Sail Racing

“This is by far the best finish line I’ve ever crossed. Today, I can confidently say I’m the happiest man in the world,” said an exhausted Charlie Dalin shortly after crossing the Vendée Globe finish line this morning. The 40-year-old skipper had spent 64 days, 19 hours, and 22 ...read more

This summer, SAIL's Technical Editor Adam Cove took on the Race to Alaska—a 750-mile slog from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska—alone in an 18-foot catboat. He documented the trip, from refitting the boat, adding oars, provisioning, and towing it across the ...read more

Editor’s Note: During the Newport Bermuda Race this year, the J/122 Alliance struck a submerged object in the Gulf Stream in the middle of the night, suffering damage that caused her to sink (see “A Eulogy for Alliance,” October 2024). Fellow racers aboard Ceilidh, a J/121, and ...read more

With one of yacht racing’s most extreme events kicking off this weekend, masses have already begun to gather in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, to witness the spectacle of the Vendée Globe. On Sunday, 40 racers will set out to sail solo, nonstop, and unassisted around the world. ...read more

The Vendée Globe is arguably the pinnacle of solo ocean racing. On November 10, 40 skippers will set out from Les Sables d’Olonne, France, with the aim of sailing nonstop, unassisted around the world. Many will not make it. In recent years, the race has had an attrition rate ...read more

Sailing’s answer to Formula 1 racing is a multihull spectacle. Even those of us who are smitten with the classic racing yachts of yesteryear can’t argue with SailGP’s ingenuity. I’ve heard it described with many words: cutting edge, spaceship, freak show. And it all starts with ...read more

The Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup came to a dramatic conclusion on Saturday off Barcelona, Spain, when Defender Emirates Team New Zealand notched match point against the Challenger INEOS Team Britannia, solidifying its place in modern Cup history. They are now officially the ...read more

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is J/122 Alliance... We've suffered catastrophic damage; the boat is sinking. There are nine souls aboard." If you spend any substantial amount of time on the water, you’ll hear a lot over the VHF. Swearing, squabbling, scolding…eventually, you’ll ...read more

Annapolis sailors turned out in force last weekend for the annual Hospice Cup regatta, getting in some great racing while helping raise record funding for the area’s nonprofit hospice organizations. Nearly 90 boats competed, together with sponsors raising more than $200,000, says ...read more

The 2024 Annapolis J/105 Women’s Regatta once again attracted top racing talent to the largest cruising one-design women’s regatta in the country, and close competition was the watchword during the event over the Labor Day weekend. In addition to a tie for second and third ...read more

When Safe Harbor purchased the storied Newport Shipyard in 2019, the company principles knew that they were acquiring a piece of yacht racing history. The same year they also purchased New England Boatworks, and then the Jamestown Boat Yard in early 2020. They realized they were ...read more

“The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”—Nassim Taleb, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder You might have watched the 40-foot Gray Wolf win last year’s Race to Alaska (R2AK) under team We Brake for Whales and thought it impressive ...read more

It’s sometimes hard to wrap your head around all that’s evolved since 1851, when a syndicate of owners from the newly minted New York Yacht Club brought their schooner America to the UK for a summer of racing and returned with the trophy that would become the America’s Cup. It ...read more

The 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race was the first sailing race that I ever tuned in for. I was in college at the time—hard to believe it's been 10 years—and photos from the likes of Amory Ross, Brian Carlin, and Corinna Halloran inspired a teenage version of me to set my sights on ...read more

Some of the best gifts come in small packages. So it was when my sister-in-law asked me and my husband if we would race her Herreshoff 12½ in the Annapolis Yacht Club’s Wednesday night series. Sidelined while recovering from back surgery, she couldn’t bear to see her beloved ...read more

Red Jacket, the 40-footer that became the first Canadian boat to win the SORC and launched what would become C&C Yachts, will be back on the racecourse this summer under new ownership, after her future had become worryingly uncertain. “In Canada there are two significant sailing ...read more

Day one on June 21 saw the race overcome by a mild, slow moving electrical storm that swelled over land during the start before spilling outwards, becalming the fleet during the early tactical decisions. New breeze carried us onwards towards Block Island and a series of ...read more

