12 sailboats, ranging from 70 to 200 feet long—up to four times as large as many of the boats docked in the harbor– are slated to compete. Newport Shipyard owner Charlie Dana is organizing the event, and says he’s looking forward to the three-day competition.
“These boats are big and spectacular looking,” said Dana. “We’ve got three in there that are over 200 feet. Just think of that coming down Newport neck. Seeing boats that as a young person I would’ve thought I would never see in my whole life time and now here they are out there on a race course.”
Veronica Brown of the Newport Shipyard says there are fewer regattas for sailboats of this size.
“This is the first year the Candy Store Cup superyacht edition has been run,” said Brown. “It’s meant to be, you know, just kind of a fun social event for these yachts that normally don’t have another regatta to race in.”
The race begins and ends near Fort Adams. The annual regatta was founded in Nantucket in 1986 and moved to Newport in 2001, where it’s been held ever since.
