Early mornings, long evenings, and some of the year's best sailing opportunities
by David Schmidt 17 Jun 2025 08:00 PDT
June 17, 2025
171st New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta © Paul Todd /
www.outsideimages.com
If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom. While summer's official arrival always comes with a pang or two of bittersweet—after all, days start getting shorter on June 21, albeit by mere seconds per day, at least to start—it's hard not to get excited for all the great racing, cruising, and adventuring that awaits the motivated in the coming months.
Not that the sailing world needs an astronomical event to herald the start of great racing.
Take, for example, the New York Yacht Club's 171st Annual Regatta (June 13-15), which unfurled on the waters off of Newport, Rhode Island last weekend. This historic event featured a day of racing around Conanicut Island on Friday (June 13), followed by two days of buoy or "navigator-course" racing on Saturday and Sunday. All told, more than 130 boats participated.
While racing was competitive in all classes, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy team, sailing aboard Elan, a Swan 53, finished in first place in the 15-strong Navigator C class, which was the third largest class at the event (the Navigator Course B fleet had 16 boats, while the one-design IC37 class had 23 boats).
Impressively, the USCG team was just learning the ropes of their new steed.
"I think on Friday, we didn't really know what we were doing or how to sail the boat," says Meara Conley, who trimmed the main sail aboard Elan, in an official event communication. "I think this is the biggest boat any of us have really sailed. Friday was really a learning experience. What helped us on Saturday was getting people who knew what they were doing in the right positions and figuring out what worked for the boat. On Friday, we didn't have a lot of communication, so we worked on that a lot. Communication is key with big-boat sailing."
The Elan team was joined on the winner's podium by Chris Tate's J/105 Blitz crew and Roger Lowlicht's Evelyn 32M Dark Star squad.
Not surprisingly, the 23-strong IC37 class offered the regatta's stiffest one-design racing. After six races, Hannah Swett and her MO team topped the leaderboard, followed by Lance Fraser's Defiant, and Steve Liebel's New Wave.
"It was a really fun event," says Swett in a regatta release. "Our group has sailed together for a while, so I think we just came out running. It got a little light in the last race, and I think we were pretty deep in the fleet. It's an amazing fleet. Everyone is really good and going fast in every direction."
The eight-strong M32 was the regatta's largest (and only) multihull class, and Ryan McKillen's Surge team lead the way with a pair of bullets and a pair of second-place finishes. Surge was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Bobby Julien's Dingbat and Jake Julien's YoungBlood.
"This is my fourth or fifth year in the class," reported McKillen in an event communication. "The secret is just a lot of time on the water; it's finally starting to come together. Sailing, especially in these boats, is so dynamic. It can take four or five years before you start seeing the same situations again, and once that happens, it gets a little easier. It starts to feel familiar. There's no magic bullet, just time and reps."
Time and reps also played a big role at the J/70 Mixed Plus National Championships (June 13-15), which recently unfurled on the waters of Puget Sound off of Seattle's Corinthean Yacht Club. This event features teams comprised of four or more sailors, of which no more than two of the crew are male.
After seven races, Dalton Bergan's Mossy squad finished in first place, followed by Boris Luchterhand's RIFF, and Michael Goldfarb's WarCanoe.
Looking ahead, the J/70 Class will contest its first Mixed-Plus World Championship title this summer (June 26-29) on the waters of Italy's beautiful Lake Garda. A quick glance at the entry list for this event reveals that some of the teams that raced last weekend in Seattle will be making the trek to Lake Garda, where they will be joined on the starting line by some of the best European mixed-plus teams.
One group who will be celebrating the summer solstice in style are the sailors competing in this week's U.S. Wingfoil Championship (June 20-22), which will be hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club, and which will be contested on the waters of San Francisco Bay off of Crissy Field. A total of 37 competitors have entered this high-flying event, which should offer some of the best foil-borne competition in the country once the starting guns begin to sound on Thursday.
Finally, for anyone who's interested in celebrating the first day of summer with the greater sailing community, this Friday marks the Summer Sailstice. This global event, which celebrates sailing on the longest day of the year (or at least the weekend closest to this event), was founded in 2001 by John Arndt and began with some 200 participating boats. Today, the event draws almost 5,000 boats and around 19,000 sailors.
So, if you're like me and prefer your days long and full of opportunities to mess around in boats, check out the Sailstice or one of the many regattas that are likely unfurling near you. While it sometimes seems like these magically long days will continue forever, the sad truth is that the first day of autumn lurks some 90 days over the horizon, so be sure to get in your roll tacks now, while the sun is shining.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor