Ship’s Log

Free Admission May 23-29 Our friends at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut have announced that the Museum of America and the Sea will reopen to the public on Saturday, May 23. To celebrate the occasion and to thank the community for its support of the Museum during its closure, admission will be free May 23-29. Visitors will be welcome to explore the grounds, including the historic village and gardens, the shipyard, and the Mystic River waterfront….

Editor’s note:  Here’s a message about a new doublehanded “pick-up game” race from our friend Adam Loory: Fellow Doublehanded Social Distance Racers, Saturday’s race is coming together and the weather looks like it will cooperate. Below is a list of the 21 boats that have told me they will be sailing on Saturday, May 23 for our race around Stratford Shoal. The fleet will be divided into two classes. Class 1 has boats rating 66 and slower….

Our friends at the Storm Trysail Club have announced that the 75th running of their Block Island Race, which had been tentatively bumped from its original starting date of May 22 to June 19, 2020, is now postponed until May 28, 2021. “The timing of this decision is driven by a variety of health and safety, logistical, and practical factors,” said Ron Weiss, Chair of the Storm Trysail Club Sponsorship and Communications Committee. “Although nothing is certain…

Our friends at America’s Boating Club of Greenwich in Greenwich, Connecticut are presenting an online version of their annual safe boating class (the United States Power Squadron’s “America’s Boating Course”) on Saturday, May 30, starting at 9:00 am. Educational Officer Andy Cummings and his instructors will teach the class via WebEx.  The State of Connecticut will grant a state boating license to students that successfully complete the course. To register online, log onto https://www.usps.org/cgi-bin-nat/eddept/800/getregformx.cgi?C-18010. “As there is…

Over the years, sailboat racing in Greenwich, Connecticut has been very popular. The competition is typically casual, particularly mid-week evening racing. And as important as the racing is, for many, the social aspect is equally critical. Following the racing, the Greenwich yacht clubs organize post-race gatherings so competitors can share stories of triumph and defeat. Yet in the age of Covid-19, activities such as sailing have had to be curtailed. With restrictions hopefully starting to loosen, it’s…

It’s been said that when one door closes, another opens. For Griffin Spinney, a Newport, Rhode Island resident who’s been sailing for most of his 18 years, the “prize behind door #2” turned out to be more fantastic than he could have imagined. A senior at Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire, Griff is an accomplished offshore sailor.  After his plans to build a wooden paddleboard for his senior project were waylaid by COVID-19, our friends at…

We like to think that volunteers who organize and run regattas for sailors with disabilities are “paying it forward,” meaning that if it were you in the boat, you’d want someone to be looking out for you, too. But paying forward isn’t always the only option. For the past twelve years, the hundreds of volunteers who have helped make the Robie Pierce Regattas for sailors with disabilities a success have had their contributions matched by financial underwriting…

Monday, May 11 is the rollout date for “Conversations with Classic Boats,” the website and podcast created by Tom Darling, a longtime WindCheck friend and contributor, featuring a unique look at what he calls “classic” boats. “A classic boat doesn’t have to be wood, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a yacht,” Darling explained. “It could be fiberglass – think of a Dyer Dhow – but everyone agrees that Bolero and Dorade are classics.” The website,…

Over the years, our friends at the Warrior Sailing and the USMMA Sailing Foundation have received a number of sail donations for vessels large and small. Many of these get put to use on program boats, while others are sold for fundraising purposes. “We started passing along sails to our friends at Sea Bags a while back to help supply them with plenty of raw material for their beautiful bags,” said Warrior Sailing Program Director Ben Poucher….

By Richard du Moulin, Storm Trysail Club For the past thirty years, leading sailing organizations like the U.S. Naval Academy, US Sailing, Seattle Sailing Foundation, Cruising Club of America and the Storm Trysail Club have developed best practices to maneuver back to and attempt to recover a man overboard (MOB). The Storm Trysail video, “Safety-At-Sea: Man Overboard Recovery”(available on Facebook and YouTube), is probably the best video production of MOB practices, combining footage from on-the-boat, off-the-boat, drone, and…