When Safe Harbor purchased the storied Newport Shipyard in 2019, the company principles knew that they were acquiring a piece of yacht racing history. The same year they also purchased New England Boatworks, and then the Jamestown Boat Yard in early 2020. They realized they were embedding themselves in the very fabric of one of America’s yachting capitals, and to acknowledge that heritage, they set about organizing the first Safe Harbor Race Weekend.
“We initially talked about it being a small regatta, but as discussions continued, the excitement and the vision grew and grew. If we were going to do it, we wanted it to be the best of the best,” says Rebecca LeBlanc, senior vice president of Partnerships and Experiences. They brought in local expertise from other notable races, including superyachting’s discontinued Candy Store Cup, which had been hosted by Newport Shipyard.
The initial event in 2021 drew 450 sailors on 47 boats—including nine superyachts—in six fleets, no small feat for a first effort. Since then, the event has only grown, with 63 boats competing in this year’s regatta, which took place in early August.
Day one saw strong, gusty conditions and a winding distance course that took sailors around Narragansett Bay. The wind speed—i.e., the “fun meter” according to our crew aboard GP 42 Settler—topped out around 30 knots. We hit 22 knots of boatspeed during a particularly sporty downwind sleigh ride, and the only real complaint from us was that the course didn’t have more opportunities to light it up going downwind. The predicted rain held off for a drier (though certainly not dry in those conditions) day. Still, it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Several teams opted to sit Friday out, and for others, an emergency trip to the sail loft after racing was necessary.
Those winds blew themselves out overnight, and the next day’s racing got underway with manageable conditions, but they weren’t to last. Just two legs in, the first race was abandoned when the breeze dropped out entirely. In short order, the would-be race course was filled with boom tents and swimmers. Finally, just after 3 p.m., the breeze filled and the race committee was able to squeeze a five-leg race in before the end of the day.
All three evenings of Safe Harbor Race Weekend see a party hosted at a Safe Harbor location around Narragansett Bay. After the first year’s huge response, the après-sail became a part of the event’s identity and a point of pride for Safe Harbor—the race has built a reputation on serving lobsters on Friday evening.
“The shoreside events, including the traditional New England clambake [presented by BMW] and a giant crew party [presented by Mount Gay Rum], were nothing short of phenomenal. The event is only four years old, so I predict it’ll keep growing in all classes as it continues to establish itself,” said Darris Witham, captain of Dudley Johnson’s Marten 49 Pugilist.
Despite looking light in the morning, day three was a happy medium of the previous two days with enough wind to get off two races. After landing a fifth and sixth in the previous day’s races, on Settler we pulled off a first and a second on the third day, securing us a spot on the podium in ORC B behind the Botin 44 Interlodge IV and Botin ORC 45 Azulito.
The TP52 FOX took first in ORC A, with four bullets made all the more impressive because the fleet was mostly composed of competitive TP52s bound for the ORC Worlds. In fact, FOX and second-place Vesper 52 posted the exact same corrected time in the final race. The win in ORC C went to the Cape 31 Pacific Yankee. The one design IC37 fleet was won by New Wave. J/121 Incognito and Lyman-Morse 40 Mischief won PHRF1 and PHRF 2 respectively. The Division 2 Navigation fleets were won by Pugilist (PHRF Nav 1), J/44 Digger (PHRF Nav 2), and Dufour 36P Serenity (PHRF Nav 3).
Scheduled a few weeks into August, the regatta is the quintessential late-summer celebration of sailing, bringing sailors together on and off the water. This year’s menagerie of conditions balanced drama with manageability, and with so many divisions, there’s something for the toughest racers and hobbyists alike.
Despite the regatta being a relatively recent addition to a city where the history and legacy of yacht racing is embedded in the local ethos itself, Safe Harbor had found a way not just to integrate but to invest in the community they’re now a part of, building something new that honors what came before it.
“At the end of the day, we want to make sure it’s serving the community better and better each year,” says LeBlanc.
October 2024
