Our friends at Stamford Yacht Club in Stamford, CT are pleased to announce that the 86th running of the Vineyard Race is scheduled to start on Friday, September 4. This Labor Day Weekend classic offers a choice of three courses. The Vineyard Course covers 238 nautical miles from Stamford around Buzzards Bay Light Tower and back. The Seaflower Reef Course logs 143 nm, and the Cornfield Point Course is 116 nm.
Who’s going to win this year’s Youth Challenge Cup? © Rick Bannerot/OntheFlyPhoto.net
The Vineyard Race has divisions for IRC, PHRF, HPR, Multihulls, Classic Yachts and Double-Handed boats. Boats with at least one third of the crew between 14 and 24 years old can compete for the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound’s Youth Challenge Cup.
As this issue went to press, the Vineyard Race entry list at YachtScoring.com had 33 boats, ranging in size from the 29-foot J/88 Albondigas (New York, NY), co-skippered by Justin Scagnelli and Tim Price, to Jason Carroll’s 70-foot MOD 70 trimaran Argo (New York, NY). Also notable among the entries is the J/105 Never Gonna Give You Up (Westport, CT), skippered by Rick Astley and representing Red Nex Yachty Yachty. (Readers of a certain age may recall the worldwide number-one hit record “Never Gonna Give You Up” by British pop singer Rick Astley…it was ghastly.) For more information and to register, log onto stamfordyc.com/Sailing/Vineyard_Race_(1). ■