Robie Pierce One-Design Disabled Sailing Regatta

09/27/2021

Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Robie Pierce Regattas!​
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2021 Robie Pierce Regattas - September 24 -26, 2021
The morning of the Robie Pierce Women's Regatta started off with rain but finished as a beautiful day for racing! Winning the day with two bullets and a second was the team of Dawn Hart at helm along with her crew, Karen Atkinson, and Pamela Washington in the AB position. Finishing in second place was Jo Ann Stead, Pat Brust and Alix Hahn followed in third place by Maureen McKinnon, Marina Vandenbergh and Arlene Hostrop.

The two-day Robie Pierce Open Regatta had both mild and "sporty" winds. The Larchmont Yacht Club Race Committee, led by PROs Cynthia Parthemos and Mark Dailey, worked with their team to complete four races. Leading the group to win the regatta was Skipper Geoffrey Matesky with Lin Wei-Lee as crew and Carter Gowrie (one of our sponsors!) in the AB position. A close second was placed by the Navy/Army crew led by Skipper Tim McGee, John V***a as crew and AB position shared by Dan Rugg and Paul LaBossiere. Third place was only 1 point behind with Skipper Duane Farrar, crew Barbara Bielinski and AB Dennis Bell.

This year we added a very special perpetual award, the Tilghman Paca Logan Memorial Trophy, to be presented to the runner-up crew in the Robie Pierce Regatta. The trophy is to honor one of our most enthusiastic sailors, Tilghman Logan, who passed away earlier this summer. Tilghman sailed in his first Robie Pierce regatta in 2016 at the age of 14. Never before had such a young sailor competed and never had there been one as special as Tilghman. The memory of his love of sailing and the joy he brought to everyone he touched is remembered with this award. Tilghman's father, Philip Logan, presented the award to our runner up of the Robie Pierce Open Regatta - Skipper Tim Gee.
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A big thank you to our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Robert Leviton! We also had onsite a dedicated group of physical therapists from Burke Rehabilitation to help get our sailors safely in out of the Ideal 18s. Thank you Burke Yellow Shirts!! Thank you to all of our generous sponsors, our multitude of volunteers, Larchmont Yacht Club, American Yacht Club and most importantly to our participants!

Pictures of the event are on the way!

09/27/2021

04/30/2020

Paying it back...not forward. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our Robie Pierce Sponsor Thank You Fund to buy PPE gowns for our sponsors who provide health care to our community.

We like to think that volunteers who organize and run regattas for sailors with disabilities are “paying it forward,” meaning that if it were you in the boat, you’d want someone to be looking out for you, too. But paying forward isn’t always the only option.

For the past 12 years, the hundreds of volunteers who have helped make the Robie Pierce Regattas for sailors with disabilities a success have had their contributions matched by financial underwriting from sponsors. In the case of the Robie, co-hosted by the Larchmont Yacht Club and American Yacht Club, three of those sponsors (Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, and the White Plains Hospital (WPH)) are on the front lines of fighting the Covid pandemic. This year, instead of their helping us pay it forward, we decided it is our turn to pay it back...to them.

The three Robie co-chairs (Siobhan Reilly, Bill Sandberg, and Buttons Edward Padin) discussed what the volunteers and sailors, could do to help the hospitals fight Covid. Another Robie Sponsor, UK Sailmakers NY, has been making PPE isolation gowns out of spinnaker material and had 200 in stock. A quick email to the Robie sailors and volunteers and the funds were quickly available to purchase the 200 PPEs (at a price below UK’s cost). Tuesday afternoon, Siobhan and Buttons delivered these 200 gowns to Burke, Montefiore, and White Plains Hospital.

The smiles on the faces (behind the masks) of those receiving the boxes full of brightly colored PPEs is proof that paying back can be as rewarding as paying forward. It was very moving to hear how thankful they were that we were thinking of them. Our simple gesture meant so much.

