Regattas

It’s good to see that some things stay the same. Chief among these is the OSTAR, the legendary event that basically invented the modern sport of singlehanded ocean racing.

This year’s running of the 23rd annual Delta Ditch Run featured something a little different, in the form of an unofficially entered foiling Moth, piloted by Bay-area sailor Johnny Goldsbury.

Despite a lack of transatlantic races to bring over a major European contingent, a still respectable field of seven competitors lined up for the third annual Atlantic Cup this past May to sail in a series of offshore and inshore races along the East Coast.

On June 14, 34 boats sailed from Marion, Mass. headed on a 645-nautical mile trek to Bermuda in the 19th Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race. At the starting line on Friday, the weather was less than favorable, concluding a week of Northeastern rain showers. But by Saturday morning, boats were sailing under blue skies.

In a move reminiscent of the Purple One’s name change to “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince,” Laser designer Bruce Kirby has rechristened his venerable Laser design as the “Kirby Torch.”

This month the Storm Trysail Club will mark its 25th running of Block Island Race Week, even as it celebrates its 75th anniversary as an organization. Founded in 1938 by some veterans of the extremely tough 1936 Bermuda Race, the club has since become an important sponsor of both inshore and offshore racing.

When the six-boat Multi One Design (MOD) 70 fleet departed New York City for Tonnerres de Brest, France, in last summer’s inaugural Krys Ocean Race, organizers said they hoped the oceangoing trimarans would soon return to the United States with a U.S. team as part of the program.

The 2013 Atlantic Cup wrapped up this weekend with its third and final leg of racing in Narragansett Bay. Winner of legs one and two, #118 Bodacious Dream, secured first place overall.

The second leg of the Atlantic Cup wrapped up on Sunday, May 19, and it was a close one. After winning the first leg, #118 Bodacious Dream was the first boat to cross the Jamestown FiSH finish line in Newport, Rhode Island.

Although flush-deck sliding foredeck hatches are great for quickly launching and retrieving kites, they have typically been prone to leak because of the difficulty in creating proper seals around them—until now. Among the many innovative features aboard the new McConaghy 38 one-design sloop is a pneumatic seal for the offset (port side) sliding hatch that has an inflatable “bladder” encircling the hatch aperture to keep the wet out.