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Elite Big-Boats and Crowded Starts: 170th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta Promises High Drama

The 170th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, a storied event in American sailing, features a dynamic split in its ORC racing classes. In the limelight are Classes A and B, boasting the country’s elite big-boat programs. Class A includes four formidable 60- and 70-footers, while Class B is highlighted by four TP52s and a new, swift Botin ORC 45-footer. With professional sailors aplenty, achieving optimal boat speed around the track is paramount in these classes.

In contrast, Classes C and D, with 19 and 14 entries respectively, present a different challenge. The crowded starting line demands a clean getaway, as all the boat speed in the world won’t save a race if poor positioning and tactical missteps plague the first beat.

“We’ve had this boat two and a half years, and I think this is the most competitive class we’ve seen in ORC, and the tightest rating band,” says Andrew Weiss, skipper of the Italia 11.98 Christopher Dragon XII, sailing in ORC D. “It’s great. [The time allowances for a one-hour race] are going to be down to between no time on our sistership to a minute and a half. It’s a good precursor for the ORC World Championship in the fall.”

First raced on the Hudson River in 1846, the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta has a rich history. With few interruptions, it has been a yearly fixture, moving to Newport, R.I., in 1988 and adopting its current three-day format in 2004. The 170th Annual Regatta features a historic fleet of over 150 boats, including the prestigious 52 Super Series fleet, making its North American return since 2017. Sponsored by Helly Hansen, Safe Harbor Marinas, Peters & May, and Hammetts Hotel, this event is set against the picturesque Harbour Court clubhouse.

For the past two years, Andrew Berdon has been a key competitor in the ORC C and D classes, racing his J/111 Summer Storm. This year, he’s upgraded to a TP52, competing in ORC B, where there’s more space on the line but little room for error.

“I bought [the J/111] and refit her over the winter of 2022, and splashed her in July in time for the Club’s Race Week at Newport in 2022,” Berdon explains. “We then won our class in the Vineyard Race against some very stiff ORC competition. That gave me the confidence to campaign her over the winter of 2022-’23 in the SORC, the RORC 600, and BVI Spring Regatta. We had a great time sailing her, but at 36 feet, she was not enough boat for long distances.”

The decision to transition to a TP52 was influenced by the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s announcement to re-establish the Admiral’s Cup in 2025. Berdon aims to compete in the 2024 Bermuda Race and ORC Worlds in Newport, eyeing a potential Admiral’s Cup team spot.

Berdon’s early results with the TP52 have been promising, including an overall win in the Storm Trysail Club’s 186-mile Block Island Race. Now, he faces formidable competition in ORC B, including David Team’s Vesper, Victor Wild’s Fox, and the Prospector team, led by Larry Landry and Paul McDowell. A wild card in the mix is Wendy Schmidt’s new Botin ORC 45 Azulito.

“I’m looking forward to competing against some of the best-prepared and crewed TP52 teams in the world,” says Berdon. “We have a great group of sailors and a great boat, and we are very fortunate to be racing TP52s in Newport this summer.”

Racing begins with the traditional race around Conanicut Island on Friday, June 14, and continues with buoy and navigator racing on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound over the weekend. The 52 Super Series, back in North America for the first time in seven years, will sail separately until June 13 before joining the Regatta. Nearly 1,000 attendees are expected for Saturday night’s Annual Regatta Dinner, underscoring the event’s enduring allure.

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The Holy Grail, the Fountain of Youth, the perfectly equitable rating formula for racing sailboats. Three things not yet discovered. But that didn’t, and won’t likely ever, stop Indiana Jones, Juan Ponce de León, and sailors around the world—respectively—from trying.

In 2020, the New York Yacht Club turned to ORC to handicap its performance racing fleet. This summer will mark the Club’s third season with the rule, which is administered by the Offshore Racing Congress. The ORC Rule is managed in the United States by the Offshore Office of US Sailing. The registration numbers for the ORC fleet for the upcoming 168th edition of the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta speak to the rule’s growing acceptance in the United States. With two weeks remaining until the first start of North America’s oldest annual regatta on Friday, June 10, the ORC fleet stands at 40 boats, ranging in length from 33 to 74 feet.

What is ORC? What changes are in store for 2022? 

