July 2024

Some months, our crew really gives pause in terms of what the content will look like in the coming issue. So, this year, I thought July would be kind of light. Well, the thing about the WindCheck Zone is that there’s an unsinkable supply of people, boats, stories about people and boats, regattas to promote and regattas to report on that people have sailed in or run…in other words, a lot. And then there are the cool…

By Kasey Commander, NESS Director of Marketing & Communications New England Science & Sailing (NESS), based in Stonington, CT, has brought hundreds of ocean lovers together through competitive surfing and beach cleanups for the past twelve years. The 13th Annual Catch a Curl Youth Surf Classic & Beach Cleanup is scheduled for 9am – 3pm on Saturday, September 21 at Westerly Town Beach, in Westerly, RI. Registration opens July 22.   In 2022, 70 surfers entered the classic…

It’s not often you run into two guys in their early twenties who have already racked up some serious performance credentials in the sharp-elbowed world of professional offshore solo sailing. German sailors Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are two such characters. I spoke with them at Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard during the Newport stop of The Atlantic Cup.     Coop: Guys, congratulations on your third-place finish in Leg 1. You must be pretty happy with that……

By Scott Lajoie, Director of Marketing The Sailing Museum and National Sailing Hall of Fame in Newport, RI has revealed the names of twelve individuals who will be inducted into its fellowship of hall of famers this year. This diverse list includes Jan C. O’Malley, a three-time US Sailing Yachtswoman of the Year, two-time Adams Cup winner, and the first ever winner of the IYRU Women’s World Sailing Championship; Peter Melvin, a multiple-class world and national champion, as…

By Kate Somers, risingT     The 77th annual Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race took place the weekend of May 24 – 26, challenging sailors with light winds and testing their patience and strategy. Starting and finishing in Stamford, CT, the fleet of 76 boats embarked on the 186-nautical-mile journey around Block Island. Described by some as a race of “chutes and ladders,” with multiple restarts in light conditions, 52 boats successfully completed the race. David Greenstein’s Mills…

The 15th Annual Robie Pierce Regatta ran from May 30 to June 2, 2024 at the American Yacht Club in Rye, NY, co-hosted by the Larchmont Yacht Club. Seventeen boats hit the starting line for the Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta (the Open) and four boats raced in Thursday’s Women’s Invitational.   It was skipper Eric Rose (Bennington, VT) along with crew Dalina Delfing (New York, NY) and able-bodied sailor Richard Jaffe (NY, NY) who won the 3-day…

The International Yacht and Athletic Club (IYAC) hosted its second annual Rhody Regatta on Saturday, June 1, and Matt Brooks’ (Freemont, CA/Jamestown, RI) 1929 Sparkman & Stephens yawl Dorade stole the show. Not only was the 52-foot classic yacht visually striking by virtue of her sleek lines drawn by Olin Stephens, but she also appeared to be “always in the right place” despite a variety of often-fickle conditions. Sailing to win its five-boat Class 3, Dorade also claimed overall victory when scored collectively with the…

On most boats, the mainsail is the biggest sail and therefore affects your upwind speed more than any other speed variable. It also has a lot to do with pointing ability. So if you are the person holding the mainsheet (whether you are the helmsperson or a dedicated mainsail trimmer), it’s important to do as good a job as possible. Pre-race mainsail set-up Like almost every other crew job, being a good mainsail trimmer requires practice and…

From his vantage point on the deck of the Cecelia Anne, the 143-foot catamaran ferrying from New London, CT on a mid-May morning, everything clicked into focus for Charles Rothenberger. As he scanned the steely spread of the open ocean, he realized he was looking at the future. In the distance were five turbines off Block Island – “America’s Starting Five,” as they’re called by Orsted, the company that installed the first offshore wind farm in the…

There are three kinds of “norths” – Magnetic, True and Grid. Why are there differences between them? This column is about that. The small English village of Langton Matravers, on the Dorset coast of the United Kingdom, until recently had just one small claim to fame. In 1914, a young Ian Fleming, later the author of the James Bond novels, attended prep school there. But on November 2, 2022, Langton Matravers wrote itself another footnote in the…