This spring, Ronnie Simpson was in California, helping U.S. Patriot Sailing suss out a Class40 that had just been donated to the nonprofit. He was hoping to get it set up in time for a doublehanded Pacific Cup run from San Francisco to Hawaii in July. But after a couple of weeks ...read more

Many professional races bill themselves as among the most difficult feats in sailing, but I would argue that the comparatively small and ragtag R2AK should also hold a space on the list. The race is a two-legged beast from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska, with a ...read more

Against the backdrop of bustling ferries and commercial traffic on New York Harbor and saluted with spraying water from a New York City fireboat, some 70 sailboats will gather by the Statue of Liberty early on July 25 for the start of the 47th Around Long Island Regatta—a ...read more

It’s mid-December, and I’m more than 3,500 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, bound for Fremantle, Australia, having—at the moment—too much fun. Indian Ocean conditions are near perfect with 15 to 17 knots of wind at an apparent 120-degree angle. With 10-foot rolling waves, ...read more

After a few rare weeks stateside, 28 IMOCA 60s are setting off on the NY-Vendée. The transatlantic race to Les Sables-d'Olonne, France, is the final qualifier before November’s Vendée Globe, the premiere singlehanded, nonstop, round-the-world race that happens every four years. ...read more

There aren’t too many events in the four-year IMOCA 60 calendar that bring the fleet to this side of the Atlantic. Fewer still see the world’s premiere offshore racing fleet in the continental U.S. This May, we have a rare opportunity to see them in action when the fleet makes ...read more

My visit to the Bermuda stopover of SailGP’s Season 4 circuit came with a few revelations. I’m based in Boston, and the first surprise came in realizing that in terms of travel time, the Bermuda stopover was actually closer to me than next month’s New York stopover. The flight ...read more

American sailor Taylor Canfield, 35, grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands and has been competing as a professional match racer and fleet racer since graduation from Boston College in 2011. Currently the driver for the SailGP U.S. team, Canfield is part of a new and eclectic team ...read more

You could argue that best thing about the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) isn’t really the camaraderie, the energy, or even the excitement of taking on the big challenge of a transatlantic passage. It’s possible that next to the sailing itself, the best thing is the stories. ...read more

Grizzly bears? Check. Tidal currents at up to 15 knots? Check. Wild weather? Check. This is the Race to Alaska (R2AK), 750 nautical miles of unsupported racing through Canadian wilderness from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska. Oh, and you can’t have an engine…at ...read more

Caribbean sailors marked a milestone this past weekend as they celebrated the 50th St. Thomas International Regatta (STIR), a unique three-day event that draws a multigenerational fleet from St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and St. ...read more

Editor’s Note: In 1956, Alan Nicol—nicknamed “Stormy” for the weather he seemed to attract—was Francis Chichester’s main crew on Gipsy Moth II, sailing with Chichester in the decade before he completed his famous circumnavigation in Gipsy Moth IV in 1966 (and became Sir Francis). ...read more

Sailing hasn’t been a sport of the masses during Cole Brauer’s lifetime. In fact, there’s a full generation of young adults who grew up after the United States’ America’s Cup golden age, after the era when non-sailors and national media followed the sport. Solo ocean racing in ...read more

When Cole Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in A Coruña, Spain, early today, she was met with scores of fans and well wishers, as well as friends and family she hadn’t seen in four months. She was also met with the race’s first-place finisher, Philippe ...read more

At 0230 UTC on February 11, Ronnie Simpson’s Shipyard Brewing dismasted in the South Atlantic. The boat, which was one of the remaining 12 entrants in the inaugural Global Solo Challenge, had been plagued by boat-breaking conditions since rounding Cape Horn nine days earlier. ...read more

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge has been an ocean race like no other. From a sizable percentage of American sailors to a pursuit start that took several months to get everyone on the racecourse, it has generated a lot of conversation. The race pits pro and amateur sailors on ...read more

The results are in, and the Cruising Club of America (CCA) has announced the recipients of its 2023 awards. Kirsten Neuschäfer of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, has received the club’s highest honor, the Blue Water Medal, awarded “in recognition of the tremendous effort, ...read more

“Pole up!” our skipper shouted from the foredeck as the helmsman eased off the main. We had just rounded the windward mark, and another crewmember and I scrambled for our positions at the spinnaker sheets and launched the chute from the bag. What a beautiful sight. It was a ...read more