Marblehead, Massachusetts, with its iconic deep harbor and jam-packed mooring field, is as picturesque as a New England coastal town can possibly be—a Shangri La or Pleasantville in the shadow of madcap Boston. And here on the harbor are three equally iconic yacht clubs that have been hosting the region’s biggestsailing fete of the summer for 135 years: Marblehead Race Week.
The rotation of hosting duties between the Boston, Corinthian and Eastern yacht clubs is a longstanding tradition that ensures the burden is shared among them, and this year, competitors of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series at Marblehead Race Week will be hosted by Eastern, the grandiose clubhouse on “the Neck.” With a large turnout of sailors, friends and family expected, Eastern will certainly be bustling each evening, while out on the vast Gulf of Maine from Thursday to Sunday, nearly 160 entries will be making their best efforts to earn Race Week’s historic trophies and class championships.
Vipers In the Pit
Sailors of the Viper 640 class will be vying for their coveted New England Championship title and among them are East Coast diehards of the class, including Henry Amthor, the Viper 640 New England Champion skipper from Norfolk, Virginia, whose team “Bob, Parker & Henry” won in 2023. As expected, there’s also a strong Canadian contingent returning, as well as Marblehead first-timer Doug Jensen and his 20-year-old son Jay, driving in from Topeka, Kansas.
Jensen, who grew up racing extensively in the Pacific Northwest, is relatively new to the class having bought his first Viper 640 in 2020. He’s trying the grow the class in his region and when the opportunity to race in Marblehead came up, he happily accepted the last-minute offer to come and race.
“The class is just so awesome,” Jensen says when we reached him and his son by phone as they were beginning their 24-hour trek. “They have a boat there for us to use I’ve never been there or raced on the East Coast, so I’m looking forward to having fun and racing on an ocean with currents and tides.”
Lightnings Strike Twice
The Lightning Class, which returned to the Race Week last year after nearly four decades, will bolster their return with an Atlantic Coast Championship title on the line and 27 teams registered. The class is enjoying a US resurgence thanks to long-term outreach efforts and programs to recruit younger sailors that are now bearing fruit. With their North American Championship on the calendar at Ontario’s Buffalo Canoe Club in August, Marblehead is the final stop before the big regatta. As a tight-knit grassroots one-design class that embraces the travel, it’s worth noting that only one of the 27 registered teams actually hails from Marblehead.
“There’s no fleet in Marblehead,” says CH Ritt, who won the regatta last year with Charles Quigley’s Chancy. “Last year was a lot of fun, but this time the fleet has a few more all-stars in it, including Bill Healy, from Niantic [Conn.], who would have to be considered one the favorites. While we did win last year, we will have our hands full this time.”
The third of the big championships to be contested over the weekend is for the J/70 class. As its New England Championship, the regatta will also serve as a world championship berth qualifier. Fourteen teams are on the roster, among them several top-level teams, including Brian Keane’s Savasana, which won Race Week 2023 and then placed fourth overall at the J/70 World Championships in St. Petersburg, Florida, last November, a regatta that was remarkable for the depth of the fleet.
The Regatta Classics
While the three big championship classes will share the “Tinkers Line,” the Outside Line further offshore will feature Race Week regulars of the J/105, International One Design and Etchells. The IOD’s defending champions and the 2023 regatta’s Overall Winner—Carolyn Corbet’s Elektra—are returning with the same crew but this time vying for a new trophy created to mark the accomplishments of fleet legend Bill Widnall. Widnall joined the Marblehead IOD fleet in 1966, and has since won 27 Marblehead season championships, 28 Marblehead Race Weeks, and 10 International Class World Championships.
The Halfway Rock Line, closer to the entrance to Marblehead Harbor, will host the other longstanding classes of Marblehead Race Week: the Rhodes 19 and Town classes, the latter of which will be sailing for its New England Championship. The enduring popularity and simplicity of the Rhode 19 continues to attract new sailors, and for this year’s edition 27 teams have registered, earning them bragging rights as the largest traditional class gathering of Race Week today. Twenty ILCA sailors will race on the Brimbles Line on Saturday and Sunday as the regatta’s only singlehanded dinghy class.
All parties and awards, including Sailing World’s Speaker Series on Thursday night featuring Race to Alaska class winner Adam Cove, will be hosted at Eastern YC with nightly food and entertainment. The regatta’s overall winner, which will earn a berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship in the British Virgin Islands in October will be selected at the conclusion of the final Awards Ceremony. All regatta details and event information can be found here.
