College sailing goes offshore, 1928-2024

For youth sailors with aspirations to compete in college, the typical track is age-based racing in Club Flying Juniors and C420s, transitioning to High School events while building a resume for the college application. However, as Tom Darling reports in WindCheck magazine, there is more to college racing than small boats for small people:

Keelboat racing was the original form of intercollegiate sailing. From the McMillan Cup, first sailed in 1928 and formalized in 1930 as a quasi-national championship for college big boat crews, sprung a small number of spinoff events like the Kennedy Cup. Focused on the larger offshore keelboat fleets of the service academies, this form of intercollegiate big boat sailing was mega one-design competition.

In the 1970s, that offshore schedule expanded with events like the Corinthians, rebranded in the 1990 as today’s largest intercollegiate regatta, the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta presented by ShopRite of Carteret (“IOR”), co-hosted by Storm Trysail Club and Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, NY. With growth fostered by owners willing to lend their boats and go along for the ride as adult supervision, the college offshore circuit now has events in all parts of the country with more being added each year.

Today, intercollegiate offshore is the new thing for student sailors. – Full report