Cruising with OPCYC
Old Point Comfort Yacht Club
100 McNair Dr, Bldg. 183, Fort Monroe, Va
37.00'06.7" N, 76 18' 53.2"W
Summer is here.---
... Come out and sail around the racing marks with us one weekend.
Next
Yankee Series on July 11th-- 10 AM
Cook Out at the Clubhouse on Independence Day (Sat, July 4th) watch for details
NO Board meeting in July
Next Board Meeting: Tues, Aug 11th, 6:30 PM at the clubhouse Would you like to see more from your club? --you can help: click Here to Send us a message
Racing with OPCYC
The OPCYC sailboat racing program is called the Yankeee Station Regatta and consists of races from May through October conducted under Performance Handicap Racing fleet (PHRF) rules and a race on New Year's so you can claim, at least for one day as Dana did, "I have raced on every day of the year." The races typically include five to seven "Club Races" and four or five "Cup" Races. Club Races are managed exclusively by OPCYC and may consist of a series of races around fixed marks in the Southern Bay, a Pointer Rally, and a pursuit race around Thimble Shoal Light. Fellow clubs sponsor "Cup Races" either in partnership with OPCYC and/or as part of the Distance Racing series for the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association. The Cup Races for 2026 include the Veteran's Cup, organized by OPCYC, the Moonlight Triangle Race, sponsored by HYC this year, the Tri-Service Cup hosted this year by NNSA, and the 'Round the Lights Race, also run by OPCYC. As mentioned already, there is also the Dana Dillon Memorial New Year's Day Race, or DDNYM for short. See the posted 2026 Notice of Race (NOR) and Sailing Instructions for information about courses, regatta scoring, year end points, and awards. Three of the five Cup Races are Southern Bay Distance Race qualifiers and members are encouraged to participate in the year-end CBYRA and CCV/HYC/BBSA awards.
The OPCYC racing program is designed to be "user friendly" - we encourage fellowship and learning with no experience required. As part of the larger OPCYC experience, we conduct free Racing Rules and Sail Trim seminars in conjunction with Pointer Maritime University. We have planned an on-the-water seminar especially for cruisers where we will partner experienced skippers with new racers to assist and walk-through the racing experience. We support all three classes of racing (Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker and Cruising) at OPCYC. We help and encourage our cruisers to participate by including Cruising Credits as part of their rating at every race. Racing skippers are always looking for crew, so if any OPCYC members would like to race as crewmembers, we will find a spot for you. Interested power boaters are welcome to participate as race committee or photo boat. Finally, our goal is to make the racing program fun. We will have different race starts and will help new racers get comfortable with the start sequence. A "Pointer Rally" may be a set of very short triangular-course races that will emphasize teamwork and starting skills and provide a tune-up for the Tri-Service Cup.