“The first Annual Regatta in 1846 utilized an early handicap formula to score the boats and so has every non-wartime edition since,” says Peter Cummiskey, the event chair for the regatta. “It’s never easy to get sailors to embrace a new rating rule, so we’re very pleased to see how many boats are lining up to compete under ORC. We anticipate some great racing.” The New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta was first sailed on the Hudson River on July 16 and 18, 1846. A similar competition the previous year was called a Trial of Speed. With a few exceptions for world wars and other global crises, the event has been held every year since. For the majority of its existence, the Annual Regatta was raced on waters close to New York City. Since 1988, however, the event has been sailed out of the Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I., and has settled into the current three-day format, which includes a race around Conanicut Island on Friday, two days of buoy or navigator-course racing on Saturday and Sunday and nightly social activities on the grounds of the historic Harbour Court mansion. The 168th Annual Regatta is sponsored by Hammetts Hotel, Safe Harbor Marinas and Helly Hansen. The return of the Maxi 72 class to the Annual Regatta for the first time since 2016 will add a shot of speed and glamour to the regatta. Three of the 72-foot ocean thoroughbreds will compete in this year’s Annual Regatta. Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente program has been mainstay on the maxi yacht circuit for well over a decade and has recorded plenty of significant victories. But at Les Voiles de St. Barths in April, it was Jim Swartz’s Vesper (above) that had the edge in a two-boat battle, winning four of five races. George Sakellaris’ Proteus will join that duo for the Annual Regatta. “It’s incredibly exciting,” says Swartz. “Match racing Bella Mente in big seas at St. Barths was as fun as it gets. Adding a third player will take it to the next level.”

In the other classes, the speeds may be lower, but the fleets will be bigger, and the competition equally as intense. Among the newcomers to ORC this year is John Brim, who will hit the line with his Italia 11.98 Rima98, which he acquired earlier this spring. Brim is no stranger to handicap racing, having owned a 48-footer, 60-footer and a 55-footer, each of which he raced under the IMS and IRC rules more than a decade ago. Of late, he’s focused on one-design racing—on standard windward-leeward courses—in the J/70 and IC37 classes. Last summer, during the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Cruise, he realized maybe he was missing something. “I remembered the fun of going point-to-point,” says Brim. “I realized that has been a missing dimension because I’d been sailing the last eight years in J/70s and a couple of years the IC37s. I said, ‘This is fun.’ It was fun to also compute who won at the end of the day using the ORC handicaps. It was something different after many, many years of one-design sailing.”

Brim is also excited that the boat (a sister ship is at left) will allow him to sail with a largely amateur crew. “It’s not a full-on race boat,” he said. “I’m going to back to where I used to be and I’m looking forward to it.” Brim maintains his ambitions for the season are modest. But the Italia brand does have a reputation for success under ORC, so no one should be surprised to see Rima98 competing for class honors at the Annual Regatta. At the Alexela 2021 ORC World Championship in Tallinn, Estonia, last August, Italia 11.98 yachts finished second, sixth and ninth in the 62-boat Class C fleet.

Racing in the 168th Annual Regatta begins on Friday, June 10, with a race around Conanicut Island starting. Two days of buoy or navigator-course racing will follow on June 11 and 12.

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New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta will showcase strong ORC Fleet

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Text: New York Yacht Club Photos: Paul Todd/OutsideImages.com, Alexela ORC Worlds 2021/Felix Diemar

The Holy Grail, the Fountain of Youth, the perfectly equitable rating formula for racing sailboats. Three things not yet discovered. But that didn’t, and won’t likely ever, stop Indiana Jones, Juan Ponce de León, and sailors around the world—respectively—from trying.   In 2020, the New York Yacht Club turned to ORC to handicap its performance racing fleet. This summer will mark the Club’s third season with the rule, which is administered by the  Offshore Racing Congress . The ORC Rule is managed in the United States by the  Offshore Office of US Sailing . The registration numbers for the ORC fleet for the upcoming 168th edition of the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta speak to the rule’s growing acceptance in the United States. With two weeks remaining until the first start of North America’s oldest annual regatta on Friday, June 10, the ORC fleet stands at 40 boats, ranging in length from 33 to 74 feet.

