2024 Results2024 GalleryContact Us for your class to participate in 2025 Regatta
An Epic Celebration of the Newport Regatta’s 40th Year
Sail Newport recently celebrated a significant milestone by hosting the 40th Anniversary Newport Regatta, July 13-14. Ten one-design sailing classes participated from 17 U.S. states and three countries, totaling nearly 700 competitors.
In addition to the allure of sailing on the legendary waters of Narragansett Bay, what sets Newport apart is the ever-changing and widely variable weather conditions on a typical summer day. This unique aspect of Newport sailing tests the crews’ skills, adaptability, and teamwork, making it a challenging and thrilling experience.
The 147 registered sailboats were spread over four racing areas on the bay in the East and West passages North of Newport Bridge. Groups of sailboats of varying sizes were seen between Rose and Goat Islands, Northwest of Newport Bridge in the Potter Cove Area, off of Coaster’s Harbor, and near Halfway Rock, South of Gould Island.
The first day of the regatta was a true test of the sailors’ resilience. Despite the heavy fog and sheet rain in the morning, which escalated into a torrential downpour, the sailors remained undeterred. The start was postponed until after 12:30, but every sailor left shore to race as much as possible for the latter half of the day.
The heavy rain subsided before Noon, and the west/south-westerly breeze built to a
sailable 7-8 knots. Although light, the breeze was enough for all four divisions to accomplish two races each.
On Sunday morning, day two of racing, there was not enough wind on the bay to begin races. The race committee hoisted the “AP” postponement flag, delaying divisions 2, 3, and 4 ashore.
Division 1, with 12 meters and IC 37, however, left shore to the motor to their circle offshore Brenton Point. The strategy paid off as the boats started racing as soon as the breeze filled in. Three races were completed for the outside fleet.
Thistle Class Tightly Contested
At the end of the first day, several standout teams emerged at the top of the leaderboard. In the Thistle Class, the largest fleet with 36 boats, Patrick Finn (Scotch Plains, NJ) on The Craic and Dan Hesse (Saratoga Springs, NY) on Harold B ended the day in a tie for first place with six points each, showcasing their competitive spirit and skill.
Not far behind, Evan Hoffman (Richmond, VA) demonstrated his Mr. Meeseeks crew’s potential to challenge the leaders with only eleven points overall when Saturday racing concluded.
On Sunday, Hoffman and crew started the day in third place. He says, “We just tried to minimize mistakes and sail consistently, making conservative decisions, knowing we could pass boats if we could keep the boat handling smooth and focus on going fast. I told the team at the beginning of the day that we had a very good chance to win if we kept our heads no matter what situation we found ourselves in,” says Hoffman.
Mr. Meeseek’s team’s consistency paid off. On Sunday, they tightened the standings with top finishes in all three races (3-2-2). Their strong Sunday performance won them the regatta and the 2024 Thistle Atlantic Coast Champions title with 19 points overall.
Snipe Rockstars Battle for Top Three
The Snipe Class was also tightly competitive, with drag racing between the top four boats. Arthur Blodgett (E. Greenwich, RI) grabbed the top of the leaderboard on Saturday with a first and second-place finish in day’s only two races on Mary Alice.
“With Women’s World Champion Carol Cronin (Jamestown, RI) and current Midwinters
Champion Bradley Adams (Annapolis, MD) was in the fleet with great local knowledge (to name just a few of the great sailors in the Snipe Fleet), and there would likely not be a drop, we took nothing for granted,” says Blodgett.
Blodgett says communication is critical to success on the boat. “… between the races, we try to synthesize what we can both do better in terms of communication and vision roles. In a two-person boat you shouldn’t be looking at the same thing – each person has responsibilities for what they are watching and talking about on each leg of the course and our priorities shift as the conditions change. The crew matters so much in the snipe – they have more controls than the skipper,” he says
As tight as the Snipe Class racing was on the second day, Blodgett never let go of the lead. He continued his winning drive (2-1-1) to end the regatta with only seven points for the five-race series and the win.
“The second race Sunday, we came back to finish second behind Augie (Diaz, Miami, FL). We went after him a little bit on the next start – he had to duck the fleet, but we had to spin when we hit the pin! I think our keys to success were getting the leeward edge of the left pressure (and sometimes we were just lucky to be in the right place) and taking it across to the top right current relief and great downwind boat speed,” Blodgett says.
