- Vineyard Race
The Vineyard Race is an annual
sailboat race hosted by theStamford Yacht Club inStamford, Connecticut . It is held everyLabor Day weekend.The 238-mile race was started in 1932 and takes racers from Stamford east to Buzzards Bay and back. The first race had 23 starters with five finishers. The race has been held 74 times since its founding.
It is also the final race of the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy series, the New England Lighthouse Series and the Doublehanded Ocean Racing Trophy
as one of the "yachting classics." and::The greatest distance races of the world have several things in common -- a challenging course, competitive fleets and an interesting array of famous yachts. By those standards, the Stamford Yacht Club's Vineyard Race rates close to the top. Like a miniature Fastnet, the Vineyard has a combination of coastal cruising, where currents play a big role, a stretch of ocean sailing, and a mark to round -- the Buzzards Bay tower -- before returning.
The fastest time to complete the course was set by Blue Yankee in 2007. Skippered by Bob and Farley Towse of Stamford, Conn., it covered the course in 20 hours, 20 minutes and 15 seconds.
The race is several races in one. Competitors must navigate
Long Island Sound before passing intoBlock Island Sound through one of several narrow passages where there are tough tidal currents. After rounding the tower they must leaveBlock Island to starboard before heading back into the Sound. A typical race involves a variety of conditions.External links
* [http://www.stamfordyc.com/ Stamford Yacht Club web site]
* [http://vineyardrace.wordpress.com/ Vineyard Race blog]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/30136313@N03/ Vineyard Race photos]
* [http://www.twitter.com/vineyardrace/ Twitter feed]
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