“Want to check the keel?” North U Coach Geoff Becker calls to me from back by the transom. We’ve just suffered our worst finish in the regatta and are absolutely flying on our way back to shore, spinnaker up and heeling at an angle that feels like maybe we’re tempting fate. ...read more
A big fleet and plenty of wind make for top-flight sailing Even the best regattas occasionally get skunked for wind, but not this year in Charleston for the city’s annual race week. For 2017, the spring classic not only boasted a 200-plus fleet, but steady breezes that made for ...read more
Thirty-one years after a group of traditional yachts decided to make the most of the Atlantic seas and tradewind conditions on offer immediately outside English Harbour, Antigua, the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta has become a riot of racing and good times. Quite how the unpaid ...read more
SAIL gives you look into North U's Regatta Experience course in Miami May 2018 ...read more
Surfer and solo sailor Liz Clark has been seeking out warm tradewinds, beautiful anchorages and perfect waves around the Pacific on her Cal 40, Swell, since 2006. It hasn’t all been tropical sunsets and clean wave breaks, though, as is evident in this excerpt from her new ...read more
Although I now live just north of Boston, I came of age in the Midwest, sailing on the Great Lakes, which back when I was a kid was about as far away from Newport, Rhode Island, and the America’s Cup as you could get. Reading about guys like Ted Turner and Dennis Conner while ...read more
“Sails like a witch,” New Englanders used to say about a particularly nimble and speedy craft. The same could be said of wizards. At 7:20 a.m. Merlinarrived at Marina Hemingway as part of the revived St. Petersburg-Havana Race, and she was nearly 12 hours ahead of the second ...read more
Not even Hurricane Irma could stop this 10-years-young Classic For a week or two after Hurricane Irma ravaged the Leeward Islands in early September, no one on the French island of St. Barthélemy thought the 10th annual Cata-Cup—scheduled for mid-November, just 10 weeks ...read more
Then, of course, the wind shut down… Although only an overnighter, for the sailors taking part in the 2017 Ida Lewis Distance Race, the course must have still felt plenty long this past August as they were hammered by a series of storms only to have the wind shut down at the ...read more
This past summer 25 trimarans and sailors from a dozen different countries all descended on Skærbæk, Denmark, the birthplace of Dragonfly trimarans, to take part in a three-race regatta celebrating the 50th birthday of Dragonfly builder, Quorning Boats. In addition to sparkling ...read more
Eighty years after Ranger cleaned up 4-0 in the 1937 America’s Cup off Newport, Rhode Island, the last time ever that the mighty J Class raced for the “Auld Mug,” the Dutch-flagged Lionheart, which is based on lines similar to those of Ranger, made some history of its own by ...read more
The summer of 2017 has been one to remember for the legendary J Class, with a series of spectacular regattas that began in Bermuda this past spring. This past week, the J Class wrapped up its first-ever world championship regatta, in which no fewer than six of the mighty boats ...read more
After three decades of incredible racing out on the aquamarine waters off the “Conch Republic”—not to mention some equally incredible parties—organizers of fabled Quantum Key West Race Week have finally accepted the inevitable and thrown in the towel. Once the premier event of ...read more
After a successful revival in 2016, the Conch Republic Cup is poised to hold another series of offshore and inshore races beginning January 22. The regatta kicks off with a 110-mile race from Key West, Florida, to Varadero, Cuba. This is followed by a 100-mile coastal jaunt from ...read more
A weird and wonderful collection of boats and sailors tackle a tricky 750-mile race in the Pacific Northwest “It’s therapy, I need this breath of fresh air. I’m 67 and who knows how many times I get to do this.” — Bill Gifford (Team Excellent Adventure). Read Dieter Loibner's ...read more
There are any number of rugged patches of water out there—think Cape Horn or the Bass Strait. Now it’s time to add another—Poondulanna Lake in the heart of the forbidding Australian Outback, site of the 2016 Outback Spirit Lake Eyre Yacht Club Regatta. “We only found this lake ...read more
Last April, sailors from around the world came together for the 49th running of Antigua Sailing Week in what seems to be the Caribbean’s friendliest regatta. On certain days, the tradewinds gusted over 20 knots, while on others the heavier boats labored in light breezes under ...read more
It’s long been known that sailing is not just good fun, it’s good for you too—both mentally and physically. And this goes double for people with disabilities. It therefore made all the sense in the world when the USMMA Sailing Foundation, and sailors like America’s Cup veteran ...read more
Now in its fifth year, the Atlantic Cup, a one-design Class40 regatta featuring inshore racing, a pair of offshore legs and a hefty cash purse for the winners, is expecting to attract up to 10 boats by the time the starting gun sounds this May. First to sign up this time around ...read more
There’s no bad time to charter in the British Virgin Islands. You’ll get your dose of sun, sea and breeze whatever time of year you visit. To me, though, the BVI are at their best around the end of March—just about when the Northeast, where I live, is emerging yawning and ...read more
At our shoreside celebration on the island of Huahine, one bright gazelle of a female child dashed to and fro, to and fro, leaping to the beat of the drums, infectious joy trailing in her wake. Was she a French local, in from Papeete for the Pearl Regatta, Tahiti’s annual ...read more
“Every knock is a boost,” Ben said as the crew passed pancakes around the table. It was the day before the first of our Regatta Time in Abaco Mother Tub-class races and the lighthearted inquiry, “What is your motto?” was posed to each crewmember over breakfast. Some folks ...read more
