NEWPORT, RI (July 15, 2025) – Marina Barzaghi (Saunderstown, RI) sailed to a double win at the Sail Newport’s annual Newport Regatta. Final standings show Barzaghi and crew Jensen McTigue (Narragansett, RI) at the top of the F18 Class on “Fastnet Pub” and the first annual Sally Helme Award for the top female skipper of the regatta for Barsaghi.
After Saturday’s races, Barzaghi was in first place with four points overall (1-2-1). Sunday, however, presented a challenge for Barzaghi and her crew,
“It was pretty light and heavily affected by the current,” she says. “These conditions we’ve grown accustomed to in Newport in the past few years, so we felt fast in these conditions,” she added.
Early Sunday, Barzaghi finished strong in races four and five, earning two second-place finishes. The sixth race, however, presented her most formidable challenge of the weekend.
“Getting into the sixth race, we sailed pretty aggressively against the Gucks (Newport sailors Lars and son Olin (Bristol, RI)); both of us thought it was the last race of the regatta.” In that race, ‘Fastnet Pub’ was over early, though, and then, she says, “We sailed a perilous race that didn’t end up in our favor (5th place finish).”
For Barzaghi and McTigue, a seventh race was a second chance at finishing strong. Not only did the fifth-place finish ultimately become her throw-out, but she also won the last race and captured first place in the class, as well as the Sally Helme Award, with a total of nine points overall.
“We got a Mulligan with that surprise seventh race,” she says.
Barzaghi Also Wins Inaugural Sally Helme Trophy for Top Female Sailor
(l to r) Brad Read, Marina Barzaghi)
This year marked the inauguration of the Sally Helme Award to the top-placing female skipper. Marina Baarzaghi (Saundertown Yacht Club and NAASA) received the trophy after winning the F-18 Class.
Barzaghi and McTigue will compete in three more local F18 events this summer. Those include the New England 100 as a warm-up for the F18 Americas Champs. The championship will be held from August 26 to 29 and is organized by Sail Newport, along with the F18 Class.
For other women sailors interested in the sport, Barzaghi encourages young women to “take advantage of grant boats. Lots of fleets have them. They are a great way to strengthen your connections in the sailing community and to get experience without breaking the bank,” she says.
Sally Helme was a leader in marine publishing and the sailing industry for fifty years. As an industry trailblazer, she held many leadership positions in sailing organizations and industry groups.
“Sally spent her lifetime championing women sailors,” says Brad Read, Sail Newport executive director. “This award will inspire other female sailors, and we’re ensuring that Sally’s love for sailing lives on,” he adds.
Snipe Crew Blodgett and Howie Win Dr. Robin Wallace Overall Performance Trophy
Arthur Blodgett and crew Grace Howie (Annapolis, MD) won the best performance of the regatta on his Snipe “Mary Alice” (Pictured to left heading for the mark sail #31771). The Dr. Robin Wallace Trophy has been awarded for several decades and was named after Sail Newport’s race committee leader and co-founder Wallace.
Blodgett and Howie won four races and a second place. Their low-point cumulative score equalled eleven points after one 5th place
throwout. The scores put them a the top of the leaderboard for the Snipe class win. Based on a formula of number of boats and races, Blodgett and Howie also took home the best performance trophy over all other class winners.
Light winds affected all of the classes on both days, and Doug Clark said of the challenging conditions,”..anything could happen; our approach was to focus on getting off the line with the freedom to concentrate on boat speed while getting through the nasty chop and minimize big mistakes,” he said.
Clark and crew Zach Champney (Mystic, CT) on “Sideshow” had a strong first day, but on Sunday in race five, Clark says, “I put us in a bad spot on the last run, and we lost five boats, finishing 9th.” Luckily, the race committee was to run a sixth race, allowing the drop of the costly ninth place.
“We put some pressure on ourselves to try and win the next race,” Clark adds.
“We felt we were pretty much tied with Trevor (Parekh) and had a great start and rounded the weather mark ahead of him, who was in third about ten lengths back. They did a great job of rounding the other fate and splitting with us on the next beat.”
When the race committee shortened the course, and Trevor got a nice right shift, they were ahead at one point.”
S”Sideshow” crossed by two lengths and tacked hard on them twice. We got one bot in between right at the finish. We were ahead by one point and just needed to beat them in that race.”
“Sideshow” got second place and the win of the regatta.
Clark has a robust history of competing in the Newport Regatta. He says 2025 marked his 25th Newport Regatta, and he has raced in J-24s, Snipes, Melges 24s, Melges 20s, IC 37s, and the last four to five years in the VX One.
Clark has a busy three months ahead of him, with the American and Great Lakes Championships, as well as the Canadian Nationals in September.
Clark is also the director of sailing at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Sail Newport’s annual Newport Regatta is one of the longest-running multi-class one-design regattas in New England. This past weekend, the two-day regatta delivered what it has been known for 41 years: superb race management and the opportunity to race alongside a wide variety of classes on the legendary waters of Narragansett Bay.
Sailors from eleven U.S. States and Canada traveled to Newport to participate in the regatta. Racing classes included IC 37, J/70, Snipe, Thistle, F18, A -Class, 505, and VX One.
The conditions were challenging for all of the race boats. The breeze was very light, oscillating between six and nine knots; the current was mainly going upwind, and motorboat wakes created a choppy sea state.
Sail Newport Brings New Technology to Regatta
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With its long tradition of one-design racing, regatta organizers strive to keep the event at the forefront of sailboat racing, utilizing innovative tools and new technologies. This past weekend, Sail Newport debuted the live tracking system from Vakaros and Racesense. For four of the racing classes, devices were installed on their masts to track the start line and maneuvers over the race courses. The system is a tool for the race committee to more precisely determine which boat may be over early, utilizing digital communication onboard each boat that notifies the boat of
the foul within milliseconds of the start. This enables sailors to correct their start and thus avoid a costly OCS penalty.
Additionally, online spectators can watch the action unfold in real time. Additionally, sailors use the data to debrief on racing and study to refine their tactics.
In other technological advancements, Sail Newport was the first on the Bay to use robotic race marks, a GPS-based, electric-powered bot that steadies mark locations, keeping race courses from skewing due to the dragging anchors of traditional marks. These replaced the heavy use of man-powered anchors and hundreds of feet of line to place race marks.
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