The classic yachting season is coming to a close, and from where we stand, things are looking pretty healthy! The Vineyard Cup in mid-July was followed by the NYYC 175th Anniversary Regatta which, while not an open event, attracted a strong fleet of 28 boats including six NY-32s racing one-design.

In late July, the classics spotlight turned to Penobscot Bay with 37 boats enjoying champagne sailing conditions at the Camden Classics Cup. The following week saw the annual lap around the bay with the Castine Classic Yacht Race from Castine to Camden on Thursday, the Camden-Brooklin Wooden Boat Race on Friday, and the iconic Eggemoggin Reach Regatta with 108 entries on Saturday. The Barnegat Bay catboat Silent Maid paid a visit to Maine and left with a bunch of hardware, but Alera, Anjacaa, Anna, Vortex, Isla, Mah Jong, Sonny, Eagle, Jolie, Wizard, Palawan, The Hawk and Outlier also did well. Thursday’s race was preceded by a celebration of the work of the Wizard of Bristol on Wednesday afternoon with a Herreshoff symposium and dockside display organized for the 20th consecutive year by Castine YC’s tireless Event Chair David Bicks.

With the conclusion of "The Egg", the classics focus shifted to Southern New England for the five events that make up the CYOA Classic Yachts Challenge Series: the Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta, the Nantucket Regatta and Opera House Cup followed by the Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta and wrapping up with the Newport Classic Yacht Regatta last weekend. Dorade, Westray, Valiant & Blackfish all emerged victorious in their respective divisions. Prizes will be awarded at the 2019 CYOA Winter Classics Party and Annual Meeting in November. Check the "Schedule & Results" page on the CYOA web site for results from the individual events.

Classic One-Designs are hot now too! The Herreshoff S Class celebrated 100 years of friendly competition with a Centennial Series comprised of two weekends of sailing on Long Island Sound at Larchmont Race Week followed by two weekends on Narragansett Bay at the Newport S Class Regatta and the Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta. After a convincing win at Larchmont, Paul & Kathy del Nero’s Vindex held on to win the series. And continuing the Herreshoff thread, 27 H12s got together at the Buzzards YC in Pocasset for their annual class championship which was won by Josh Legg’s very consistent Bumble.

The boats are showing up in great shape, the weather has generally cooperated and the updated version of the CRF MkII rule seems to be providing pretty fair racing!

Cheers,

Bill Lynn