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By Tom Darling, Conversations with Classic Boats On the PBS program Antiques Roadshow, the hosts consider things fifty years or older to be vintage, antique. Proud owners of boats over 50 think similarly. What about the regattas they compete in? On August 21 in Nantucket Sound, there will be a new “Antiques Sailshow,” a celebration of the 50th running of the Nantucket segment of the Classic Yacht Owners Association season. It is the 50th Opera House Cup…

The Song of the Solo Sailor By Tom Darling, Conversations with Classic Boats     What is it about the solo sailor that so captures the imagination of the ranks of normal sailors? Slocum. Chichester. Knox-Johnston. All have this mystique of man against the elements, alone. In curating Mystic Seaport Museum’s current exhibit, “Story Boats: The Tales They Tell,” Christina Brophy, Senior VP of Curatorial Affairs, ran her own “Maritime Idol” competition. Of the eighteen boats and…

By Lon S. Cohen     After a career in healthcare, Captain Brian Murphy plunged back into his love of the wind and sea, chartering his 50-foot William Atkins schooner, the Ginny Marie, out of Port Jefferson, NY to anyone who wants to experience old school sailing. On any day during the sailing season, pedestrians taking a stroll on a pier jutting out from a park in Port Jefferson will inevitably stop and gaze down at the…

By Tom Darling, Conversations with Classic Boats   In a typical Bermuda Race year, there is a small contingent of vintage boats, 50 years or older, who prepare for and participate in American offshore sailing’s Big Race. Many skippers opt for the Marion to Bermuda event, but Newport Bermuda is THE Bermuda Race. Back in 2020 it was Jesse Terry’s intention to do the Big One. He had worked on his boat, counted the screws in her…

Benefiting Sails Up 4 Cancer presented by Cooper Capital Specialty Salvage   By Ruth Emblin Our charity regatta on Saturday, April 30, boasting probably the longest event name I have ever had to announce over and over, could not have worked out any better. The event was quite extraordinary, as it was a collaboration by five local yacht clubs with one charitable mission, raising funds for Sails Up 4 Cancer. Following months of planning and promotional work…

Our friends at the National Women’s Sailing Association (NWSA) are holding their 21st Annual Women’s Sailing Conference at the Houston Yacht Club in La Porte, Texas on Friday, May 20, 2022 from 6 pm to 7:30 pm and Saturday, May 21 from 8 am – 5 pm. The event welcomes all women sailors of all levels and ages.      The program begins on Friday evening with a munch & mingle where attendees will have the opportunity…

The Ocean is Female Foundation is a saltwater-inspired nonprofit born out of a simple love of the ocean, and a deep-rooted respect and gratitude for the power of the sea to help strengthen and heal us. An approved 501(c)(3) organization based in New Jersey, The OisF’s mission is to encourage women and girls to trust in the therapeutic nature of the sea to help them realize their true greatness and learn how to passionately and confidently ride life’s…

Noroton YC’s New Sailing Director Takes the Helm By Past Commodore Lee Morrison Fulfilling the allure of sailing for fun is much easier today than it was a hundred years ago. Back in the 1920s sailing, or yachting as it was called then, was the primary way those with leisure time would scratch their boating itch. But, between wooden hulls, hemp sheets, and cotton sails, just getting boats ready to go sailing was a challenge.    …

An interview with Butch Ulmer This is the final installment of our conversation with Charles “Butch” Ulmer about the history of the company founded by his father in City Island, New York in 1946. Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be found here. WindCheck: Butch, in our previous installment you spoke about the departure of John Kolius in the late 1980s. Please bring us up to date. Butch Ulmer: After John Kolius left our group and the…

The Big Boat Program at Norwalk Yacht Club By Lynn Oliver, Wes Oliver, Nick Young & Steve Landis   Readers of WindCheck share a passion for spending time on the water, but not everyone has the same level of enthusiasm for the effort and expense that boat ownership inevitably seems to entail. Norwalk Yacht Club in Norwalk, CT recognized that not everyone who wants to SAIL a boat also wants to OWN a boat, and came up…