College sailors go big—Sailing News from the U.S. and Beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 12 Oct 2012 Let’s face it-there are regattas and there are regattas. In the world of collegiate racing, few events can touch the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR), which was recently held at Larchmont Yacht Club (Larchmont, NY) and which is co-run by the Storm Trysail Club. Some 425 college sailors from 38 schools gathered to race on Western Long Island Sound aboard 38 borrowed yachts, giving college sailors a serious taste of the big leagues. Interestingly, the event featured both fleet racing and match racing, with four on-the-water umpires on the scene to call the shots in the one-on-one tussles that ensued.


'Seeing the teams improve through the weekend was truly impressive,' reported match-racing officer Dick Neville. 'I don’t think any of them had any experience in match racing, particularly in big boats. They handled the boats really well.'


Given the success of the match-racing section, the event has big plans for its future. 'Since our first experience with match racing went so well, we intend to invite more teams to participate and to enlarge this part of the IOR next year,' said Race Committee Chair Butch Ulmer. According to all reports, the event was a huge success, with an astonishing amount of experience gained, a huge amount of beer and pizza consumed (it’s a college regatta, after all) and plenty of smiles and new friendships forged. Get the full report, inside this issue.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, Emirates Team New Zealand is charging northbound on their AC72 learning curve, logging way more miles on their foils than any other AC34 contender. Sail-World’s New Zealand editor, Richard Gladwell, was on hand to document the team’s seventh day of sailing aboard their high-flying, wingsail-powered monster—don’t miss his eye-popping photo gallery, inside.

And speaking of fast cats, Act 7 of the Extreme Sailing Series is about to kick off in Nice France (October 18-21), and the air of competition is already crackling with anticipation as some of the world’s quickest sailors get ready to battle for top honors. 'I am really looking forward to getting back onto the helm of the Extreme 40 for the Nice regatta,' said match-racing great Ian Williams (GBR). 'Walshy (Andrew Walsh) did a great job standing in for the last two regattas but having got so close to the podium in China and Cardiff this year I really feel it is just a matter of time. I am very much looking forward to sailing with Rick Peacock and Anna Tunnicliffe for the first time, and [I] hope this is the regatta where we can finally crack it.' Be sure to get the full regatta preview, in this issue.


Also be sure to get the latest news from the venerable Star class; don’t miss the latest rankings amongst college-sailing teams, and find out about the new record that was set for the quickest circumnavigation of Jamestown Island (RI).


May the four winds blow you safely home,