October 2020

Stamford Yacht Club and the Storm Trysail Club with Riverside Yacht Club hosted three regattas on three successive weekends. The Vineyard Race, The Valeur-Jensen Stamford Denmark Race and the Long Island Sound Championships all had beautiful September weather. And sandwiched in there on the middle Saturday, 9/12, was Larchmont Yacht Club’s Edlu Race, a short distance race traditionally sailed as a warm-up to Block Island Race in the spring. I have sailed a big handful of Edlu’s,…

The fastest sailboat in the Northeast, Jason Carroll’s MOD70 trimaran Argo (New York, NY), has set the new fastest elapsed time for the Around Jamestown Record on Tuesday, September 1. Electing to round Conanicut Island to starboard, Team Argo (Brian Thompson, Chad Corning, Charlie Ogletree, Anthony Kotoun, Tom Burnham, Jim Condon, Chuck Norris, Westy Barlow and Ben Bardwell) left the line off Fort Adams in a 22-knot ESE breeze on an ebbing tide. Completing the approximately 18-mile…

Offshore Sailing School founder and Colgate 26 sconcept designer Steve Colgate is pleased to announce that new Colgate 26 keelboats are being built by Waterline Systems. “We are delighted to work with Randy Borges’ Waterline Systems of North Kingstown, RI and Hubert, NC, to manufacture Colgate 26 sailboats,” said Colgate. “Waterline Systems is the perfect builder for Colgate 26s as they currently build the Alerion yacht line, and will provide that same high quality in producing the…

By Chad Corning aboard Argo Editor’s note: Ninety boats competed in the 86th running of Stamford Yacht Club’s Vineyard Race on the weekend of September 4 – 6. Jason Carroll’s MOD70 trimaran Argo (New York, NY) set a new course record, breaking the one she set in 2018 by 4 minutes and 24 seconds. Finishing with an elapsed time of 14 hours, 53 minutes and 55 seconds, Argo topped the five-boat Multihull class and captured the Nina…

By Diane Kropfl & Eileen Campbell, Ms. Race Co-Chairs The Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club (AHYC) in Atlantic Highlands, NJ hosted their 16th annual Ms. Race on Saturday, August 22, a race hosted by and for women sailors. The theme of this year’s race was “Stay the Course” in deference to the unprecedented times for this charity event that benefits 180 Turning Lives Around, a charity dedicated to protecting, advocating and supporting victims of domestic violence and rape…

As befitting a regatta named after the multi-faceted Ted Hood – sailmaker, yacht designer, inventor, yacht builder, and America’s Cup-winning skipper, designer, sailmaker and builder – the Storm Trysail Club’s Ted Hood Regatta, sailed August 21 – 23 in Marblehead, MA, had a wide variety of courses, sizes and types of yachts. The 45 participating boats included everything from a Rhodes 19 one-design fleet, to larger keelboat one-designs (J/105’s and Etchells 22’s), inshore course ORRez big boat…

A former apprentice at Arey’s Pond Boat Yard and a graduate of The Landing School, Brian Porter is a member of the team that built the AC75 that the American Magic Sailing Team will be using to bring the America’s Cup back home.   WindCheck: Where did you grow up, and how old were you when you started sailing? Brian Porter: I grew up in Orleans, Massachusetts on Cape Cod and still call it my home. I…

In order to get around the leeward mark as quickly as possible, you need to have good boathandling technique. If you turn the boat too quickly or trim your sails the wrong way, you will lose momentum through the turn, and that could be costly. Perhaps the most important speed variable in a leeward mark rounding is your course through the water. This includes the shape of your turning arc and the placement of your turn relative…

Report and photos by Paul L. Roberti Despite what is going on in the world with COVID-19, the M32 catamaran fleet in Newport, RI has been able to consistently race this summer because of the formatting of the regattas, which are collectively organized by the fleet.     Designed to provide fun and competitive year-round racing for M32 owners and crews, the M32 Series North America comprises events in Newport, Miami, FL, and Chicago, IL. The most…

So, after a couple of seasons with my new 4-stroke 3.5hp engine (had to drop down to 3.5hp or face putting 80 pounds on the transom where formerly 40 pounds of 5hp had ridden), the engine just wasn’t as friendly to an all-outdoor environment as the old 2-stroke was. Happily, my mechanic was able to address – and explain – what the changes from 2-stroke to 4-stroke means. This column is about that. The Old 2-Stroke engine…