September 2026

 

On the Line September 2026 View this email in your browser

Click here for the D7 website to see the season schedule and find a fleet near you Upcoming Regattas and Announcements The fall is knocking on our door. That means some of the best ILCA sailing of the season. Here are upcoming events. To reach registration pages, when available, go to the schedule at the end of this newsletter, or see the schedule with links at the D7 website. Lake Winnipesaukee Yacht Club ILCA Regatta, September 12th The WYC ICLA regatta will take place on September 12, as part of the multi-fleet WYC Commodore's Cup Regatta. This is going to be a great fall fresh water event, and D7 is so happy to have WYC offer this event to D7 sailors. You can register via email @ Email: edwarddphilpot@gmail.com Subject Title: WYC Commodores Cup registration Include your name, ILCA class, and sail number Registrants must check in on Saturday morning 0900-1000 Skippers Meeting at 1000 and First Gun at 1100 Cost is $40. The ILCA Regatta is part of the Commodore's Cup Regatta and is held in conjunction with the WYC lobster feed dinner which is a major Club event. Participating sailors are welcome to join, but reservations and prepayment are necessary. Space is limited and the event sells out.  11/2 pd lobsters $25, grill steak $25. Cheeseburgers $8 Email your registration to lauracameron603@gmail.com  or 603-455-2700 cell, reservation must be received by Tuesday, Sept. 8th.    Cedar Point YC Rear Commodore's Cup, Sept 7th, CPYC, Westport, CT Cedar Point has one of the most beautiful venues for racing in all of D7.  Don't miss this friendly and fun annual event. While you are there, find the D7 perpetual ILCA Championship trophy on the clubhouse wall!  New England Masters, September 12-13, Wickford YC, Wickford, RI This is one of best classic events of the season for the Aleve crowd. Skip and Barbara always put on an excellent regatta.  Great sailors come from CT, MA, ME and further afield to ply the waters off the North Kingston Town Beach. Could be blowing 5 or 25, but Skip will let you sail. Then you can have a great dinner at WYC and do it all again on Sunday. Ponce De Leon Regatta, September 13, Eastern YC, Marblehead, MA This is the opening event for the Marblehead frostbite series which runs through the weekend before Thanksgiving. Boat storage is available, so bring your boat and plan to spend your fall Sundays on the water followed by pizza and good cheer in the clubhouse. Show up at 1100 and register on site. Prizes and party afterward. Contact tomdailey15@gmail.com for more information.  Stonington Harbor Red Lobdell Memorial Regatta, October 3rd, and Stonington Fall Series Stonington opens its fall series with the Red Lobdell Memorial Regatta, a fun, multi-fleet regatta followed by good cheer at the club. Signing up for this event also registers you for the SHYC fall series, sailing each Saturday, which started August 8th and runs through October 24th.   Stonington Harbor Yacht Club Fall Series - Saturdays Until Oct 30th Red Lobdell Memorial Regatta - Oct 3rd  Connecticut D7 Grand Prix, October 3rd, Duck Island YC, Westbrook, CT We are so excited to have Duck Island YC step up to host another D7 Grand Prix event. DIYC puts on a great show, and this is the next-to-last-event that you can attend to wins points towards the D7 Grand Prix first prize of free tuition to the International Sailing Academy, a leader in ILCA training, a $2,000 value!! From Roger Bauman at DIYC:  Duck Island Yacht Club is proud to be hosting the District 7 ILCA Gran Prix Regatta on October 3rd, 2026. First gun is 1200 hours in Duck Island Roads, Westbrook, CT. It's a great time of the year to be sailing in Long Island Sound with warm water, fall breezes, good friends and races run by well known