilson The 2019 Marion Bermuda Race is in the books. Thirty-nine Founders Division entries and two Classic Division boats lined up for their starts in Buzzards Bay on Friday, June 14. One of the classics failed to start, but sailed with the fleet heading south in Buzzards Bay for the finish in Bermuda and the hospitality of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club.   The race started with a gusty beat out of Buzzards Bay….

By Bill Wagner Legendary musician Jimmy Buffett made a surprise appearance at the final awards party for Block Island Race Week presented by Margaritaville, on Friday, June 28. Buffett took the stage to address the huge gathering of sailors enjoying Margaritaville margaritas and LandShark lager and expressed total enthusiasm for the regatta his lifestyle company sponsored this year.   “I think Margaritaville is Block Island right now,” said Buffett, who performed an impromptu concert to cap off…

By Barby MacGowan, Media Pro International It couldn’t have been any more exciting on the fifth and final day of the 2019 12 Metre World Championship, hosted by Ida Lewis Yacht Club, organized by the International Twelve Metre Association’s (ITMA) Americas Fleet, and sailed in the waters off Newport, RI July 8 – 13.   With Nyala (US-12; Arezzo, ITA) having clinched her series early in the Vintage Division after a sweep of the penultimate day’s two races, it came down to a…

By William Adler More than 450 sailors competed in five classes of sailboat racing on June 1 & 2, as Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT hosted part 1 of its 2019 OneDesign Regatta. This popular event attracted so many entries in recent years that it will be staged on two separate dates this year. On June 1-2, the club hosted racing for J/70, J/88, J/105, J/109 and Beneteau First 36.7 classes. The regatta was part…

By Jan Hodnett Robie Pierce Women’s Invitational, May 30 Julia Dorsett, along with her crew Gabby Mitchell and Deb Frankel, dominated the Robie Pierce Women’s Invitational for Disabled Sailors with four firsts for a total of 4.8 points. Second-place winner JoAnn Stead with Pat Burst and Alix Hahn scored a total of 10 points, and Dawn Hart with Rebecca Miller and Pam Washington were third with 12 points. Julia, who has sailed all her life, said that…

By Coco Solsvig The Second Annual Sunfish Adventure Raid, presented by LaserPerformance, took place on the Connecticut River on June 1 & 2. Sunfish – including one Super Sunfish – were filled with single- and double-handed crews hailing from as far as Rochester, NY (a 5-hour drive!) and as young as 10. Everyone had a blast!   In preparation for an early start Saturday, Sunfish were unloaded Friday night at the start point at Ferry Park in…

The 65th Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, Phil Lotz (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Newport, RI) has competed successfully in J/105s, Melges 32s, Etchells, Viper 640s and IC37s. He won two national championships on his Swan 42, Arethusa, and won the inaugural Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. Phil currently owns a Gunboat 60 and has sailed and raced her extensively in New England and the Caribbean. He’s also an accomplished team racer. WindCheck: When did you…

By Dick Holliday Within several weeks of Neil Armstrong’s historic first steps on the moon in July 1969, Frank Hall Boatyard in Avondale, Rhode Island launched two prototype fiberglass Watch Hill 15s. These two 24’ 7” racing sloops, the first of a fleet of 25, were commissioned by Hubbard Phelps and Avard Fuller, Past Commodores of Watch Hill Yacht Club in nearby Westerly. Avard Fuller’s vision was to sponsor an active racing fleet to replace the aging and…

By Ron Weiss For the 65 boats that started the 74th Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race, the wind gods proved to be capricious. Competitors found themselves to be racing in big breeze one minute, and no breeze the next. Many were sailing in a northerly only to find that they were – without warning – “auto-tacked” by a southerly of similar strength and now headed in the exact same direction but on the opposite board. Ideal…

By David Hubbard One hundred years ago, the most famous boat designer of all time, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, aka “Captain Nat,” aka “The Wizard of Bristol,” was 71 years old, and quite possibly at the height of his powers as a sailboat designer. If you own a sailboat, or have ever seen a modern sailboat, you should give him a nod for what he was about to do; that is to design the “S Boat,” of which…