Regattas

Spring has sprung, which means the brave (or the stupid) are suiting up to harness the spring breeze on the water. As the SAIL intern this semester, I’ve been itching to finally go out and do what I’ve been reading and writing about since January. I’m also staring graduation in ...read more

As sailors up north are just starting to defrost and think about getting their boats launched, the Caribbean spring season is in full swing, with another premiere event in the books. The 49th edition of the BVI Spring Regatta consisted of five days of racing in idyllic ...read more

While New England has a bit of a reputation for conservatism when it comes to things yachting, sailors in this part of the world are still anything but close-minded. To this end, a couple of the region’s classic distance events are both working to broaden their appeal in 2021. ...read more

The 50th Anniversary Catalina 22 National Championship regatta will take place May 23-27 at the Pensacola Yacht Club in Florida. 24 boats are currently registered from across the United States including entries from Washington and the Southwest. The number on the start line is ...read more

In the spring of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning to surge across the country, many municipalities and health departments banned all competitive sailing. This left yacht clubs, sailing schools, non-profits and other sailing organizations nationwide facing the ...read more

Caribbean yachting at its best took place this past weekend when eight teams participated in 16 rugged races over three days through variable currents, strong winds and Olympic-level competition at the second annual St. Thomas Yacht Club Invitational Regatta. The event showcased ...read more

This year’s annual Ida Lewis Distance Race on Narragansett Bay will offer something for everyone. In addition to ORC and PHRF, there will be sections for doublehanded, youth and collegiate racing. Racers will also have a choice between the event’s traditional offshore distance ...read more

The 2021 U.S. Para Sailing Championships will be hosted by The Clagett Regatta at Sail Newport, in Newport, R.I. on August, 24-29, 2021, according to a joint announcement from the host and US Sailing. "We have had a very long working relationship with US Sailing and look forward ...read more

On Saturday, Aug. 15, Newport’s Ida Lewis Distance Race (which is being sponsored this year by Jeanneau America) will kick off with a record number of entrants on the starting line. With many other events cancelled this summer, the annual event has attracted more participants ...read more

If not all who wander are lost, then not all who charter are content with sailing between snorkeling spots and sinking a few Painkillers at beach bars. Some want a dose of hard-sailing action blended in with their sunshine and warmth—the kind of action you can only get from ...read more

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

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

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

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

“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

The teams, the boats, the venue and the racecourse: everything you need to know about the 34th America's Cup in one info-packed story.  What's inside? SAIL's CupWatch coverage includes:  The Teams: A look at the four campaigns striving for the Auld Mug in 2013 How to Watch: An ...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