Augie Diaz (Miami, FL), a sailor who perpetually finishes in the top ranks of various classes (4-1-1-5-5), finished the regatta behind Blodgett in second place with 16 total points.
A mere three points behind Diaz, Carol Cronin (Jamestown, RI) ((5-3-7-11-7) on Spidey and Anna Flynn (Norfolk, VA) were neck and neck with eight points each and tied for third place after the first day of racing.
Julia Fuller (Cambridge, MA) (8-4-16-2-3) on Shakedown Street climbed up in the standings to surpass Flynn and end the regatta in a tie for third place with Cronin with 33 points each. A scoring tie-breaker rule solidified the third-place trophy for Fuller over Cronin, who came in fourth overall.
Offshore Challenges for IC37 Class Sunday
Also on Sunday, the IC37 and 12 Metre classes raced offshore of Brenton Point. It was a challenging afternoon with a pulsing wind full of shifts and a strong current, leading to shuffling standings and one general recall in the IC37 Class.
Avery Whidden (Darien, CT) shared helm duties with Barry Parkin, and the Turkey Bone crew
was tied for first place with Peter McClennen (Newport, RI) going into Sunday with 8 points each.
Whidden credits the crew and the family spirit on the boats. The crew included Whidden’s father, Tom, and son, Thomas. Parkin’s son Jack was also on the crew, among others.
“Barry did a really nice job of keeping the boat rumbling in the lump and light winds, and we worked really hard to find good lanes,” Whidden says.
Parkin added, “We seem to be surprisingly quick upwind in all conditions and generally get decent starts, so that means we don’t have to take too much risk tactically.”
The Turkey Bone team scored more single-digit finishes (9-1-5) on day two of racing and took first place overall in the IC37 Class.
Daniel Thielman (Tiburon, CAN) and his crew on IC37 Kuai finished the regatta in a 32-point tie with Bill Zartler (Houston, TX) on Voodoo Too. With a one-design scoring tie-breaker rule, Thielman emerged as the second-place winner, with Zartler in third place in the IC37 Class.
The majestic 12 Metres raced in the same area as the IC37s. The fleet included Intrepid, Courageous, Columbia, Nefertiti, and American Eagle, all storied boats with deep ties to Newport.
Intrepid, helmed by Jack Curtin (Toronto, CAN and Newport, RI), won the Modern Class. Columbia, steered by Kevin Hegarty (Newport, RI) and crew, took home first place in the 12 Metre Traditional Class.
Ensigns a Familiar Class in Newport
In the Ensign Class, Robin Durrschmidt (Vernon, CT) claimed the top prize on Magic and the regional champion title. Odyssey skipper Rick Warren (Mattapoisett, MA) and Scott Mason (Newport, RI) on GUSTO finished in second and third place, respectively.
Storcks Stampede Melges 15 Class
This year, the Melges 15 Class was one of the newer fleets in the Newport Regatta. Erik Storck (Huntington, NY) helmed the top-placing boat with his wife Aly crewing.
After handily winning both races on Saturday, the Storcks set their sights on Sunday.
“We figured there would be two or three more
races, and Where’s Mom with skipper Alison Rowe (San Francisco, CA) was pretty close behind us, so we really approached it the same way we did the first day: by taking it one race at a time and not thinking about anyone else,” Storck says.
“We have a lot of confidence in our upwind boat speed in the conditions we had. We just had to make sure we could sail free of other boats after the start. We also kept an eye on the current situation as it was really dynamic, and ultimately, pressure proved more important a lot of times. We had a tougher time balancing those aspects of the course today, but we could still put together a couple of good ones,” he adds.
The Storcks have sailed together for more than fifteen years, and they won all but one race. They ended the regatta with an impressive low score of six (1-1-1-1-1-2) in the five-race series.
William Stout (Annapolis, MD) finished in second place, and Rowe, only one point behind Stout, captured the third-place trophy.
