Racing

By Tricia Walsh     Stonington Harbor Yacht Club in Stonington, CT hosted the 18th Annual Red Lobdell Regatta on Saturday, July 27. Twenty-eight boats competed across six classes on a beautiful day with an SSE wind at 5-7 knots. There were three racing circles: Big Boats raced around Fishers Island (an Eastern Connecticut Sailing Association points race), Medium Boats (which included the Watch Hill 15s) raced outside the outer breakwater, and Small Boats competed inside Stonington…

By Don Watson, Regatta Chair    The 47th annual Buzzards Bay Regatta, held on August 2-4, provided three days of sunshine filled racing for 3 classes of kite boards, seven one-design classes, 2 PHRF classes and one NEMA multihull class. Shields and J/80s raced in the waters off Marion, MA, hosted by Beverly Yacht Club. The F18 catamarans, Melges 20s, 5O5s, Laser Masters, Marshall Sandpipers, Kiteboards (including AV8, Foil and Leading Edge), PHRF Race and Multihulls raced…

By Barby MacGowan, Media Pro International Light air became a challenge for racers and organizers at this year’s Edgartown Race Weekend, hosted by Edgartown Yacht Club in Edgartown, MA July 25 – 29, but the show went on for all to enjoy on Martha’s Vineyard.   The event’s most illustrious of three components – a 56-mile ’Round-the-Island (RTI) race that has been a New England racing tradition for 81 years now – started Saturday, July 27 in barely-there breezes…

By Ben Cesare On June 1 and 2, twenty brand-new Melges IC37s, 131 amateur sailors, a team of coaches from North Sails, the team from Melges Performance Sailboats, and the team from New York Yacht Club who were responsible for getting the boats in the water and ready to sail, gathered at Sail Newport in Newport, RI for an inaugural “training weekend.” Class President Phil Lotz welcomed all, thanked all who had made it possible and then…

  Shifty, gusty northwesterly breezes proved challenging for the six international teams contesting New York SailGP in the waters of New York, New York on June 21 & 22, delighting the wildly cheering crowds on the waterfront at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City. Team representing the United States, Australia, China, France, Great Britain and Japan did battle in this third event of the inaugural SailGP season. The Japan SailGP Team, led by double Olympic medalist helmsman…

By Sam Crichton Newport, Rhode Island dialed up chamber of commerce weather for the final day of racing at the 17th C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta, hosted by Sail Newport June 18 – 23.  The day started out with the predicted Northwest breeze, which was steady at around 10 knots until it dropped out causing the race committee to abandon the very last race.     Sailors from across North America, as afar afield as Alberta,…

Many WindCheck readers know Ole Nielsen as the founder and president of Destino Yachts in Branford, Connecticut, and the builder of the loveliest mahogany runabout we’ve ever seen. Our Editor-in-Chief interviewed Ole for the ‘On Watch’ page a few years ago, as the Destino 20 was nearing completion. Upon returning from the workshop he exclaimed, “It’s a nice as a Riva – possibly even nicer – and it’s handcrafted in the USA…wish I could afford it!” The…

Our friends at Manuka Sports Event Management, a Newport, RI-based sports event asset and management company specializing in marine events and environmental sustainability, and 5 Oceans Sports Marketing, a firm specializing in offshore and grand prix yacht racing headquartered in London, England, have announced the beginning of a new era in Class40 racing: The Race Around. A double-handed ‘round-the-world race with the full endorsement of Class40, The Race Around is designed for teams looking for a competitive challenge that will take them…

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…