What is ORC? What changes are in store for 2022?  How can I succeed? Click  here  for a Q&A with NYYC Rating and Measurement Rules Committee Chair Ed Cesare 

“The first Annual Regatta in 1846 utilized an early handicap formula to score the boats and so has every non-wartime edition since,” says Peter Cummiskey, the event chair for the regatta. “It’s never easy to get sailors to embrace a new rating rule, so we’re very pleased to see how many boats are lining up to compete under ORC. We anticipate some great racing.”

The  New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta  was first sailed on the Hudson River on July 16 and 18, 1846. A similar competition the previous year was called a Trial of Speed. With a few exceptions for world wars and other global crises, the event has been held every year since. For the majority of its existence, the Annual Regatta was raced on waters close to New York City. Since 1988, however, the event has been sailed out of the Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I., and has settled into the current three-day format, which includes a race around Conanicut Island on Friday, two days of buoy or navigator-course racing on Saturday and Sunday and nightly social activities on the grounds of the historic Harbour Court mansion. The 168th Annual Regatta is sponsored by Hammetts Hotel, Safe Harbor Marinas and Helly Hansen. The return of the  Maxi 72 class  to the Annual Regatta for the first time since 2016 will add a shot of speed and glamour to the regatta. Three of the 72-foot ocean thoroughbreds will compete in this year’s Annual Regatta. Hap Fauth’s  Bella Mente  program has been mainstay on the maxi yacht circuit for well over a decade and has recorded plenty of significant victories. But at Les Voiles de St. Barths in April, it was Jim Swartz’s  Vesper  (above) that had the edge in a two-boat battle, winning four of five races. George Sakellaris’  Proteus  will join that duo for the Annual Regatta. “It’s incredibly exciting,” says Swartz. “Match racing  Bella Mente  in big seas at St. Barths was as fun as it gets. Adding a third player will take it to the next level.” In the other classes, the speeds may be lower, but the fleets will be bigger, and the competition equally as intense. Among the newcomers to ORC this year is John Brim, who will hit the line with his Italia 11.98  Rima98 , which he acquired earlier this spring. Brim is no stranger to handicap racing, having owned a 48-footer, 60-footer and a 55-footer, each of which he raced under the IMS and IRC rules more than a decade ago. Of late, he’s focused on one-design racing—on standard windward-leeward courses—in the J/70 and IC37 classes. Last summer, during the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Cruise, he realized maybe he was missing something.  “I remembered the fun of going point-to-point,” says Brim. “I realized that has been a missing dimension because I’d been sailing the last eight years in J/70s and a couple of years the IC37s. I said, ‘This is fun.’ It was fun to also compute who won at the end of the day using the ORC handicaps. It was something different after many, many years of one-design sailing.”

Brim is also excited that the boat (a sister ship is at left) will allow him to sail with a largely amateur crew. “It’s not a full-on race boat,” he said. “I’m going to back to where I used to be and I’m looking forward to it.” Brim maintains his ambitions for the season are modest. But the Italia brand does have a reputation for success under ORC, so no one should be surprised to see  Rima98  competing for class honors at the Annual Regatta. At the Alexela 2021 ORC World Championship in Tallinn, Estonia, last August, Italia 11.98 yachts finished second, sixth and ninth in the 62-boat Class C fleet.

Racing in the 168th Annual Regatta begins on Friday, June 10, with a race around Conanicut Island starting. Two days of buoy or navigator-course racing will follow on June 11 and 12.

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Published on June 7th, 2022 | by Assoc Editor

NYYC Annual Regatta: Ready or not

Published on June 7th, 2022 by Assoc Editor -->

Newport, RI (June 7, 2022) – The 2022 summer season for the IC37 class officially starts on June 10 with Day 1 of the New York Yacht Club’s 168th Annual Regatta. But the half of the fleet that sat out last weekend’s training session is already behind, according to IC37 class coach Moose McClintock.

“The guys that didn’t sail last weekend, they’re going to be at a disadvantage not having had a couple of days of going out and sailing around,” says McClintock, a former America’s Cup sailor who is currently the head coach of the University of Rhode Island Sailing Team.

“Getting the kite up and down, there’s a lot of technique to the maneuvers. Over the course of last weekend, each team did 20 to 30 sets and douses. You lose so much the corners in these boats, having that little bit of a boathandling edge will be a big advantage.”

The New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta was first sailed on the Hudson River on July 16 and 18, 1846. A similar competition the previous year was called a Trial of Speed. With a few exceptions for world wars and other global crises, the event has been held every year since. For the majority of its existence, the Annual Regatta was raced on waters close to New York City.

