Latest headlines from Scuttlebutt Sailing News, covering sport, sailing, with clear attribution and direct links to the original publisher.
Dave Perry, editor of The Dial Up publication which promotes match racing in the USA, provides the playbook on how to keep the lead in a close race downwind. His “brain food” is specific to the match race course with a starboard windward mark rounding, but the ideas can be applicable to all racing: In [&hellip
There may be no bigger cheerleader for match racing in the USA than Dave Perry. He is a masterful educator, and his clinics are legendary. While his rule knowledge is vital to combat competition, he loves match racing for the opportunity it presents. Opportunity can be a hurdle in sailing, particularly for women, and match [&hellip
Smart one design classes make membership bigger than the racing. Create a social culture that allow deep relationships to form, and people stay involved. Why does the person in the back of the fleet keep coming out? Because the class is their friend group, their identity. Carol Cronin reviews her longtime involvement in the Snipe [&hellip
by Buttons Padin Many years ago before the development of centerline rudders, boats were steered by a long oar hanging off the aft right quarter of the boat. Starboard comes from the Old English “stéor” (meaning steer) and “board” (meaning “the side of the boat.”) Eventually, the two words combined into starboard meaning the right side of the boat. But where did the term port come from? With the steering oar fixed on the starboard side, pulling the boat alongside a pier to starboard risked dam
Carlos Insa, Head Optimist Sailing Coach at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (Oyster Bay, NY), this past summer introduced a different way of planning and structuring their racing season. He found that most Optimist coaches plan their season regatta by regatta, but as a triathlete himself, he approached the planning like how triathletes build toward a [&hellip
Dr. Hamish Ross, a legal advisor for previous America’s Cup campaigns, provides an update on some of the legal wrangling now occurring in the 38th edition: On October 24, 2026, it was the 139th anniversary since the signing of the third Deed of Gift of the America’s Cup in New York in 1887 between George Lee Schuyler, as the last surviving donor, and the New York Yacht Club. That Deed still governs the Cup today (albeit with two NY court-approved amendments), and it is now back in the publ
I don’t want to look back one day and think, “I could have eaten that.” Providing “insight” since 1997, the Curmudgeon’s Observation has been a hallmark of the Scuttlebutt Newsletter which delivers a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk…with a North American focus. For newsletter information: https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/newsletter-read-or-subscribe
The Platinum Clubs® of America was established to identify elite clubs in six categories, with the election taking place in the Fall of even years. Fifty-five yacht clubs were recognized in the 2027-28 list. Not all clubs may choose to participate, as the omission of New York Yacht Club would lend one to believe, but [&hellip
The Open Atlantic Coast Championship came down to a single race in college sailing’s Week 8. At the regatta hosted by Brown, Yale led by one point going into the last B Division race and closed it out to finish six points ahead of Boston College. Yale also won the Coast Guard Invite and its home Yale Women’s Regatta for three wins on the weekend. Rhode Island won the Open Atlantic Coast Tournament Finals at Connecticut College, and Tufts went 9-1 to win the Norman Reid Team Race. The next co
Junior sailing in the USA got “soccerized” in the 1980s, using a system of age-based events and boats to help corral the kiddos. While this created structure and boosted participation at some levels, it impacted involvement down the road. Chris Bulger offers his view of the landscape: Over the last 30 years, US youth dinghy sailing evolved from predominantly a lesson in fun and self-reliance into a tightly controlled optimization exercise. At the same time - US adult dinghy sailing shrank dr
One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others. Providing “insight” since 1997, the Curmudgeon’s Observation has been a hallmark of the Scuttlebutt Newsletter which delivers a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk…with a North American focus. For newsletter information: https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/newsletter-read-or-subscribe
Seahorse magazine hosts a monthly poll to recognize recent achievement, and the November 2026 winner is Sara Stone (USA). Here are the details: Her nomination: The only woman to win a title in the TP52 Super Series, several times in fact as a key cog in the wheel that is Quantum Racing. So we know [&hellip
Today’s mini maxis are enormously technical, with complex systems, rigs, rudders, and hydraulics. North Star, a Judel/Vrolijk 76 built by Persico and owned by Peter Dubens of Oakley Capital, the private equity group that owns North Technology Group, launched this summer. At the end of her second week of sailing Seahorse caught up with navigator [&hellip
by Kieran Flatt, Yachting World Andre Hoek, and his eponymous design company, has long been one of yachting’s disrupters. They pioneered the concept – at first fiercely criticized, then widely copied – of combining a classic above-water hull and deck with modern, high-performance hydrodynamics, rig and construction. Their trail-blazing classically styled superyachts have enjoyed great [&hellip
by Gary Jobson, Sailing World Over the past several months I spent an afternoon each week with the U.S. Naval Academy Offshore Sailing Team aboard their fleet of 44-foot sloops. Each crew consists of nine midshipmen and a volunteer coach. There is a full roster of volunteer coaches who participate during the fall and spring [&hellip
