Author: Chris Szepessy

The Executive Director of The Sailing Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, Ashley Householder loves her work. “I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, that bastion of sailing!” Ashley chuckles. “That said, I was lucky in childhood to have a best friend whose father was incredibly passionate about sailing. He was a neurosurgeon at Vanderbilt University Hospital and I think sailing provided a catharsis from the gravity of his work. He was a founding member of the Harbor Island…

Story and photos by Roger Hughes The first indication there was a problem with the bowsprit on my 1977 Down East 45 schooner was when I was hoisted up the foremast using the electric windlass which was bolted on top of the bowsprit. The operator mentioned the windlass “moved” as he hoisted me using the winding drum. When I came down the mast I saw what he was talking about, because the windlass was noticeably out of…

By Raffaella Marozzini A passionate sailor from a young age, Raffaella Marozzini is the founder of a boat vacation business. She soon met her husband, Giovanni Viviani, with whom she would fulfill her dream of a life under sail. After deciding to leave everything behind, Rafaella and Giovanni set out in 2015 on their Etap 39s Obiwan for an ongoing voyage around the world. In April 2021, Raffaella’s book about the first part of their journey, from…

By Lindsay Skedgell and David Seigerman   Melissa Pappas saw what she came to see. Though it wasn’t what everyone else was looking at. Melissa had positioned herself at the back of a pack of thirty people gathered in a dirt clearing in Merwin Meadows Park. The ground was pocked with tire tracks from heavy machinery, on site at long last to take down Dana Dam. For eighty years, the dam in Wilton, CT also known as…

By Ted Corning On Saturday, April 6, The Corinthians held their annual Frostbite Regatta at the Mystic Seaport Museum’s Sailing Center in Mystic, CT. This one-day regatta, raced in the Seaport’s fleet of 9’ Dyer Dhows, was revived in 1993. The impressive trophy includes a scale model of the Mystic Fleet founding member Ed Colie’s dinghy “Puddy” mounted on a large curved mahogany base. The trophy was presented to The Corinthians by Fran Colie in 1995 and…

By Bill Lynn, Herreshoff Marine Museum President & Executive Director The Herreshoff Marine Museum and America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol, RI celebrates the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company and its founders Nat and JB Herreshoff. For over sixty years, HMCo. worked at the cutting edge of ground-breaking design, world-class engineering, and disruptive innovation while building over 2,000 boats, both power and sail. During that time, HMCo. played a role in winning eight straight America’s Cups, two world…

The 3rd Annual CT Sea Music Festival will ring out along the banks of the Connecticut River and throughout downtown Essex, CT the weekend of June 7-10. Festivities begin on Friday with a scholarly Symposium on the Music of the Sea, held from 9am – 4pm at the Essex Town Hall, an evening concert (ticketed) at the Connecticut River Museum, and late-night sings at the historic Griswold Inn and the Corinthian Club.   Saturday kicks off with a…

By Courtney Moore, CMB Creative Group For over thirty years, the Mystic River Mudhead Sailing Association has raised funds and awareness for worthy charities. We are proud to partner with Always Home for the third year for the 2024 event.   Always Home has pursued a single mission of preventing family homelessness for more than twenty-five years, keeping folks housed and helping parents create lasting stability for their children. Always Home focuses exclusively on serving Eastern Connecticut families with…

Sails Up 4 Cancer (SU4C), based in Mystic, CT and founded in May of 2011 is a 501(c) 3 charity organization “dedicated to funding education, prevention, care, and cure for all types of cancer through the art and enjoyment of sailing.” SU4C has partnered with organizations including Holmgren Subaru, WindCheck Magazine, CT River One Design Regatta Group, CT Spring Boat Show, Coastal CT Cornhole, and River Jam, to raise awareness and facilitate fundraising efforts. SU4C has assisted…

What started as a Shields-only regatta in 1984 has grown to become a keynote annual event on every sailor’s “must-do” list. Every July, our friends at Sail Newport gather an average of a dozen one-design classes on four circles of racing in the waters off Newport, RI.   Invited classes include IC37, Etchells, 5O5, 12 Metre, Thistle (Atlantic Coast Championship), VX One, F-18, ILCA, J/70, J/80, Ensign (Regional Championship), Shields, Snipe, Sunfish, S Boat and Melges 15. If…