For the second time in three years, John Kilroy Jr.’s Melges 32 Samba Pa Ti wins Boat of the Week in Key West.
By Sailing World’s Michael Lovett

When we asked readers to pick the winner of the Melges 32 class at Quantum Key West 2012 for our Fantasy Sailing League, John Kilroy Jr.’s Samba Pa Titeam received more votes than any other entrant in the 19-boat fleet. For armchair racers, Samba Pa Ti was an obvious choice, given the team’s history of world championship victories and Key West success. Read the rest of this entry →

Posted on December 12, 2011 by US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics

This weekend marks the 47th year of the world’s largest tw0-day rowing event, The Head of the Charles Regatta.  This year will see over 9,000 male and female rowers, youth, collegiate, master and veteran age groupings, representing more than 500 clubs, colleges and universities worldwide; entries will come from the US, UK, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Peru, Holland, Denmark, Australia, Slovenia, South Africa, Croatia, Yugoslavia Taiwan, Japan and Canada.  The Regatta has come a long way since the first one which was held in 1965 and hosted 300 competitors & 100 boats! Read the rest of this entry →

The Old Dominion University sailing season has begun!  The fall season has started well despite Mother Nature’s attempts to set us back.  Hurricane Irene delayed the university opening and managed to destroy our existing pier and dock, however the new waterfront is under construction and scheduled to be done by the end of October and practice has continued without falter; it will take more than a little storm to keep the ODU sailors off the water.  The team was strong already, and with the added bump from our new freshmen talent, including two foreign athletes, we are looking forward to a winning season.  Also new to the Monarchs this fall is Cara Vavolotis, who fills the team’s second assistant coaching slot.  Cara is a former assistant coach of the Eckerd College Tritons and brings her experience as a former college sailor and coach to the Old Dominion University Athletic program.

After a strong showing at the 2011 Sperry Top-Sider / ICSA Women’s National Championship and the Gill / ICSA Dinghy Nationals, the team has a long season of preparation ahead of it, both on the water and off.  So far the competition season has started off well with a 4^th place finish in the Riley Cup, our first event of the year, as well as a 1^st place finish at the Edward Teach Memorial Regatta this past weekend at Hampton University!  The monarchs won both A and B divisions and were led by Sophomore Mark Miedama, who continues his undefeated streak in college regattas.  The season may have just started, but ODU is wasting no time by training hard and working towards victories. Read the rest of this entry →

Newport, R.I., USA (September 17, 2011) – There was no stealing the gold away from Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) on thefinal day of racing at the 2011 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup presented by Rolex.  For the fourth consecutive day RCYC flew the Rolex gold spinnaker indicating their position at the top of the standings.  The Toronto-based team would convert their 10-point lead over the defending champions – New York Yacht Club – into a win by 20 points when they were first across the finish line in the 11th race of the series.

When asked his strategy for the final race, helm Terry McLaughlin confirmed that they had made the decision to go after New York Yacht Club (NYYC), but that it was tricky to do so.  “It was five knots at the start but it was very very shifty and puffy, so if we let them sail their own race and we had tried to sail our own race, there is a reasonable chance that they would have put 10 boats between us.  So we decided that we’ve got to be near them.  If we put them back at the start and we’re back at the start then it doesn’t matter.  We couldn’t lose and Annapolis [Yacht Club] couldn’t catch us.”  The RCYC controlled NYYC from the start and led the 22-boat fleet at every mark.  NYYC would cross the line of the final race in 11th place, for second overall on 67 points. Read the rest of this entry →