Local Sailor Wins Only Multi-Hull Class
This year’s only catamaran fleet in the Newport Regatta was the F18 class. Marina Barzaghi (Saundertown, RI) on The Fastnet Pub dominated the regatta with two first-place wins and three-second places.
“Our downwind boat speed was our biggest strength this weekend. After a strong first day, we approached Sunday with a plan to sail conservatively upwind and stay with the pack, then breakaway on the downwind legs and focus entirely on our boat speed,” Barzaghi says.
Barzaghi says she was introduced to the F18 Class only three years ago through Narragansett Adult Athletic Association’s (NAASA) grant boat program. She’s been racing with them ever since.
Kate Myler (Watertown, MA) Also won two races on her F18 Ronstan and finished second overall. The third-place winner in the fleet was Joeseph Valante (Quincy, MA), who, again, showing the competitiveness of the weekend, was only one point from Myles.
VX One Fleet Building Steadily in Newport
Another relatively new class that participated in the Newport Regatta was the high-performance VX One performance dinghy class. A 21-boat fleet closely battled it out in the standings over both days of racing.
Tej Trevor Parekh (Dorval, Quebec, CAN) on Bro Safari (9-2-1-2-5) finished the regatta with
19 points overall and the first-place trophy. Only one point separated Bro Safari from Phil Lotz (Newport, RI) (7-1-8-3-1) and Kelly Cole (Jamestown, RI) (6-6-5-1-2), the second and third-place boats, who were tied for 20 points each. The one-design scoring tie-breaker was in play, and Lotz on Arethusa took home second place, with Cole finishing third on Blue Lobster.
505 Class Sails for Championship Title
The 505 Class sailed their New England Championship this weekend in the Newport Regatta with equally tight racing as many other classes. Craig Thompson (Rye, NY) (3-2-1-2-6 = 14pts.) won the first-place trophy on Thompson Boat Works. Newport sailor Ted Huebner (4-1-2-4-4=15pts.) was only one point behind Thompson in second place.
In another third-place tie, 505 sailor Duane Delfosse (Sunapee, NH) (5-6-3-1-2) finished the regatta with 17 total points, along with Peter Scannel (Saratoga Springs, NY) (1-3-4-6-3) on Lookadatia. The one-design scoring rule again broke the tie, with Delfosse cinching third place.
Classic S Boats Grace the Bay
In the oldest fleet racing this weekend, sailors competed in the S Boats Class. The boat was designed by the renowned naval architect Nathaniel Herreshoff of Bristol, RI, in the early 1900s. The graceful classic boats are 27′ LOA and actively raced in Newport during summer.
A Bristol, RI sailor, Geoffrey Davis, on Aquila, won all but one race over the weekend (1-1-1-1-2). He finished with only six points overall. Sheldon Whitehouse (Newport, RI) (U.S. Sen.-RI) (2-2-2-2-1= 9pts.) steered his Osprey to second place. Cory Silken (Newport, RI)(4-3-3-3-4=17pts.), a Newport-based yachting photographer, took home the third-place trophy.
Sailors, volunteers and guests are all happy with the spectacular event. Sail Newport gets all the glory, but as our Executive Director Brad Read says, “We can’t run a regatta of this magnitude without the fantastick local sailing community.”
Nearly 100 volunteers give their time every year to run races, pull race marks, keep track of scores, serve as boat drivers, help at registration and operate the socials. There are so many skilled individual who make up a race committee team, and we had four. A special appreciation for our four PROs Tom Duggan, Mik Levesque, Kevin Reeds and Peter Gerard.
Also, on shoreside duty, our Chief Judge John Mooney and team with Lee Parks, and Rosa Tysor and Kim Lyons on scoring. Several dozen awesome volunteers have the beer ready and the music pumping by the time sialors return to shore. So thank you to Team Nikki!
We want to share the thank yous with our fellow sailors and clubs in Newport who loaned, boats, buoys and their skilled volunteers. We are grateful for the incredible support we receive year after year from New York Yacht Club, Newport Yacht Club, The M32 Class, The Jamestown Yacht Club, IYAC, Coaster’s Harbor Navy Yacht Club and many boat owners including Tom Callahan and Joe Loughboro.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2025 Newport Regatta dates and start of our fifth decade of this remarkable event!
Editor: Kim Cooper
