Mark Riley’s Farr 63 Kiwi Spirit secured line honors yesterday in the Marion to Bermuda race, finishing off St. David’s Lighthouse at 0227 local time. Francis Seldorff’s Kinship, a Baltic 52, was second in the 40-boat fleet, crossing the line at around 0500. With 18-year-old ...read more
The next fully crewed round-the-world race will be one for the ages, says Brian Hancock In its near-50-year history The Ocean Race, the original fully-crewed around-the-world yacht race, has hit the reset button a few times—notably, when original sponsor Whitbread pulled the ...read more
This July 8-13, Newport, Rhode Island, will be reliving its storied history when the Ida Lewis Yacht Clubs hosts the 12-Metre World Championships. For two and a half decades, from 1968 to 1983, Newport hosted the America’s Cup back when it was sailed aboard these iconic boats, ...read more
San Francisco was the venue of the biggest come-from-behind victory in the history of the America’s Cup when Oracle Team USA beat Emirates Team New Zealand in 2013, so it seems only fitting that the first American round of Larry Ellison’s new SailGP pro sailing series will be ...read more
Sailmaker Jud Smith won his 10th world title last year with a decisive victory in the J/70 Worlds, sailed in his home waters of Marblehead, Massachusetts. His achievement was recognized with a second Rolex Yachtsman of the Year award. Head of the Doyle Sails one-design loft, ...read more
Twin sisters Carmen and Emma Cowles were selected as Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year after a terrific 2018 season that included their second straight Youth Sailing World Championship win. Sailing in the Girls’ International 420 Doublehanded Dinghy event, the identical twins won ...read more
On the final day of the 2019 Heineken Regatta, Austrian team Godspeed had one goal: beat the Germans. (Two of the Godspeed crew members are German themselves, but any patriotic fraternity was left at home that day.) With first place out of reach, held soundly by the undefeated ...read more
The weekend of March 22-26 in the US Virgin Islands marked the 46th year of the St. Thomas International regatta with over 50 boats competing overall. The fleet is divided into one-design and PHRF classes which means that smaller, 18 boat strong IC24 fleet offers up some of the ...read more
Each December, the docks at Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia are abuzz as the fleet of the ARC—the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers—arrives to much fanfare. No matter what time of day or night, the staff of the World Cruising Club, organizers of the 33-year-old rally, are there to ...read more
The tagline for the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is "serious sailing, serious fun." However, for the inhabitants of St. Maarten, the event is more than just a festival of great music and some of the best sailing around. Local blogger Angie Soeffker explains the impact the race ...read more
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com During last week's 39th Heineken Regatta, all eyes were on The Polish National Fund's Volvo 70 I Love Poland (formerly Puma). The team is comprised of ocean racing veterans, Olympians, and promising under 30's who The Polish National Fund ...read more
In keeping with its mission of building an all-American team, Stars + Stripes Team USA, challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, has unveiled an open application process for sailors interested in applying for positions both aboard its boats and onshore. Click here, to access the ...read more
Whatever is in the water in Brittany, it must be powerful stuff. Followers of the singlehanded sailing game are used to pretty heroic performances by Breton sailors, but none of them have come anywhere near the recent achievements of a 74-year-old former math teacher named Jean ...read more
A perennial challenge for professional sailboat racing is striking a balance between boats that are exciting to sail, but aren’t so cutting edge (read expensive) that it becomes impossible to get enough teams to compete. Fortunately for Cup fans, the Kiwi defenders for the 36th ...read more
Following a tough night with 45-knot winds and 20ft seas, 73-year-old French sailor Jean-Luc Van Den Heede aboard the Rustler 36 Matmut is now within 100 miles of the finish of the Golden Globe Race 2018 off Les Sables d'Olonne, French. He expected to arrive to a huge welcome at ...read more
The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is best known for the wild weather that often marks the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia. However, Tasmania’s Derwent River, which serves as the homestretch into the finish in Hobart, can be no less daunting with its ...read more
The Medalist I bought in 1962 was designed by Bill Tripp and built in Holland by LeComte. The hull was fiberglass and the interior finished to a very high standard in wood. Bill Tripp was a big man and the scale of the boat reflected this. A combination of wide beam and high ...read more
The Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image competition once again captures the excitement that is sailing from around the world An impressive 109 photographers from 25 countries took part in last year’s Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image 2018 competition. And while Portuguese photographer Ricarado ...read more
With less than 1,700 miles to go to the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, second-place Mark Slats of the Netherlands has cut another 393 miles out of the lead held by French sailor Jean-Luc Van Den Heede in the Golden Globe 2018 race. Jean-Luc aboard the Rustler 36 Matmut ...read more
Even more than a year and half later, the scars from Hurricane Irma are still all too visible on the island of St. Maarten. But if Irma couldn’t prevent the famed Heineken from taking place in the winter of 2017-18, you can bet it’s not going to put a crimp in either the racing ...read more
Because modern yachting is in many ways an invention of the early to mid 20th century, in recent years sailors have been celebrating any number of milestone anniversaries. Now it’s the biennial Transpac’s turn, as it prepares for its 50th race from Southern California (following ...read more
It was a memorable year for the quadrennial solo Route du Rhum race from Saint Malo, France, to Guadeloupe, with everything from storm conditions to plenty of disabled boats and nail-biting finishes at the end to mark the event’s 40th anniversary. The 11th running of the ...read more
I arrived in Rockland, Maine, on an early afternoon in July with a backpack, my camera and little else. Though traveling to an unfamiliar place to race with a crew of strangers has been a common theme in my sailing career, I had no idea what to expect from the massive wood and ...read more
If you’re over 40 and know anything about sailing, you probably know exactly who Bill Lee is. The image is clear: bushy brown hair escaping from a Gilligan-style bucket hat, oversized sunglasses and a wrinkled flower-print button-down shirt. We (I’m 43) can also picture the ...read more
