2026 Junior Season Preview

By: Paige Chafee

Additional Events, New Awards, Enhanced Communication: NBYA Junior Sailing 2026 is on the horizon!

The Junior Committee has had a lot of great energy this off season, and we're excited to reveal what this summer has to offer.

Digital User-Friendly Calendar and an Expanded Regatta Lineup 

One big thing we've worked on as an organization is a live-updating Google Calendar on the NBYA website. You can subscribe to the types of calendars you're interested in via your own Google Calendar app, or check our master calendar when you want to see what's going on in the bay. You can also click on an event you are interested in and "Copy it" to your calendar, if you don't want to subscribe.

We are also proud to announce a more robust regatta calendar, featuring new and additional events. 

Special Events:

Mary Rose Marshall Girl's Opti Clinic and Regatta: June 29-30 at the East Greenwich Yacht Club. This years event is the 31st MRM regatta and will be for the Opti class only. The first day will be a clinic, focusing on getting ready for upcoming regattas, and then the second day is the Mary Rose Regatta itself.

Junior Race Week, All Classes: July 20-22 at Sail Newport

Barrington Invitational, All Classes: July 29-30 at Barrington Yacht Club. Not a new event, but what's new is that this event is co-hosted by NBYA and will be a part of season scoring! Registration, Race Docs, Scoring, and Notice Board will all be hosted on the NBYA ClubSpot page. 

Note: Junior Race Week and the Barrington Invitational events are both factored into season scores, but the MRM does not.

Regular Season Regattas:

Optimist Class

• June 29-30: Mary Rose Marshall Girl's Clinic and Regatta (Girl Opti sailors only) at the East Greenwich Yacht Club
• July 1-2: Clinic and Regatta #1 at Ida Lewis Yacht Club
• July 16: Regatta #2 at Barrington Yacht Club
• July 26-27: Regatta #3 at Saunderstown Yacht Club
• August 8: Regatta #4 at Edgewood Yacht Club -- this is also when we will be doing our end of season awards for the Optimist class

ILCA Class

• July 14: Regatta #1 at Sail Newport    
• August 11-13: Regatta #2 at the North Kingstown Town Beach (hosted by Wickford Yacht Club) -- this is a new, combined regatta with the c420 class. This is also when the season awards will be issued

c420 Class

• July 7-8: Regatta #1 at Sakonnet Yacht Club
• August 5-6: Regatta #2 at Conanicut Yacht Club
• August 11-13: Regatta #3 at the North Kingstown Town Beach (hosted by Wickford Yacht Club) -- this is a new, combined regatta with the ILCA class. This is also when the season awards will be issued

How do I register? And who do I contact if I need help?

A guide will be provided to your Program Directors and also published on our Junior Page soon. But, if you're stuck, you can contact me, Paige Chafee, the Junior Administrator for NBYA. My email is paige.chafee@nbya.org

Reminder about Discounts and Registration Deadlines

This year, registration for all NBYA Junior Regattas will close at 8pm the evening before the first day of the regatta. This is to help our hosts and the nudge your sailors to sign up in advance. Make sure you subscribe to our Junior Email List so that you get reminders of registration deadlines as well as other Junior Sailing news delivered right to your inbox.

Like last year, becoming an NBYA Junior Member is not required for participation in the NBYA regattas, but there is a $10 discount on all registration fees, including Junior Race Week. The cost of membership is only $25 ! If you plan to sail two or more events for your class, becoming a member is a NO brainer. Sailors can also snag an additional $10 off for registering at least 2 weeks before an event with code EARLY26 

New Awards to Promote the Values of Our Sport

Historically the Green Fleet at NBYA has been fully developmental, not results driven, in line with USODA best practices. Green Fleet is not scored cumulatively and there are no awards, except for participation certificates for qualifying competitors at the end of the season.

For 2026, the Junior Committee is introducing values‑based awards for the Green Fleet—and a smaller set for other (older) fleets—to recognize and reinforce the behaviors we want to see in the sport. These values include the Corinthian Spirit (sportsmanship), Determination, and Seamanship, among others.

You never know what the Race Committee will want to highlight as an achievement, so make sure you show up, do your best, and (this goes for ALL CLASSES!) stick around to support one another at the after racing social and awards.

As put by Paul Elvstrom, Four-Time Olympic Sailing Gold Medalist:

“You haven’t won the race, if in winning the race, you have lost the respect of your competitor!”

Updates to End of Season Awards

Our Season Awards are calculated using the Cox-Sprague System. Stay tuned for an article soon to learn more about how this works - how the "math maths." Season scores identify who, over the season, had the "most perfect" record. 

This year, NBYA is trying something different: our goal is to calculate final season scores at the last regatta for each class and then do end of season awards right then and there. We are even going to try to have a leaderboard going into the final event to amp up the hype.

We hope that this encourages participation at those last events, and creates a moment where all competitors can stay and be together to celebrate in the moment. This would replace a formal banquet in the Fall. Let's celebrate now while the salt is still in your hair! 

For the Optimist class, your end of season awards would be announced after the regular awards for the Edgewood Regatta are given. This is on August 4th.

For the ILCA and c420 classes, your end of season awards will be announced after the regular awards for the Wickford hosted regatta at the Town Beach in North Kingstown are given. This would be on August 12th.

We really want to encourage families, coaches, and sailors to plan to stay for this moment of celebration! Light refreshments will be provided. The host locations will also make much better backdrops for for photos. 

Promoting Junior Sailing

We are working on generating an engaging blog on various topics, one of them being Junior sailing. We've already gotten awesome content during the Spring related to high school sailing and juniors partiicpating in the Ida Lewis Distance Race. We want YOUR help at gathering media that we cna use to highlight the accomplishments of your sailors and show all the fun they are having.

Parents, sailors, coaches, etc: please email photos and videos to comms@nbya.org to see your sailors featured!

Junior sailors: if you are interested in writing an article about your sailing experiences, that is also very welcome! Send us your story at comms@nbya.org

Good luck to all competitors, and we look forward to seeing you around the Bay this summer!