Video: Oakcliff Sailing and the Marblehead-Halifax
In this fun video, two crews of offshore “Acorns” from Oakcliff Sailing go toe-to-toe aboard a pair of Farr 40s in the 2019 Marblehead-Halifax race. See video… . ...read more
Sail Racing
Video: Tiwal Cup 2019
Who says you need a superyacht to have fun? It would be hard to imagine having a better time on the water than these sailors recently did racing aboard a fleet of Tiwal inflatable sloops. ...read more
Whitbread Race Redux
Boats of yesteryear will once again race around the globe Many sailors of a certain age look back fondly on the Whitbread round-the-world races of the 1970s and ‘80s as the pinnacle of ocean racing, the glorious Corinthian days preceding the Volvo Ocean Race era and its glossy ...read more
Jon Sanders Sails Again
In the annals of shorthanded sailing, Australian Jon Sanders stands with the greatest. His achievements are little short of awe-inspiring, all the more so for being accomplished in modest boats on small budgets. A sheep shearer for many years, Sanders started sailing as a child ...read more
MOB: A Whistle in the Wind
Mark Wheeler went overboard a few minutes before midnight. He was in the middle of Lake Michigan, 30 miles offshore in 40 knots of wind. As he fumbled for the lanyard to inflate his lifejacket he watched his racing sailboat, Meridian X, disappear into the night at more than 18 ...read more
The 2019 Tahiti Pearl Regatta
Looking at the photos of previous Tahiti Pearl Regattas, I thought there was no way this place could be real, that it was the visual equivalent of “Fake News.” It’s just not possible for anywhere to have water that clear, skies that blue, settings so bucolic and evocative that ...read more
Ausome Tackles the Fastnet
Britain’s Rolex Fastnet race is an ambitious notch in any sailor’s belt, so when Lottie Harland decided to put together a team of nine autistic sailors, it was a major undertaking. Harland is the founder of Ausome, a charity that uses sailing to promote personal and social ...read more
Making Maiden and the 1989-90 Whitbread Race
As recently as the late 1980s, the idea of an all-female sailing team in the Whitbread Round the World Race (the predecessor to the Volvo Ocean Race) seemed laughable to many. How could women handle the competition? They weren’t strong enough. They wouldn’t be able to take the ...read more
Sailing Master Ken Read
Images trigger memory. Preparing to interview the golden boy of American sailing, I thought I would find a picture that would show Ken Read at the peak of his sailing career, his heyday, to share and have a warm and fuzzy start to our conversation. It was a commanding image from ...read more
Kiwi Spirit Takes Line Honors in Bermuda
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
Changes for The Ocean Race
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
12-Metres return to Newport for World Championship
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
SailGP: There’s a New Sailing Series in Town
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
2018 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, Jud Smith
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
2018 Rolex Yachtswomen, Carmen and Emma Cowles
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
Austrian Sailing Team Godspeed and the 2019 Heineken Regatta
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 46th Year for the St. Thomas International Regatta
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
Stories from the Cruisers of the ARC
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
St. Maarten Heineken Regatta: A Source of Hope
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
Video: Racing in St. Maarten with “I Love Poland”
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
Stars + Stripes Wants YOU for the 36th America’s Cup
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
Jean Luc Van den Heede Wins the 2018 Golden Globe Race
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
Lucky Seven for AC 36
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
Epic Golden Globe Race 2018 Nearing Finish
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