Marblehead to Castine race July 27 Local yacht club sponsoring inaugural event; Camden sail also set

The Castine Yacht Club, in cooperation with the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, Mass., and yacht designers Sparkman & Stephens, will sponsor the inaugural Marblehead to Castine Race on July 27 and the ninth annual Castine Classic Yacht Race to Camden on July 31.

These events will commemorate the 100th birthday of Olin Stephens, widely acclaimed as the pre-eminent yacht designer of the 20th century, who designed many of the yachts sailing in these races. Stephens plans to join the Castine celebration.

The races are expected to attract a spectacular fleet of Classic and Spirit of Tradition yachts.

According to David Bicks and Bob Scott, co-chairmen of the events, some of the larger yachts expected to race include Dorade, the famed 52-foot yawl which launched Stephens’ career in 1929; Anna, the 56-foot S&S sloop built by Brooklin Boat Yard in 2007; Whitehawk, the 105-foot ketch (styled after Ticonderoga) built in Rockland in 1978; the 76-foot (W-76 Class) sloop Wild Horses designed by Bob Stephens; the 65-foot Swan Eden designed by S&S; Valiant, the 64-foot 12-meter Americas Cup contender designed by S&S in 1970; the 58-foot (P-Class) Joyant, a 1912 Herreshoff design; and three 46-foot (NY32 Class) sloops designed by S&S in 1936 – Siren, Falcon and Gentian.

The Castine events will honor the four newly restored Buzzard Bay 30s. Three were restored by French & Webb in Belfast, and one by Darling’s Boatworks in Charlotte, Vt. These 47-foot, gaff-rigged sloops, originally built by Herreshoff in 1902, will be on public exhibition at the Castine Town Dock on July 30, and will be match racing in the harbor.

The Castine events will also honor the classic sardine carrier Jacob Pike, an important recent addition to the Penobscot Marine Museum. The Museum plans to welcome visitors dockside on the afternoon of July 30.

The Marblehead to Castine fleet of about 15 boats will sail a 145-nautical-mile course east across the Gulf of Maine and then north through Two Bush channel into Penobscot Bay. The fleet should finish off the monument in Castine Harbor on July 28. If the winds hold through the night, the larger yachts are expected to finish at daybreak.

The Castine to Camden fleet of about 40 yachts will sail a 19.6-nautical-mile course starting at the Castine Harbor bell, rounding Robinson Rock at the southern end of Islesboro and finishing off Curtis Island in Camden.

A presentation by Gary Jobson (“Sailing in America/Tribute to Olin Stephens”) on July 29 at 4:30 at Maine Maritime Academy’s Delano Hall will kick off the events in Castine. The public is invited. Jobson is a sailing legend, author and TV commentator.

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