Vineyard Race

Last updated
Vineyard Race
Burgee of stamfordyc.svg
DateStarts annually on Friday of Labor Day Weekend
Location Stamford, CT
Event type Ocean Racing
Distance238 nautical miles
Primary sponsor Stamford Yacht Club
Established1932, 91 years ago
Course records15 hours 54 minutes (2020)
Official site Race Page

The Vineyard Race is an annual sailboat race hosted by the Stamford Yacht Club in Stamford, Connecticut. It is held every Labor Day weekend with the first start scheduled for Friday afternoon. A trophy award party is held on the Stamford Yacht Club lawn on Sunday afternoon.

The 238 nautical miles (274 mi; 441 km) 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 every year since its founding, except for three years during World War II.

It is also the final race of the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy series, the New England Lighthouse Series and the Doublehanded Ocean Racing Trophy.

In 1982, the race was described by Bob Bavier in Yachting 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.

Course and records

In recent years the event expanded to three courses. The course selection depends on the size and rating of the boat. There are divisions for double-handed boats as well as fully crewed boats.

The Vinyard course records stand:

The Vineyard Race Course is several races in one. Competitors must navigate Long Island Sound before passing into Block Island Sound through one of several narrow passages where there are tough tidal currents. After rounding the Buzzards Bay Entrance Light, they must leave Block Island to starboard before heading back into the Sound. A typical race involves a variety of conditions.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yachting</span> Recreational boating in medium/large ships

Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on marinas for docking, and being typically only for exclusive social leisures such as cruising, fishing trip or racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yacht racing</span> Sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats

Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woods Hole, Massachusetts</span> Census-designated place in Massachusetts, United States

Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at the 2010 census.

Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fastnet Race</span> Biennial offshore yacht race

The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac</span> Annual freshwater yacht race in the United States

The Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is a 333-mile annual yacht race starting in Lake Michigan off Chicago, Illinois, and ending in Lake Huron off Mackinac Island, Michigan. It is hosted and managed by the Chicago Yacht Club. The "Mac" was first run in 1898 and is the oldest annual freshwater distance race in the world. The race hosts several hundred competitors each year and over 3,000 sailors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race</span>

The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) is a biennial sailing race which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. It runs between Marblehead, Massachusetts and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is believed to be the longest running offshore ocean race in the world and is considered one of the pre-eminent ocean races of the North Atlantic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stamford Yacht Club</span>

The Stamford Yacht Club is located in Stamford, Connecticut. The club is located on Stamford Harbor, and has approximately 550 members. The current commodore is Richard L. West. The yacht club hosts a number of significant sailboat races during the season, including the Vineyard Race, held every Labor Day weekend, and the Valeur-Jensen Stamford Denmark Race, held in the fall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport Bermuda Race</span>

The Newport Bermuda Race, commonly known as the Bermuda Race, is a biennial, 635 nautical miles (1175 km) sailing yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the British island of Bermuda. According to its website, the Race is the oldest regularly scheduled ocean race, and one of two regularly scheduled races "held almost entirely out of sight of land." Indian Harbor Yacht Club has recorded more entries in the Newport Bermuda Race than any other yacht club in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race</span>

The Bayview Mackinac Boat Race is run by the Bayview Yacht Club of Detroit, Michigan. It is one of the longest fresh-water races in the world with over two hundred boats entering the race each year.

Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Greece. With the exception of 1904 and the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1956 consisted of a total of five sailing classes. For each class seven races were scheduled from 26 November to 5 December 1956 at Port Phillip Bay.

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) is an annual transatlantic sailing event for cruiser yachts held since 1986. It also includes a sailing competition for racers. The ARC starts at the end of November in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and ends before Christmas at Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean.

The Launceston to Hobart yacht race is a 285 nautical mile race, commencing at Beauty Point on the Tamar River, with competitors sailing out of the Tamar River, east along the northern coast of Tasmania, through Banks Strait and south down Tasmania's East Coast, through Mercury Passage between mainland Tasmania and Maria Island, across Storm Bay, to a finish line in the Derwent River. The race departs on 27 December each year. The race is known as the L2H race despite the race commencing at Beauty Point, some 45 kilometers north of Launceston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1993 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race</span>

The 1993 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race was the 49th annual running of the Australian "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. It was hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race</span> 2009 annual yacht race in Australia

The 2009 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, was the 65th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race</span> 2004 annual yacht race in Australia

The 2004 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, sponsored by Rolex, was the 60th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. As in past editions of the race, it was hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney, New South Wales. The 2004 race began on Sydney Harbour at 1:10pm on Boxing Day, before heading south for 630 nautical miles (1,170 km) through the Tasman Sea, past Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.

The 2002 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, sponsored by Rolex, was the 58th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. As in past editions of the race, it was hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney, New South Wales. The 2002 edition began on Sydney Harbour, at 1pm on Boxing Day, before heading south for 630 nautical miles (1,170 km) through the Tasman Sea, past Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Route Halifax Saint-Pierre Ocean Race</span> Sailboat race

Route Halifax Saint-Pierre Ocean Race is an ocean race held in late June or early July, every two years, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for a distance of approximately 350 nautical miles (650 km) to Saint-Pierre, in the French archipelago of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon off of coastal Newfoundland. It is raced by crews of two or more people, most commonly in sailboats in the 30 to 40 foot range, but boats from 21 feet (6.4 m) to 60 feet (18 m) have been raced in the past.

The Mini Globe Race is a single-handed round-the-world yacht race contested in Class Globe 5.80 yachts. The first edition of the Mini Globe Race is expected to commence in late 2025. The proposed course is westward, starting and finishing in the Caribbean, transiting Panama Canal and rounding the Cape of Good Hope. The race is expected to cover more than 26,000 miles and take 400 days to complete. Final course is not yet determined.