Caribbean Racing

Heineken Regatta Turns 30

by Adam Cort, Posted March 12, 2010

Although many regattas have struggled of late as a result of the current economic climate, the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta marked three decades of serious racing and partying this past week with some 240 yachts taking part.As in years past, the three-day event, organized by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, attracted some of the world’s most talented sailors, including America’s Cup veterans

Key West Set to Begin

by Adam Cort, Posted January 15, 2010

Some of the hottest sailboats and crews in the world have begun arriving in Southern Florida for next week’s Key West Race Week, scheduled for January 18-22.Although the island has been experiencing record cold temperatures as a result of the recent cold snap, the forecast is for more seasonable balmy conditions by the time of the first start on Monday. Numbers are down, with just

Course de l’Alliance: a race, a tour, an adventure

by Meredith Laitos, Posted December 21, 2009

“What you have to remember about this regatta is that it’s not just racing,” said race organizer Herv Dorvil, his speech drifting seamlessly between French and English. “It’s about bringing together the French and the Dutch and the sailors from three different islands and doing something we all love.”The sixth annual Course de l’Alliance, hosted by the Sint Maartin Yacht Club

Wooden warhorses

by David Schmidt, Posted July 30, 2009

Fiberglass, check; steel, check; carbon fiber, check; wood — uh, no, actually. So went my resume regarding the boats I’ve sailed. Okay, a few wooden Blue Jays and Lightnings as a kid, but for experience on proper wooden displacement boats, I had nothing. “Had” being the operative word. My eyes were opened to this fascinating subset of sailing at the 22nd-annual Panerai Antigua

Sailing to Cuba

by Tom Nunlist, Posted April 10, 2009

With the Obama administration relaxing travel restrictions to Cuba, a group of hopeful sailors from Sarasota, Florida are trying to organize a regatta on the island nation this coming June. Jay Meyer, a member of the Sarasota Yacht Club (SYC), is applying for permission with the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Meyer hopes to take as many as 100 U.S.-flagged boats to

Buckle up

by Nancy Spraker, Posted April 2, 2009

On the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles, wind is the most important ingredient for spending a day on the world’s biggest landsailing track along the island’s northeast coast. The brightly colored sails of Blokarts poke at a blue sky as their tires spin madly over the hard. “Sailing” them is a blast. White dust whirs around the tubular cart with its skinny sail as you settle into a

HIHO regatta

by Ryan Jolley, Posted March 9, 2009

"Take your time, nice and slow," said our captain ever time anybody stepped on the dinghy, and it soon became the motto of Bonac Witch, a Moorings 4300 catamaran that served as one of the spectator boats for the 24th annual Highland Spring HIHO Regatta in the British Virgin Islands. For my girlfriend, Taylor, and me, taking it nice and slow was exactly what we

Bahamas Sloop Winds

by Sail Staff, Posted February 5, 2009

Northeast trades: 25 knots, gusting 30. The quarter-wake hissing.My 29-year-old son, Noah, and I had just shaken out the reef in the mainsail on our little Bahamas sloop and fallen off onto a reach in the lee of Great Guana Cay when we saw the old salt.Screaming out of the settlement’s harbor, he held the tiller of a sky-blue sailing skiff with a casual at-homeness I have seen only

The Race That Wasn't and the Bachelorette Party That Was

by Rebecca Waters, Posted January 20, 2009

We arrived in Tortola determined, if not to win the cruising class, to at least have a creditable go in the annual BVI Spring Regatta with the all woman crew of “Team SAIL”. We looked damned good in our pink team shirts and matching pink Crocs and were sure to look equally good on the water aboard the Moorings 51.5 charterboat, Caribbean Soul. And if we failed…at least we escaped a cold

Caribbean Class

by Kimball Livingston, Posted January 20, 2009

How do you spot a happy European sailor?The Caribbean tan.How do you spot a happy American sailor?Surely you have my drift.When it’s overcoat weather in St. Tropez or Green Bay, it’s time for Martinique. St. Barts. St. Lucia. Key West. Any place from Florida south. And if you’re looking to race, no problem. The 7,000 isles, reefs, and cays of the