Vintage Regatta at Marblehead

Once a summer at yacht clubs all over the U.S. there is a bright, frantic and very exhausting regatta called Race Week. The first one was held in mid-July at Marble-head, Mass. in 1890 and drew a dozen sailboats. Today, at some of the bigger regattas, such as those at Larchmont, N.Y. and Put-in Bay, Ohio, the race committee can easily lose track of a dozen boats among the hundreds of entries. The original regatta at Marblehead has grown, too, as the picture at right shows; but, in growing, it has lost none of the informality and pleasant excitement (see following pages) of that first small meeting in midsummer.

Frustrated crew of a 210-class sloop (left) engages in impromptu wrestling match with snarled spinnaker.

Freckle-faced crew of an 8-foot Turnabout hurries to hoist sail and join 123 tiny rivals at the starting line.

Bright-hulled dinghies bobble in their slips as sailors from all over New England gather on the club veranda to hash over the day's racing.

The week over, the tired yachtsmen march slowly up the gangway to the Corinthian Yacht Club before heading back to their home ports.

FIVE PHOTOS

RICHARD MEEK