Since 1988, however, the event has been sailed out of the Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I., and has settled into the current three-day format, which includes a race around Conanicut Island on Friday, two days of buoy or navigator-course racing on Saturday and Sunday and nightly social activities on the grounds of the historic Harbour Court mansion.

With 21 IC37s entered in the 168th Annual Regatta, and 23 or more for events later in the summer, this fourth season of the class is expected to be the most competitive yet. The early form guide will favor the teams that did well last summer or in the winter series run by the Lauderdale Yacht Club. But the strict one-design nature of the class, the standing rigging is fixed and the sails are identical, combined with the class coaching program and the willingness of veteran teams to share their knowledge drastically compresses the learning curve for new programs.

“With some competitive sailing experience, I think a new team can generally get up to speed relatively quickly,” says Steve Liebel, who will be sailing his IC37 New Wave in the Annual Regatta. “There’s nothing too crazy about the boat. Everyone seems willing to always share information. It’s easy to ask competitors, ‘Where were you on your mast jack tension?’” Though he sailed in the class before, Liebel is a relatively new owner, having skippered his first IC37 regatta last October, when New Wave finished fifth in the class’s 2021 North American Championship. He and his crew, many of whom had experience in the class, followed that up with an overall win in the class’s Winter Series, finishing second, third and first in the three events.

Though just seven boats participated, the 2022 Winter Series featured incredibly close racing, with finishes often decided by a few feet. In the overall standings for the February event, the top four teams were separated by a single point. “It was a great opportunity to get in more practice and training,” says Liebel. “And in 80 degree weather in January. What could be tougher?”

Of course, he’s being coy. It was luxurious sailing off South Miami in the middle of winter. And speaking of tougher? How about just getting off the line against 20 other teams this coming weekend? There’s a lot that can be learned from sailing in a small, cohesive fleet. But managing a 20-boat starting line isn’t high on that list.

Liebel and his crew are taking the long view of this season. So don’t expect to find New Wave taking a lot of unnecessary risks, especially in the season’s first regatta. “We want to continue to improve our teamwork, and we hope to be competitive at every event,” says Liebel.

“I think they’ll be a dozen boats that are very competitive, which will make for a great season. You need to be smart and conservative early on. We hope to be around at the end of the summer in the series championship.”

The IC37 fleet will be back out on the water prior to the regatta for more practice led by McClintock, and he’ll watch the fleet sail all weekend, offering individual tips to each boat when opportunity permits. The class coach is one of many IC37 class features designed to keep the playing field as even as possible and the costs manageable.

Of the 21 boats entered this coming weekend, 13 are from the New York Yacht Club’s charter fleet, which allows members to enjoy some of the finest one-design racing in the world for a reasonable fixed cost and then turn the boat back over to club staff for storage and maintenance. Conventional wisdom says that boat ownership is essential to winning in a top class. But the IC37 has disproven that maxim. At the class’s North American championship last October, the winning boat and three of the top four were from the charter program.

Racing in the 168th Annual Regatta begins on Friday, June 10, with a race around Conanicut Island starting at 1100. Two days of buoy or navigator-course racing on Rhode Island Sound and in Narragansett Bay will follow on June 11 and 12.

Event Details – Entry List – Facebook

Source: NYYC

Tags: IC37 , New York Yacht Club , New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta

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Claire Harrington, NYYC Rear Commodore on the Annual Regatta

Join us as we interview New York yacht Club Rear Commodore Claire Harrington on the process and results of a historical annual regatta held on the East Coast for over a century.

According to Bella Mente Racing’s tactician Terry Hutchinson, both the Around the Island Race and the Annual Regatta series were very hard-fought, but for different reasons. “For the Around the island Race, Belle Mente had to contend with not only our competition (which included long-time rival  Vesper , an IRC 72) but also two transition zones (major wind shifts) and lots of bogeys (other boats) on the racecourse to navigate through,” he said. “Saturday/Sunday racing was equally as good.  Bella Mente ,  Proteus , and  Vesper  each won races, and while  Bella Mente  came out on top it was an incredibly tight event.”