PRO, Sue Reilly! We have all the ingredients for a great day on the water and post racing with dinner, drinks and an awards ceremony on the deck at DIYC. We hope you will join us. Please Sign Up at Yacht Scoring. https://yachtscoring.com/emenu/50710 Hyannis Oktoberfest, October 11, HYC, Hyannis, MA This is a classic event on the Cape in great fall winds. More information coming soon. Essex, CT Frostbite Series opens, October 11, HYC, Hyannis, MA Essex Frostbite - Sundays from 1PM - 3:30PM, October 11th to December 6th at Essex YC. Soup & daily awards at 5PM. Classes - Laser, JY, Etchells, Ideal 18's & Storm 18's. Matt Flood email: mbflood58@gmail.com Bristol YC Frostbiting, Oct 24 - March October 24th is Bristol YC's frostbiting kickoff day and their annual Stuffie Regatta. Big lawn to rig on, easy ramp to launch from and not too far sail out, just outside of mooring field. First race at 1pm, drinks and snacks afterwards. Or drop in any other Saturday during their frostbiting season which goes until March, only taking a few holiday weekends off. Our Frostbite Series consists of two fleets:  Lasers and Aeros. Races are held right off the BYC pier using our uniquely designed "RC Shack". Need a boat? We'll try to hook you up with one. The weather may be cold, but the action is hot and the fellowship tops, both on the water and off in the BYC Chart Room. To learn more about Frostbiting, contact Flip Myerson or Dave Guinther Portland YC ILCA Clinic with Olympian Sailor and 2026 D7 Champion Scott Sydney, October 31, PYC, Falmouth, ME The Portland Yacht Club will be hosting a full-day clinic led by Scott Sydney on Saturday, 10/31.  Scott was the reserve Laser skipper for the Singapore Olympic team for the 2012 and 2016 games, was ranked 27th in the world in 2013, and won the District 7 Championship this past June.   The clinic will focus on upwind and downwind boat speed, including hiking and steering technique and sail trim settings.  We will run some short races in the afternoon with a focus on starts, boat positioning and mark roundings.  Participants are welcome to race with Scott and the PYC fleet in our fall series on Sunday, 11/1 and receive more pointers before and after racing.  The clinic will run from 11:30 to 4:30 and the registration fee will be $50.  Limited housing is available upon request.  For more information or to pre-register please contact Justice Pollard at jbqpollard@gmail.com.     District News MBBC ILCA D7 Vermont Open By Ken Grillo We held our district regatta on Aug 23 in building conditions with winds well into the teens. Who says you don't get wind on Lake Champlain?  That's two years with a great breeze for the D7 event!  We had 8 great sailors. The winners were: 1) Tim McKegney 2) Will Boyd 3) Joan Shannon Overall it was a great ILCA season at MBBC. We had 8 young (high school, college) sailors that consistently raced with us.  We also added 2 female racers this summer in addition to our regulars from last year.  We started the second week of May and will continue through September although the number of racers falls off after Labor Day.   Update from the Newburyport, MA Fleet @ American YC The American Yacht Club in Newburyport, MA just completed another successful summer ILCA series racing on Joppa Flats at the mouth of the Merrimack River.  We race every other Sunday in order to take advantage of high tides and avoid the significant current of the mighty Merrimack, so we had 8 dates scheduled with two cancelled due to poor conditions.  Unlike some summers, this season was defined by solid breezes with a lot of racing in 10-15 knots and no days cancelled for lack of wind.  We have worked very hard to build a fleet that is diverse and creates a great "on ramp" to bring new sailors into the ILCA world.  