The S&S Mitch Gibbons Neff Memorial Cup 2018

As in each past year the competition takes place at The Newport Classic Race regatta. S&S designs competing this year were Black Watch, Columbia, Courageous, Dorade, Fidelio, Mah Jong, Salty, Siren, Sonny and Valiant.

Sonny - http://classicsailboats.org

 For the specialty/perpetual regatta awards; Sonny was the winner of the Sparkman & Stephens Designer Award and the Mitch Gibbons Neff Cup. Black Watch won the Atlantic Trophy, for the best overall elapsed time by a classic yacht. Columbia won the Candy Cup, for the 12 Meter with the best record in the fleet. Mah Jong won the Tom Benson restoration award, for the best restoration done within the past two years.

Siren won both the overall Vintage Corinthian Classic Class and the overall 39th Annual Panerai Newport Classic Yacht Regatta. In addition, the winners of the North American Panerai Classic Yacht Challenge also went to the New York 32 Siren in the Vintage Division and the 12 Metre Columbia in the Grand Prix Division.

2019 Classic Channel Regatta

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This Next Year’s Classic Channel Regatta will run in the week of Saturday June 29th to Saturday July 6th. This is a little earlier than usual as this is the week when the tide times and heights are right for the lock into Paimpol.

https://www.classic-channel-regatta.eu/

 The format will be much the same as in recent years and all the information on the 2019 regatta is at our great new website which we have just launched. Do take a look at 

New Owner of Sparkman & Stephens

NEWPORT, RI (August 15, 2018) - Sparkman & Stephens has announced that Donald Tofias, of Newport, RI, has purchased the iconic yacht design and brokerage firm. Mr. Tofias will assume the role of President of the firm, having purchased 100% of the assets.

Donald Tofias is a lifelong sailor and founder of the W-Class Yacht Company. His first boat was an Alcort Sailfish, purchased when he was 12 years old.

Over the past 30 years Tofias has owned and campaigned a Waldo Howland and Ray Hunt, Jr. Concordia Yawl, a W. Starling Burgess Cutter, and for the past 20 years, W-Class Racing Yachts, including the W.76 sloops, designed by Joel White, which will now be marketed by Sparkman & Stephens.

Donald Tofias said, "we intend to preserve the history of Sparkman & Stephens, while at the same time building and expanding on its great tradition in yacht design and brokerage."

The company will be headquartered in Newport, RI. Mr. Tofias is often quoted as saying, "Newport is the yachting capital of the world."

Contact

Riley Yuhas, Marketing Director, Sparkman & Stephens

+1 401.200.8467  |  ryuhas@sparkmanstephens.com

or

Donald Tofias, President, Sparkman & Stephens

+1 617.901. 5242  |  dtofias@sparkmanstephens.com

Donald Tofias, President, Sparkman & Stephens

Albrecht 'Ali' Peters

The sad news reached us that we lost one of our most enthusiastic S&S Association members: Albrecht Peters or better known to us as Ali. He died Sunday night 3rd June, 2018 in his apartment in Hamburg.

Albrecht 'Ali' Peters

 Ali and Erica restored and sailed their beloved “Sasha” in many regattas and were planning again to do the 2019 Transatlantic race organized by the NY Yacht Club. We will miss him not only as an enthusiastic member and an excellent sailor, but for many of us, as a dear friend.

SASHA

NYYC Annual Regatta

The New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta will be held in Newport, RI. The regatta racing takes place over three days and includes the Around-the-Island Race on Friday, June 8th. IRC, ORC, PHRF, One-Designs, Metre classes, S-Class, Multihulls and Classics.

June 8th – June 10th, 2018

The Sparkman & Stephens Association Mitch Gibbons Neff Memorial Cup will be presented to the S&S design that performs best in this series.

North America\'s oldest annual regatta will feature three great days of racing including the separately scored Around-the-Island Race on Friday, June 8, two awards parties and one fabulous regatta dinner on Saturday night. Competition will take place in IRC, ORC, ORR, PHRF and one-design classes, as well as for classic yachts and multihulls. The event will serve as the first leg of the Onion Patch Series, which will include the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club\'s Anniversary Regatta.

