Four weeks until sailors at the 17th Clagett Regatta hit the water in Newport
by Sam Crichton 23 May 14:42 PDT
18-23 June 2019
Cindy Walker sailing the RS Venture Connect at the 2018 Clagett Regatta © Ro Fernandez
In four weeks time the docks at the Alofsin Pier at Fort Adams State Park in Newport RI will be bustling with sailors from across North America and the Caribbean, preparing for the coaching clinic and regatta at the 17th C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta.
Sailors from afar a field as St. Paul, Alberta, Canada, Fresno, California, USA and Puerto Rico will be involved in the two day coaching clinic which is being conducted by coaches Betsy Alison, Dave Dellenbaugh, Dave Perry and Brian Todd this year. After the clinic is wrapped up, competition in the three classes, the 2.4mR, the Martin 16 and the Sonar, will get under way for three days.
The Martin 16 class will be joining the fleet racing in Newport this year and two sailors who are familiar faces at the Newport and Oyster Bay Clagett regattas are Cindy Walker (Plymouth, Mass.) and Pauline Dowell (Boston, Mass.) Walker and Dowell will be joining forces to sail in the Martin 16 fleet this year in Newport.
Walker, who last sailed in Newport at The Clagett in 2018 in the RS Venture Connect class commented, "Pauline and I haven't sailed together before, we are usually racing against each other. We last sailed against each other when Pauline came to The Clagett to race against my former teammate and I when we were training for events in Europe. Pauline was very supportive and skippered one of the SKUD 18's. Since last year's Clagett I've raced the RS again in Sheboygan, Wisc. at the Para Worlds this past September. I was also out in San Francisco in April working with a potential new partner for the upcoming World's in Spain happening this July. We were hosted by BAADS who were trying out the RS Venture."
She continued when asked about her passion for sailing and The Clagett, "I truly love being on the water. I'd love to do more offshore sailing and live in a sailboat at some point. It's so peaceful. Everyone involved in The Clagett has always been so supportive. They really just want people to have fun and win some races. It's very cool that the Clagett has also branched out into the match racing arena with the event at Oakcliff, it really brings a new element to adaptive sailing. The elite level of coaching is phenomenal; I didn't go to a college with a high-level sailing team and didn't belong to yacht clubs growing up so I was not exposed to this level of coaching."
Dowell, a blind sailor who is a regular at the Clagett/Oakcliff Match Race Clinic and Regatta in Oyster Bay, N.Y., last raced fleet racing in Newport in the SKUD 18 class. "I sailed against Cindy in the SKUD 18 a few years ago at Clagett Newport when she and her partner Sarah Everhart-Skeels were training for the Paralympics. I sail because it's fun and challenging, something that I can do as a blind person. The Clagett is amazing! The people are the reason I love the Clagett, such a great community," remarked Dowell.
"The Clagett is looking forward to welcoming sailors in the new class to Clagett this year in the Martin 16 class along with those sailors who have become Clagett frequent flyers who will be joining us again at Sail Newport for the 17th Clagett Regatta. It is fantastic to have Pauline racing with the fleet racing this year, she's be able to apply some of the match racing skills she has learned at the Clagett/Oakcliff here in Newport," commented Judy Clagett McLennan, Clagett president and co-founder.
Entries for all three classes and still be received for sailors eager to be part of this clinic and regatta.
For more information about The Clagett visit: www.clagettregatta.org or follow the Clagett on Instagram @clagett_regatta or on Facebook @ClagettRegatta.