In addition to the three hospitals and UK Sailmakers, other long-term Robie sponsors should also be recognized for their own initiatives to fight the pandemic including Subaru of America, Inc., Mercedes-Benz of New Rochelle, Carlsberg, and the Gowrie Group.

We are working on putting together the next group of 200 gowns for us to deliver on behalf of all of those connected with the Robie Pierce Regattas. Contributions can be sent through Venmo to Siobhan Reilly . More pictures to come! Thank you!!!

04/26/2020

Dear Friends,
After a great deal of soul searching and evaluating all that is going on around us, we have canceled the 2020 Robie Pierce Regattas. Refunds to those who paid when registering for the original event will be issued shortly. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the 2021 Robie Pierce regattas at Larchmont Yacht Club June 3-6.

As you can imagine, we can’t put on the Robie without the underwriting support of our amazing sponsors, three of which are hospitals (Burke Rehabilitation, White Plains, and Montefiore). We hope they can use this year’s Robie sponsorship funds a little closer to home for them.

We would like the Robie Pierce Regattas to show our support for the health care workers at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, White Plains Hospital (WPH) and Montefiore Medical Center. Our other sponsors at Subaru of America, Inc., Carlsberg and Gowrie Group are in full support. We welcome you to participate! Here’s what the three of us are doing:

Another Robie sponsor, UK Sailmakers NY, is now making much-needed PPE isolation gowns out of spinnaker cloth (non-porous, washable, reusable). UK said we (the Robie) can purchase these gowns at UK’s cost and deliver them to our three hospitals. UK Sailmakers has 200 gowns on hold for us so we’re moving quickly.

It’s our turn to give back! To pay for these PPEs, Siobhan set-up a Venmo account “RobiePierceSponsorThankYou.” We three co-chairs have already made donations as we want to get these PPEs to the hospitals ASAP—hopefully by May 1. We welcome any of Robie sailors or volunteers to join our PPE campaign. Any size contribution is welcome.

We will miss seeing all our Robie friends this summer but, by banding together in providing PPEs, we’ll all be together in spirit. Heck, Robie would like that!
Robie Pierce Regatta Co-Chairs Bill, Buttons and Siobhan

You can find our sponsors on Twitter:

04/24/2020

02/19/2019

2019 Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta Registration is Open!!!

The 11th Annual Robie Pierce One-Design Regattas will be held this year on May 30th (Women's Invitational) and May 31-June 2nd (Robie Open Regatta) at American Yacht Club in Rye, NY in partnership with Larchmont Yacht Club. Register at www.robiepierceonedesignregatta.com

2019 Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta Registration is OPEN!!!The 11th annual Robie Pierce One-Design Regattas will be held this year on May 30th (Women's Invitational) and May 31-June 2nd (Robie Open Regatta) at American Yacht Club in Rye, NY in partnership with Larchmont Yacht Club.  We are expect...

06/06/2018

06/06/2018

Thank you to Larchmont Yacht Club, American Yacht Club, Beach Point Yacht Club and Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club for supplying the Ideal 18s for our regatta this year.

Robie Pierce Regattas Draw Record Entries
(Larchmont, NY June 3, 2018)

The 10th annual Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta welcomed a record 23 entries at this year’s event held at Larchmont Yacht Club (Larchmont, NY), June 1-3. An additional 7 boats competed in the Robie Pierce Women’s Invitational, also a record, on May 31.

During the course of the events, Western Long Island Sound threw its entire bag of weather tricks at the participants—pea soup fog to sunny, hot days, and winds ranging from 0-30 knots, but the sailors survived everything thrown at them.

In the women’s event, the only all women’s adaptive regatta in the word, Canadian Brenda Hopkin (Fairmont, BC) and crew Lin Wei-Lee (Mt Vernon, NY) tied for the lead with Julia Dorsett (Kennett Square, PA) and crew Pat Brust (Larchmont, NY) with the tie breaker going to Hopkin/Wei-Lee. Also finishing on the podium were Tracy Schmidt (Toronto, ON) and crew Kelly Rey (Farmington, CT). The regatta also featured the helming debut of 2008 Paralympic Gold Medalist Maureen McKinnon (Marblehead, MA), who with crew Katherine Kern (Boston. MA) finished in fourth. The Gowrie Group Sportsmanship award went to Joanne Stead (White Plains, NY).

