Checking In

Maybe you’ve wanted to try racing but were unsure of how to find crew. Or maybe your regular crew isn’t available to race. Or maybe you just want to try racing doublehanded. Well, our friends at the Eastern Connecticut Sailing Association (ECSA) are now offering a Doublehanded Non-Spinnaker rating option for their Offshore Circuit in addition to the usual Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker ratings. Any boat registered in ECSA may compete in DH Non-Spin races. DH Non-Spin ratings…

Essex Yacht Club’s Sam Wetherill Overnight Race starts May 20 By Terry Ann Klee, Essex Yacht Club Communications Chair     Sub-chasers, ocean racing, and ukeleles! Yes, there is a connection. It took only one month for this year’s Sam Wetherill Overnight Race to get twenty-five registrations. Hosted by Essex Yacht Club in Essex, CT and set for May 20, many skippers see this race as a serious tune-up for races such as the Newport Bermuda Race….

Our friends at Manhattan Yacht Club (myc.org), based at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City, NJ, are looking for experienced sailors to volunteer for their new “Sail Patrol” program. “This concept is borrowed from the ski industry, where experienced skiers volunteer for the Ski Patrol and share good skiing techniques and help skiers if they have problems,” said MYC Commodore Michael Fortenbaugh. “Our club has adopted this concept to sailing.”   Requirements to be part of the…

A new U.S. Coast Guard regulation beginning April 20 for disposable fire extinguishers mandates a 12-year expiration date from the date of manufacture. The manufacture date is stamped into the bottom of the bottle or near the UL label. This may be two or four digits — if it is two, as in 08, that means 2008. Additionally, while the new regulation does not change the type (U.S. Coast Guard-rated) or quantity or requirement for USCG approved fire extinguishers…

Following are presentations and meetings happening at this year’s event, April 29 – May 1 at Safe Harbor Essex Island in Essex, CT. A single $20 ticket (available at CTSpringBoatShow.com) gets you in for all three days. As always, 50% of ticket proceeds benefit Sails Up 4 Cancer.   Friday, April 29, 2:00 – 3:00 Fast Women: Hydroplane Racing on the Connecticut River Amy Trout, Curator of the Connecticut River Museum, will discuss speed racing on the…

The 2021 CT Spring Boat Show was one of the first events in New England after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. It raised $22,000 in funds for Sails Up 4 Cancer. The Show also had a record number of attendees, over 2,200. However, boat inventory in the Northeast was practically non-existent at the time, having been bought up in the summer and fall of 2020. Regional yacht brokers simply had nothing to sell and current owners were not…

Same as it Ever Was, yet Better To paraphrase the Talking Heads (with apologies), you may find yourself wishing for a regatta. And you may find yourself wanting the perfect venue. And you may ask yourself, where can I find one-design Mecca? All of that and much more will be readily available this spring at Charleston Race Week – a regatta unlike any other. Veteran attendees of Race Week – now in its 26th year – understand…

The Whaler’s Race, hosted by New Bedford Yacht Club in South Dartmouth, MA, is scheduled to begin on Saturday June 4, 2022 and will add another event to a busy early summer distance race calendar in New England. Tucked between the Figawi Regatta and the Newport Bermuda Race, the New Bedford Yacht Club’s Whaler’s Race is an open distance race event with courses set in the waters of Buzzards Bay, Vineyard Sound, Rhode Island Sound, and the…

Our friends at Clean Ocean Access (COA), a Middletown, RI-based non-profit organization with the vision of a clean, healthy ocean that is accessible to all, have appointed Pamela Cook as their new Executive Director. With a long history in the non-profit world of education, Pam has over twenty years of advancement, enrollment, and communications experience in private schools in Massachusetts. She, her husband and their four children have greatly enjoyed all the natural resources of Aquidneck Island…

Our friends at The Women’s Sailing Foundation (WSF) are offering the Sue Corl Youth Sailing Scholarship in 2022 to young women 14-19 years old who want to broaden their sailing experiences and need financial assistance to do so. The scholarship was established in 2015 in memory of Sue Corl of Marblehead, MA, a board member and a tireless advocate for WSF programs. The young women identify the opportunity of their choosing. Opportunities may include, but are not…