August 2021

It is with great sadness that we heard that Bruce Kirby had passed away at his home in Rowayton, Connecticut on Sunday evening, July 18. Bruce has been deservedly well eulogized across sailing and social media. He was a delightful soul who had so many accomplishments in his long and fruitful life. In WindCheck country, his work permeates not just through the Laser, but with the Sonar and Ideal 18 fleets that dot the coastline. But for…

The Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, RI has teamed with the Narragansett Bay Yachting Association (NBYA) to announce a new trophy for a “Narragansett Bay Middle Distance Champion” in 2021. The trophy, made of pre-preg carbon fiber and gold-plated brass, will be presented to the PHRF skipper/team with the best overall combined performance in the Ida Lewis Distance Race IN BAY race (Saturday, August 21) and NBYA’s Inaugural ‘Round the Bay Regatta (Saturday, July 24). The Ida Lewis Distance…

Our friends at Offshore Sailing School have announced the promotions of Director of Marketing Beth Oliver to Vice President, Director of Sales & Marketing, and Chief Operations Manager Bryce Jackson to Vice President, Director of Operations. Oliver and Jackson will manage company personnel and services on behalf of founder/owners Steve and Doris Colgate, who remain integrally involved in company and community affairs. “For more than 57 years, Steve and I have grown the company, added courses and…

The 29th Annual WoodenBoat Show August 20 – 22 at Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT Hosted by Mystic Seaport Museum in partnership with WoodenBoat Publications, this three-day festival celebrates the design and craftsmanship of wooden craft, with something for all wooden boat enthusiasts and marine history buffs. Wooden boats of every type – large and small, old and new, power, sail, oar and paddle – will be on display, including cruising yachts, launches, runabouts, fishing boats, performance…

Jim, Clem (and Tom’s) Wonderful IOD Adventure Story and photos by Tom Darling     I told him not to do it. In fact, I begged him to reconsider. In February 2021, my good sailing friend of forty years, Clem Wood, called to ask my opinion on his pending choice of a new boat for his Stonington, Connecticut syndicate to replace the J/70 that they’d sailed the prior six years. I had to bite my tongue. He…

Photos by Paul Todd/Outside Images The Northeast classic yacht racing season kicked off on a blustery weekend as the New York Yacht Club hosted the Robert H. Tiedemann Classics Regatta out of their Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, RI on June 26 & 27. Members of the classic yacht community from Maine to New York came together to compete in three races on Narragansett Bay in winds that occasionally gusted close to the regatta’s 25-knot limit.     The…

The Beverly Yacht Club and Buzzards Bay 1914 By David Cheever, reprinted from an article in the Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle No. 23 – 1994. Editor’s note: We’re changing tacks with this month’s Herreshoff Jubilee article. Our friends at the Herreshoff Marine Museum & America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol, Rhode Island are celebrating their Golden Jubilee year – the 50th anniversary of the museum’s founding, and WindCheck is honored to be the official Jubilee Media Partner. The…

At most starts, there are lots of boats maneuvering in tight quarters. If you want to emerge at the front of the pack, you need excellent boathandling skills. Fortunately, there are many ways to simulate and practice the moves you need to make at the starting line. Here are several drills to increase your chances of success. Time and distance Knowing how long it will take you to move from one place to another is critical for…

Data is the key to understanding how we are doing at protecting our coastal waters. Thanks to the ongoing weekly water quality monitoring at our beaches, Save the Sound can review a deep dataset and build an understanding of water conditions and pollution sources and drivers. The biggest take-away from our beach data analysis is always how hyper local water pollution impacts are. The mapped grades show how beaches with “A” water quality can be situated within…

When I wrote about why four out of five boats that sink do so at the dock, I promised another article on that fifth boat – the one that sinks underway. This is far more dangerous since you and your crew are aboard and not arriving at the marina to find your mast light sticking up out of your slip…   Why Do Boats Sink at Sea? Before we get into the other percentages, why’s and wherefore’s,…