We had 22 racers participate, with fleet sizes usually at 8-10 boats each day.  The numbers look great! 5 new-to-ILCA racers, 9 juniors, 3 females, 2 racers over 75 years old (who each battle for the podium!), and roughly half of the racers are non-members.  We have been very fortunate to have the full support of the AYC, along with several club-owned and member boats for loaners, and a growing and enthusiastic team of race committee volunteers.  With the end of summer, several of our fleet will be heading off to race in high school and college programs. This fleet was started in 2020 and the club has even built on the ILCA fleet success to also create a new "Classics" dinghy handicap fleet.  We are proud to be part of the broader ILCA world.  Our fleet is a great example of a small club having success building a new racing community, and it's great to see similar fleets thriving across D7.  Nat Coughlin, Fleet Captain Update on the 2026 D7 Grand Prix Four of the six D7 2026 Grand Prix events have now passed.  I want to say a big thank you to the Portland YC, the New Bedford YC, the Mallets Bay Boat Club, and the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club for stepping up to run D7 Grand Prix events.  With just two more events to go, the first prize free tuition to the International Sailing Academy is very much up in the air, so get out there and join us for the CT D7 event at Duck Island YC (October 3rd) and the grand finale at the Fat Boys Regatta at Fleet 413 in Newport, the first weekend in November. (More information to come on this one) We started the Grand Prix with a bang at the D7 2026 championship hosted by the Portland YC in Falmouth, ME. Forty-four sailors battled it out with tides, seaweed, and winds of 5-25 knts. Next up, it was down to the New Bedford YC for the annual John Bentley Regatta, where twenty-six ILCAs took on the Buzzard's Bay breeze. Then it was time for some fresh water. Mallets Bay Boat Club hosted another fine Lake Champlain event, which counted for double points! Unfortunately, the Lake Sunapee event was cancelled. So far, 71 sailors have competed in this year's Grand Prix events, and we still have two to go! It pays to travel! The top ranks are dominated by sailors who have attended more than one event.  Currently, Mark Bear sits in first with 75 points, followed closed by Lynne Shore with 69 points, and in third, tied at 43 points, are Anne Marije Veenland-Lee and Scott Sydney. Seventy five points might sounds like a lot, but any of the 71 current competitors still has a shot to win by competing in the remaining events.  See you at Duck Island next. Then in Newport where the prizes will be awarded. Rankings as of 9/9/26 Rank Points Name D7 Champ 7 D7 6 John Bentley MBBC 1 75 Mark Bear 42   33   2 69 Lynne Shore 37   32   3 43 Anne Marije Veenland-Lee   18 25   3 43 Scott Sydney 43       4 41 Bill Rothwell 41       4 41 Peter Durant 26   15   5 40 Stein Skaane 40       6 39 Sean Guinness 39       7 38 Jack Cody 38       8 36 Patrick Andreasen 36       9 35 Merle Durant 35       9 35 Peter Seidenberg   15 20   10 34 Ledyard McFadden 34       10 34 Scott Pakenham     34   10 34 Tim McKegney       34 11 33 Mark McDermott 33       12 32 Jeff Beckwith 32       12 32 Mischa van Berkel 21   11   12 32 William Boyd       32 13 31 Paul Craine     31   13 31 Steven Whipple 31       14 30 Ed Adams     30   14 30 Joan Shannon       30 14 30 Spencer Howe 30       15 29 Bill Dickey     29   15 29 Ed Rowe 29       16 28 Chris Morgan       28 16 28 Dave Penfield     28   16 28 Max Miller 28       17 27 Jeremy McCauley 27       17 27 Peter Vessella     27   18 26 Nathan Hanson       26 18 26 Sarah Yuskaitis     26   17 25 Tom Phipps 25       18 24 Andrew Tornello       24 18 24 Charlie Hagedorn     24   18 24 Hank Thorburn 24       19 23 David Frazier 23       