The New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta was first run on July 17, 1845, on the Hudson River. Nine yachts started the 40-mile race with the 45-ton Cygnet winning with an elapsed time of 5 hour and 26 minutes. The race was run in or near New York City until 1988 when the purchase of Harbour Court in Newport, R.I., gave the Club a waterfront clubhouse from which to run all its regattas. The current format, featuring a round-the-island race on Friday and two days of buoy or navigator-course racing has been in place for more than a decade. Of special note this year is the return of the Maxi72 class, which last competed in the Annual Regatta in 2016

Olin Stephens Centennial Cup Challenge

AIVE (The Italian Classic Yacht Association) have just announced that Sparkman & Stephens Association Olin Stephens Centennial Cup Challenge series will be reinstated this year.

Stephens on perhaps his finest yacht, during America's Cup trials

The Challenge Cup will be won by the S&S design racing in Italan waters in a best of three races series with the winner accumulating the highest number of points. Eligable yachts are those conforming to articles 2 and 3 of the:

 Regolamento per la stazza e per le regate degli yachts d’epoca e classici 2018-2021 emanato dal Comitato Internazionale del Mediterraneo (C.I.M.).

Castine [Maine] Classic Yacht Race 2018

For the nineteenth annual Castine Classic Yacht Race to Camden on 2 August 2018, kicking off three days of spectacular racing on Penobscot Bay. For Race Notice, Registration and other information, please refer to our website, www.castineclassic.com. 

On 1 August we will honor some of the world-class sailboat builders from our home waters, including Brooklin Boat Yard, Rockport Marine, Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, Artisan Boatworks, Gannon and Benjamin, and French & Webb, at an exhibition at the Town Dock and a symposium at Maine Maritime Academy. The symposium will be chaired by Gary Jobson.

Your registration for this race may now be completed on this website. If you prefer to register by mail, complete the attached registration form.  Please return your entry as soon as possible. Please note that for 2018 all yachts need a new CRF rating, which may be obtained online at http://classicratingformula.com/renew-certificate/

Marionette 2018 Winner of the Sparkman & Stephens Association Global Regatta

Regattas taking place in 2017 were eligable for the award of the Challenge Cup at the 2018 AGM in Norway in May.

For the third time the cup was won by Marionette [USA], a Dolphin 24 skippered by Ron Breault. She previously won best place in 2011 and 2016 and is perhaps the smallest boat to have won. There were seven entries this time with competitors from Finland, Germany and the USA.

MARIONETTE

90th Anniversary for Sparkman & Stephens Inc

Save the date! June 27-30, 2019

Two weeks before the NY 32 series Designer Series.Org are holding an event in Newport to celebrate Sparkman & Stephens. 

 \'The Designer Rendezvous aims to bring together yacht owners, enthusiasts, and former colleagues for a unique experience each year to honor one designer. \'A portion of revenues goes to our mentoring scholarship to help cultivate the designers of tomorrow.\'

All S&S owners are invited to attend. For further information check this website: http://designerseries.org/

In 2017 the event was held to honour Ted Hood.

NY32s Racing at NYYC

Sparkman & Stephens NY32s racing at NYYC again - https://sparkmanstephens.com/ny32s-nyyc/

July 15th – 20th, 2019

It has been nearly 70 years since the Sparkman & Stephens designed New York 32 One Design has raced as a class in a New York Yacht Club event. Originally built as a fleet of 20 by Nevins in City Island, the class spent more than a decade as a mainstay of the NYYC racing fleet until the boats spread to the Midwest and Europe. Now, as the New York Yacht Club celebrates the 175thanniversary of their founding, the NY32 class has once again been invited to participate in a celebratory regatta at their on-the-water-clubhouse in Newport.

Of the 20 original hulls, there are still more than 15 on the water, and already 7 boats have expressed interest in participating in this event. With only 8 boats needed to constitute a separate start, and multiple NY32s currently listed for sale or available to restore back to their original glory, the prospect of a double-digit fleet is not too farfetched. The NY32 already enjoys close racing with 4 or 5 boats regularly participating in the large and vibrant classics racing scene in Maine, but this has potential to be a once in a lifetime event for classics lovers, S&S enthusiasts, and competitive racers.

The current plan for the regatta is 5 days of racing on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound, with lively social events and celebrations in Newport.

Castine Classic, Maine, 1-2 August 2018

https://castineclassic.com/

The nineteenth annual Castine Classic Yacht Race to Camden on 2 August 2018, kicking off three days of spectacular racing on Penobscot Bay. For Race Notice, Registration, pictorial History and other information, please refer to our website at www.CastineClassic.com.

On 1 August we will honor some of the world-class sailboat builders from our home waters, including Brooklin Boat Yard, Rockport Marine, Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, Artisan Boatworks and French & Webb, at an exhibition at the Town Dock and a symposium at Marine Maritime Academy. The symposium will be chaired by Gary Jobson.