The Robie Pierce One-Design, the country’s largest disabled regatta in a single class, had entries from three countries and 15 states. Four races were completed the first day, but the weather gods decided to enter into the fray, with no wind on Saturday and 15-30 knots on the final day.
The results were close, but when the smoke (or was it fog?) cleared, Will Fontanez (Boston, MA) and crew Katherine Kern led the way with 14 points. One point back were Gerry Tiernan (Falmouth, ME) and crew Dennis Moran (Framingham. MA). An additional point back in third were Craig Wilson and crew Charles McClure (Madison, CT). John Twomey (Kinsale, Ireland) and crew Lin Wei-Lee/Pat Brust tied with Sarah Everhart-Skeels (Little Compton, RI) and crew Brenda Hopkin for fourth, with the tie breaker going to Twomey. The Gowrie Sportsmanship Award went to Ellie Pierce (Bellingham, WA).

The regatta was named for the late Robie Pierce (Newport, RI) a leader in the development of adaptive sailing in the US and a major force in adding it to the Paralympic Games. Robie sadly passed away last summer, but not before creating friends around the world in sailing. To honor the first event since his passing, wife Barbara, daughter Ellie, stepson Dudley Nostrand and brother Al Pierce were in attendance. Ellie Pierce spoke eloquently and emotionally to the crowd, saying how much the event meant to her father, and the fact that attending the regatta were the best days of Robie’s year.

Special thanks go to the Larchmont YC staff and an army of volunteers, including a large group from Burke Rehabilitation. A lengthy list of sponsors made this event a home run—Montefiore Medical Center, Mercedes-Benz of New Rochelle, Vineyard Vines, The Gowrie Group, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, White Plains Hospital, Samson Ropes, Carlsburg Beer, Gubinelli Wines, UK Sailmakers, Chandon, Thomas Bates Belts and Sailing Foundation of NY.

Leading the running of the regatta was Larchmont Yacht Club’s Buttons Padin, assisted by Co-Chairs Siobhan Reilly and Bill Sandberg from American Yacht Club.

Next year’s events will be May 30-June 2 at American Yacht Club (Rye, NY).

Pictures are on their way!!!!!

06/05/2017

Thank you to our generous sponsors who made the 2017 Robie Pierce Regattas possible - Subaru, Carlsberg Beer and Burke Rehabilitation. You allowed our competitors to go beyond their disabilities and for their families to see the possibilities ahead. Thank you to the leadership, staff and members of American Yacht Club and Larchmont Yacht Club for your support these last 9 years and for providing exceptional race management for our regatta. A big thank you to the countless volunteers from both clubs who gave their time to make this regatta a reality. And of course, thank you to our competitors and families who make this so much fun! See you at Larchmont Yacht Club May 31st, 2018 for Robie X.

06/05/2017

Siobhan Reilly and Earle the service dog on the Committee boat at the Robie Pierce!

05/11/2017

We are up to 20 boats and counting for the Robie Pierce Open! Don't forget to register you and your crew. If you do not have crew, let us know and we will get you in a boat. We are looking forward to our 9th Robie Pierce Regatta! www.robiepierceonedesignregatta.com

02/27/2017

Registration is open for the 9th Annual Robie Pierce One Design Regattas! They will be held at American Yacht Club on June 1st - June 4th. Check out the website for the regattas at www.robiepierceonedesignregatta.com for information. We hope to see you there!

This year marks the ninth Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta, named after one of the founding fathers of adaptive sailing. Over the years, the "Robie" has become one of the country’s foremost regattas for sailors with a broad array of disabilities including physical, neurological, and visual impairment...