19 23 John Nothacker     23   20 22 Chris Bollengier     22   20 22 Christopher Dakers 22       20 22 Ken Grillo       22 21 21 Allan Freedman     21   22 20 Dom Spinola 20       22 20 Jesslyn Mullett       20 23 19 Chris Schreiber   19     23 19 Harrison Barfield 19       23 19 Phillip Whittaker     19   24 18 Demetry Spinola 18       24 18 Jeffrey Hart     18   25 17 Erica Beck Spencer   17     25 17 Faye Flam     17   25 17 Ulf Westhoven 17       26 16 Greg Packard     16   26 16 Justice Pollard 16       26 16 Syd Sewall   16     27 15 Frank Hennessy 15       28 14 David L Ryan     14   28 14 Noah Lyonnais   14     28 14 Tristan Wessel 14       29 13 Chris Morin   13     29 13 Doug Suitor 13       29 13 Geoff Stucke     13   30 12 Bryan Sherbacow     12   30 12 Ian Houseal 12       30 12 Kerry Nielan   12     31 11 Kai Smith 11       31 11 Palmer Spillane   11     40 10 Reid Famiglietti   10     40 10 Stephen Kosacz     10   40 10 Wesley Houseal-Magat 10       2026 District 7 Regattas and Series Start Dates  Date Counts towards D7 Gran Prix? Notes Under the Rope April 4   Eastern YC, Marblehead, MA Show up at 11 AM & register on site. Prizes and party afterwards. Contact tomdailey15@gmail.com Peter Milnes Regatta April 25   Fleet 413, Newport, RI Atlantic Coast Masters May 16-17   Niantic Bay YC, Niantic, CT Cedar Point YC Vice Commodore’s Cup May 24   Cedar Point YC, Westport, CT First warning is 13:00, Contact cpyclaser@gmail.com  Wickford Regatta June 6-7   Wickford YC, Wickford, RI D7 Championship June 13-14 Y Portland YC, Falmouth, ME John Bentley Regatta June 27 Y New Bedford YC, South Dartmouth, MA Cedar Point YC Commodore’s Cup July 3   Cedar Point YC, Westport, CT First warning is 13:00, Contact cpylaser@gmail.com  Spencer True Blue Regatta July 11-12   Practice Day 11th, Regatta the 12th, Kollegewidgwok YC, Blue Hill, ME Newport Regatta July 11-12   Sail Newport, Newport, RI North American Masters July 17-19   Hyannis YC, Hyannis, MA  Hyannis YC Regatta July 18-19   Hyannis YC, Hyannis, MA  Helly Hansen Marblehead Race Week July 25-26   Eastern YC, Marblehead, MA Taylor Pond ILCA Invitational Aug 1   Taylor Pond YC, Auburn ME. Contact petergarcia207@gmail.com Stone Horse ILCA Regatta August 2nd   Stone Horse YC, Harwich, MA  Buzzards Bay ILCA Masters Championship Aug 8-9   New Bedford YC, New Bedford, MA Stonington Fall Series Aug 8-Oct 24   Stonington Harbor YC, Stonington, CT, Sailing each Saturday MBBC ILCA D7 Vermont Open Aug 23 Y Colchester, VT Lake Sunapee Yacht Club Open Regatta Aug 29-30 Y Sunapee, NH Cedar Point YC Rear Commodore’s Cup Sept 7   Cedar Point YC, Westport, CT First warning is 13:00, Contact cpylaser@gmail.com  Winnipesaukee YC ILCA Regatta Sept. 12   Register via email @ edwarddphilpot@gmail.com $40. Check in 0900-1000 Skipper’s Mt 1000 First Gun 1100    Gilford, NH New England Masters Sept. 12-13   Wickford YC, Wickford, RI  Ponce De Leon Regatta Sept 13   Eastern YC, Marblehead, MA. Show up at 11 AM & register on site. Prizes and party afterwards. Contact tomdailey15@gmail.com CT D7 Grand Prix October 3rd Y Duck Island YC, Westbrook, CT Red Lobdell Regatta October 3rd   Stonington Harbor YC, Stonington, CT Essex, CT Frostbite Series Oct 11-Dec 6th   Sundays 1- 3:30, at Essex YC. Soup & daily awards at 5PM. mbflood58@gmail.com  for more information.  Hyannis YC Oktoberfest Regatta 2025 October 11   Hyannis YC, Hyannis, MA Great annual event! Series Start Date: Bristol YC 2026-27 Frostbite  October 24   Contact Dave Gunther for more information: dave.guinther@yahoo.com Turkey Bowl Nov 22   Eastern YC, Marblehead, MA Show up at 11 AM & register on site. Prizes and party afterwards. Contact tomdailey15@gmail.com Fat Boys TBD Y Fleet 413, Newport, CT Green highlighting means the regatta counts towards the 2026 D7 Grand Prix