Indeed, as stellar as  Bella Mente ’s performance was in the weekend’s primarily moderate breezes, there was no real turning point when the team felt assured of overall victory. “ The last race was short, so when we led Vesper around the first lap after a lot of exciting boat-on-boat action, it was looking more likely we’d win,” said Sanderson, “however, it’s never over in this class, which makes it exciting all the way to the end.” 

Victorious Bella Mente Racing Team

Sanderson and Hutchinson both noted that training sessions leading up to this event were critical in the continual development of  Bella Mente  and its equipment. As part of that, Coach James Lyne analyzed the boat’s sail set-up, maneuvers and weight placement. During training and racing, he photographs and records the performance of the boat from an aero and hydro standpoint. “We were really happy with the new rig and sails,” said Sanderson, “but somehow we need to find some rating optimization without slowing the boat down, so we have some fun challenges ahead!”  Sanderson added that for the Annual Regatta, Bella Mente Racing knew that Bella Mente  would be most closely matched with  Vesper  and  Proteus.  In the end, the three finished, respectively, in first, second and third with only one point separating each position. “The fact that we all ended up so close on points was no surprise,” he said, “but Vesper beat up on us pretty hard at the previous regatta in the Caribbean, so it was nice to be at least in the hunt. We are under no illusion, though; we still have a lot of work to do if we want to be in the mix for the Maxi World Championships later this year.”  Meanwhile, next up for  Bella Mente  is the July 13-16 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport.

More About NYYC Annual Regatta The New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta was first sailed on the Hudson River on July 16 and 18, 1846. A similar competition the previous year was called a Trial of Speed. With a few exceptions for world wars and other global crises, the event has been held every year since. For most of its existence, the Annual Regatta was raced on waters close to New York City. Since 1988, however, the event has been sailed out of the Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I., and has settled into the current three-day format.

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What did we learn on day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta - Barcelona?

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Ben Ainslie vows to come back stronger after ‘tough’ race between INEOS Britannia and Emirates Team New Zealand

For the first time in the 37th America’s Cup, Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia faced Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in their AC75 race boats. It wasn’t the result the British team, racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, was hoping for – with the Kiwis taking the win after INEOS Britannia fell off the foils in an action packed pre-start.  

INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said the crash down happened as the team tried out a new pre-start tactic.  

“We tried something a little bit different and it didn’t work out for us,” he said. 

“But it’s better that we tried it now and learned from it rather than doing it next week when the event starts.”  

The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta does not count towards the main America’s Cup event, but it does offer teams a chance to race their AC75s against each other for the first time and make any changes. 

On the second day of the Preliminary Regatta, Barcelona once again produced steady conditions with 10 knots of wind speed from the south-southwest and flat water – and it meant that the teams could really push the pre-start battle. The first three races of the day were all settled on the start line today. 

Ben Ainslie and his team have been working hard with their pre-start coach, Ian Williams, on what is and isn’t possible in these new AC75s, as the teams battle to gain an edge at the start gun. The settled conditions meant that winning the start was even more of a priority -- as we saw yesterday, there are few passing lanes on this race course in these conditions. 

Today it wasn’t to be for the British boat though, as the team gybed inside the New Zealand boat to lead back to the start line, the Kiwis gained control. The British tried a difficult “double-tack” move to break clear, but dropped off the foils on the second of the manoeuvres, and that was the end of the race as a contest. The leg and lap splits told the rest of the story. The New Zealand boat had a slight edge upwind, with the British holding, or coming back to them on the downwind legs.  

Elsewhere, the first race of the day was settled when Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) were late at the start and New York Yacht Club American Magic gained an advantage they held to the finish. The day’s third race was decided after Luna Ross Prada Pirelli (ITA) trapped American Magic above the line and led comfortably from there. While the fourth and final race of the day was over before it even began, as Orient Express Racing Team retired before the start of their race with Emirates Team New Zealand due to a "technical issue"

INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said that although the team’s result was “tough”, he felt positive that the team could build on their performance. 

“We will take a lot from that race,” he said

“We can learn from that and have a debrief with Ian Williams, our start coach, and come back stronger.” 

The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta continues tomorrow from 13:00 BST (14:00 CET). INEOS Britannia has a double race day, facing Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. UK viewers can watch all the action live on TNT Sports. The Preliminary Regatta culminates on Sunday 25 August and the Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selections Series) then begins on 29 August. The series will determine which of the five Challenging teams will take on Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match.