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

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