Around Long Island Regatta Has 36th Run, Includes Junior Sailors

Sweet Lorriane becomes the first boat to cross the finish line at this year's Around Long Island Regatta

No one was cheering for this postponement.

The Around Long Island Regatta was scheduled to start July 26 at 5pm, but the Race Committee decided around noon on Thursday to postpone the start because of storms.  The new start was set for 10am the following morning, forcing sailors already near the start of the race to seek harbor overnight and wait for the storm to pass.  After this early setback, the race went much more smoothly.

The regatta, hosted by Sea Cliff Yacht Club, is a long distance big boat race that, as the name implies, takes competitors in a loop around Long Island, starting in the Atlantic Ocean near Sheepshead Bay and, moving counterclockwise and rounding Montauk Point, ending at Sea Cliff.  The course is 190 miles long and takes competitors approximately 1 to 3 days to finish (depending on what kind of boat they are racing in).

The regatta attracts sailors from all parts of the country, with some competitors travelling from as far as California to race.  In addition to having a longer and rougher (half of the race takes place in the ocean) course than those found at junior sailing regattas, the Around Long Island Regatta also differs from JSA events in that sailors are not is a close, confined course, but rather they can sail any course they like to the finish.

The crew of Sweet Lorraine meets in the Sea Cliff clubhouse after finishing the regatta Saturday morning.

“We lost sight of every single boat in a few hours, so at that point you’re basically just racing against the clock,” explained Ian Brown, a junior sailor from Larchmont Yacht Club who sailed on a boat called Sweet Lorraine, which finished first overall in the regatta.

In past years, some JSA clubs have entered junior boats in the regatta, where only juniors raced the boat (with a few adult chaperones, but they did none of the work); last year, for instance, Indian Harbor Yacht Club and Sea Cliff each entered a boat.  While there were no junior boats in the race this year, Brown sailed with two other juniors from his club: Andy Brown (his brother) and Owen Zimmermann.  This was the first time on the regatta for all of them, but they enjoyed their overall experience.

“It was a lot of fun, and was nice because it introduced us to ocean racing,” said Brown after the event.

“I had a great time,” Zimmermann added.  “I’d love to do it again.”