New England Challenge 2026
June 6/7 2026
The New England Challenge was great.
Eleven boats participated, two with Fishers Island teams, joined by nine with Marblehead teams. Saturday was a light air day where we sailed the boats a lot, but in the end could could only manage a short drifter. Sunday was completely different — the winds were fresh — right at our self-imposed Challenge wind limit — and the Boston Yacht Club race committee served up two glorious races.
On Saturday night, all the competitors, plus a few extra Marblehead Fleet members gathered at a private home for a low key cookout. Simple food, great friends, and sailing stories — a fabulous way to spend an evening. Hearty pizza was served on Sunday — just right after the big winds.
It was an impressive weekend for our friends from Fishers Island. After three races, including two bullets in Sunday’s blustery westerly, the defending IOD World Champions, John Burnham and team Norwegian Wood (Beth Scholle, Jennifer Parsons, Chris Hufstader, and Oliver Parsons) achieved the low score.
Second overall were a surprising sextet of excellent sailors gathered up by Margaret Mancusi-Ungaro — Thomas Walker skipper, Zoe Grant on bow, Eva Ermlich and Peter Barron on Jib/Spin trim and tactical, Anders Kearney on Main, MMU in the pit. Their energy and fun-loving attitude was infectious, and even though they only really met one another on the first day of racing, they were instantly a smooth sailing team. They earned two second place finishes on Sunday to win a tiebreaker with Marblehead’s team JAVELIN (Bill Widnall and company).
Everyone who raced in the Challenge had a great time. It was a super fun weekend, and a rare chance to go sailing against and enjoy social times with top teams from our sister fleet (and one wonderful new team! at Fishers Island. The NE challenge also jump starts our prep for the World Championship, which begins on Saturday. For that reason alone, the NE Challenge was awesome!
Thank you, Fishers Island, for your incredible friendship and support