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What's New? By Tim Finkle: I would like to remind everyone of our Spring Open House this weekend in Buffalo, welcome to all customers and friends of RCR. Free food and drinks both Saturday and Sunday, 10-3 both days. We hope many will be at the marina to work on their boats, but also to stop by and just say hello... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Like many racers around the Great Lakes, I did not sail at all over the winter. My boat sat in the corner of our building and didn't get any attention from me. I had plans to work on it but then other things got in the way. Sound familiar? Now that we are approaching the sea... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I wish I was writing this from Charleston Race Week, but sadly that is not the case this year. Those who made it to Charleston will be treated to good racing and a really fun shore party. We had our J88 there last year and the J70 in prior years and it is always a good way to kick-start the ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy spring everyone! We hope you are getting excited about the racing season ahead. We've been traveling quite a bit as of late, a sign of what the next few months will be for us around here - BUSY! Two weeks ago I was in Austin TX for the Sail America Conference that happens every tw... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I'm not going to lie, I miss not sailing down south this winter! Watching from afar, it seems like the regattas have been well attended and the winds have cooperated for the most part....and of course, warmth! Miami, Tampa, St Pete, etc. are all great places to sail. The last few weekends were he... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy New Year to all of our racers out there and welcome to 2019. I have not put out a racers news since before the holiday break, so there is a lot to catch up on here. 2019 promises to be another busy year packed with fun events. I will continue to collect and spread the word as we al... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The winter series events are starting this month, some kicked off event number one last weekend in Miami. For the last five years, we've been taking our J70 to Florida to race ourselves. With poor timing on my part, my wife is due to have our second baby in a few weeks from now, so "Junio... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy Thanksgiving to all! The best holiday in my opinion because I enjoy family and food, nothing better! This year I am playing in a morning hockey game to burn some calories off before the feast. In Annapolis, they have the J70 Turkey Bowl, which would be a lot of fun if we had their m... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: If your 2018 racing is in the books, it's time to start building out the calendar for 2019. What regattas do you have scheduled? Please send in your 2019 local big events and championships so I can post in the newsletter for all to see and increase participation. If your event is not listed below ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Dad and I made a quick trip down to Newport last week for a Beneteau Dealer Demo event. We were treated to two days of sailing with Beneteau staff, North Sails staff and many other dealers. The big new cruising boats were there, but also some new racing/performance boats that we are ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are into the back end of the local sailing season but some of the best nights of the year are ahead. I find that there can be a tendency for participation to drop off late in the year, but I beg you to keep going and finish out the series. Just remember those months of winter doldrums when ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We spent all of last week in Chicago for the J88 North Americans. Prior to that was LYRA Rochester and the CanAm Challenge in Youngstown, so a lot of racing activity right now. We have two recaps written in the stories section and we will have more next week from us and other racers that ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Today is the kick-off to the CanAm regatta in Youngstown. The buzz has already started around the club as masts are stepping, boats launching and some even out practicing. The large number of volunteers have taken days off of work to come help out, which makes the whole thing possible. S... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Coming up on the 4th of July week, this year on a Wednesday which is a bit strange. We will be participating in our annual Alumni regatta this Saturday, a great day of sailing and a party that we've been doing for over 15 years. We love seeing old faces that come back to town for it. We ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Several events going on this weekend including Cleveland Race Week One Design, LOSHRS comes to Youngstown, Buffalo Harbor Sailing Club's Summer Sailstice, Oswego Hospice, and I'm sure several others that I'm not thinking of at the moment. I'd normally be going to CRW with the J70 as we have for many... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Racing has started just about everywhere now, some clubs started sooner than others. Hopefully your local fleet is underway or about to start. The season is here so lets all take advantage of it after the long winter! I was out on a friend's J70 last night in near perfect conditions... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We missed a week of newsletters with all that is going on around here. We had a very successful open house last weekend and we are now delivering new boats to excited owners. Of course, we are also going full bore in the boat yards with the usual launching and service work. Many of ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I'll admit, it's tough getting back to reality after such a great week at Charleston Race Week. The planning and excitement leading up to the event followed by great weather and fun sailing makes for some serious withdrawal this week. When I left Charleston, it was a near perfect weather day. When... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: In a continued effort to support our new Ohio territory, we have hired Mark Corson to look after the Cleveland Area. Mark started boating at age 8 when his parents bought a boat. The family joined Grand River Yacht Club. They spent summers on power and sail boats on Lake Erie. Mark grew up in C... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We would like to start by welcoming our newest RCR team member, Dave Regnet. Dave will head up our new sales office in Sandusky, Ohio beginning in late April. Many of you may already know Dave as he was a long time BHSC member, race officer, and volunteer before moving away for work. We will inclu... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: According to the calendar, we have now entered into spring, hooray! We could very realistically be launching boats in a few weeks...seriously. Boat covers have actually started to come off at our Buffalo yard and we are experiencing more calls from boat buyers each week. Don is in Ohio this week signi... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We recently decided to take our J/88 to this year's Charleston Race Week. We love the J/88 and have wanted to do some travel events with it. Now that they race us on the inside courses, it is a much better commuting than the long haul out to the ocean courses. So far there are seven J/88... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: If you are looking for racing this time of year, you want to be in Florida. Between St Pete and Miami, there are about a dozen events going on and racers are happy to leave our never ending winter weather to go sailing in 80 degrees. Just to name a few, there's the St Pete NOOD, J/70 Midw... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We held our annual CanAm kick-off meeting last week to gather the crew together to start the planning process once again. This will be our 5th CanAm regatta and we hope to keep building on it with little tweaks here and there to make it better for our competitors. So please, mark you... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Several of us made it to the Sailor's Ski Day at Holimont last Friday. This idea was the brainchild of Cindy Goodin, who is highly involved at the Buffalo Canoe Club (she owns a J/88) as well as Holimont. She did a great job organizing and getting the word out to the sailors. I will even... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Normally at this time of year, we would make mention of Key West Race Week. For the past 30 years or so, boats and crews have escaped the cold and spent a week in KW in the sunny and warm weather. It was the big regatta of the winter. Unfortunately it had become too expensive and time consumin... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The sport of sailing can definitely be humbling at times. Just when you think you may have figured some things out, it brings you back to reality. At least that is how this past weekend felt at the J/70 winter series #2 in Tampa. Coming off a nice finish in the previous event, we were ex... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy New Year to our readers! We had a great holiday break that went by rather quickly, always does. Winter is now in full force and the snow is flying on a daily basis and temperatures are painfully low. Not to worry though, I got a remote car starter for Christmas! In a few days I wi... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: This will be the last Racer News for 2017, hard to believe another year has already gone by. For RCR, it was our 45th year and a good one all the way around. We would like to thank all of our racing friends who we crossed tacks with on the race course this year. We look forward to more regatta... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We hope that everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. We had a nice trip out East visiting my oldest brother in Marblehead MA. We are back to work here with a final push before our holiday shutdown starting Dec 16th. We still have plenty of activity and this fall has been much better than in... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I'm taking my J70 to Tampa this winter to race in a few of the regattas when I can get away. "Junior" will be down there all winter and since I can't do every regatta, I am loaning it to the Mudratz Youth Race Team to do some regattas. The "Ratz" are from Stonington CT and we found out about them through... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are down to the end of the haul-out season, just the last few on their way out. We have some below freezing temperatures coming our way this week, so if you have not contracted us to do your winterizing, please make sure you get that taken care of right away. If you can't get to it, please call us to ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: It's now November and for many of you racers, your boats are put to bed for the winter. So what next? Some will take a break until frostbiting starts up again, some will tow boats south for the winter regattas and some will move onto skiing or whatever the family likes to do. Unfortunate... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: In last week's racers news, I wrote that we were heading to the J70 Fall Brawl in Annapolis. Direct quote from the newsletter "A low key event with about 20 boats and a lot of fun because October usually brings breezy conditions." Guess what we got.....no breeze! So bad that we didn't even lea... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We have not been able to do as much fall racing as we'd normally like. This fall has been a busy one for all of us here at RCR. In fact, we have not done any of the local fall racing series and our boats are out of the water for the year. Fortunately, all is not lost as I a... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are off to Annapolis tomorrow morning for the annual sailboat show, so the newsletter goes out a day early. We will be posting photos and videos to the RCR Facebook and Instagram pages, so if you are not able to attend, you will still be able to see some of the displays. ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We have our last weeknight race of the season this evening in Youngstown and then we switch over to Sunday races to finish off the 2017 season. At this time I also trade in my tiller extension for a hockey stick and my men's league hockey goes into action. Lucky for me, both eve... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We missed last week's racer news with other things going on, so it took me a little longer this week to cobble together two weeks of material. That also includes the updates to our listings which have been changing at a rapid pace, which is common this time of year when we come into a busy selling s... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Nobody seems to want to believe that it is already mid-August, where did the summer go? We even had a Jr Sailing Banquet last night at our yacht club which means that soon enough we will be sending kids back to school. All flying by too quickly! Anyway, a reminder to get out on your... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: As many of you know, RCR is heavily involved in the running of the CanAm Challenge at YYC, our biggest regatta of the year in Youngstown. It takes a lot of our time in late July to get ready for it, but we have found it to be well worth the effort. This year we thought it was one of our best r... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We just finished up the J/22 North Americans at the Buffalo YC this past weekend. What a great event and an even more exciting finish. Going down to the last few races, there were three boats that had a chance to win, Chris Doyle of Youngstown YC, Travis Odenbach of Rochester YC, and Jeff Todd... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are coming up on back to back North American Championships in our area. First up is the J/22 North Americans at the Buffalo Yacht Club next week and the following week we have the J/88 NA’s in Youngstown. We’re proud that the small territory that we have puts on high quality ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Big news this week is the cancellation of LYRA 2017, a bummer for sure. Below is a write up from the organizers who tried to hold off as long as possible to see if it would be possible to host. In the end, they had no choice and have decided to announce the cancellation of 2017 LYRA in Rochester.&nb... Read More
What's New? By Don Finkle: Tim and Brian are at Bemus Point on Chautauqua Lake today, delivering a new J70 to a customer there. I can recall delivering new boats to that lake many years ago, we launched them in Mayville. Smaller C&Cs, Pearson, O’days and the like. A Sabre 28 too. Recently not so many so ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We’ve all been running around a bit lately, the spring rush is still in full force. So much so that we have not gotten our own race boats in the water yet. Our J/88 just got rigged this week and we are looking to splash it and join in on the Wednesdaynight racing, starting next week. &nbs... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Just catching up here after a very productive and informative Sail America Industry Conference last week in Milwaukee Wisconsin. It started with a fun regatta sailed in Ensigns owned by the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center. We ran five short races sailed just off the city front inside the breakwal... Read More
What's New? By Don Finkle: Yup, it is me again, Tim is in Milwaukee for a few days at the Sail America Industry Conference. So when I have to put these out they are not as elegant as when Tim does them because he is better at the production technology. He quickly slammed together a regatta article this morning on the plane wh... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The sun is out, the air is warmer, and there is a buzz around the boatyards once again. Spring in the boat business is what you’d expect, very busy, but it’s the time of year we enjoy the most. It also means I have less time for newsletters, so I'm sorry if content is on thinner side this... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The Lake Ontario high water issues have been the number one topic of discussion lately. Many yacht clubs, marinas, residences, etc have already suffered serious flooding and more is on the way. Here is Youngstown, most of our docks are underwater and depending on wind and weather, we could see more a... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We have two events that we are hosting this weekend. We hope that you will come to both of them, why not? We will talk sailing and there will be food and beer at both…no brainer. The first is at the Buffalo YC on Friday night where we have a special presenter, Mike Ingham, who w... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We sent out a notice the other day about an event we are hosting at the Buffalo YC. We are hoping that the local sailing community will come out for an evening to enjoy a presentation by US Sailing’s Coach of the Year Mike Ingham and also to reconnect with sailing friends after a long winter. ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We had some excitement at our Youngstown yard last week where strong north winds combined with high water levels and subsequent waves created quite the mess on the waterfront. Driftwood everywhere and erosion of the stone in our travelift area called for immediate attention. Luckily our YYC member o... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I was over at Niagara on the Lake Sailing Club earlier this week and I noticed a bunch of boats (mostly Sharks) already in the water. It then dawned on me that they started up racing last Sunday! They had 8 Sharks and a Hinterhoeller 25 out racing. NOLSC has a setup t... Read More
RCR Yachts Racers' News, #686, March 22, 2017 Let RCR Find Your Next Boat, or Sell Your Existing One! What's New? By Tim Finkle: For the first time in the last five years, I did not do a single regatta over the winter. It is now really starting to bug me as I see all of these midwinter regattas going on and I am on the sidelines! I have ne... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: For those who didn’t make it into work today because of the snow, this newsletter will give you a break from shoveling and thoughts towards better/warmer times. As my Dad mentioned in last week’s newsletter, my wife and I welcomed a baby boy into the world just 9 days ago. It’... Read More
What's New? By Don Finkle: This issue may look different from what you are accustomed to seeing because I am pinch-hitting for Tim and I am a bit rusty at this. You see Tim and his wife Aly had their first child on Monday, a little boy Cole Martin. Martin is his maternal grandfather’s name. They didn’t ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: This is a busy time for one design sailors down south as Midwinter events are happening in many classes. Just last weekend was the J70 and Etchells midwinters, J/24’s were the week before. In March, we have the Thistles, J22’s, Vipers, and Lightnings. Stars have their Bac... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Our team is a bit spread out this week as activity is starting to ramp up. As we inch closer to spring, the schedule starts to get jam packed. Right now Rick Lenard is down in South Florida working the Miami Boat Show, Jim Egloff is in New Jersey picking up a new Benete... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We have three excellent regatta recaps this week for our readers. Adam Burns writes about his recent J/88 win at Key West Race Week (part one only, it is long like the regatta). Jordan Paxhia recaps the “Three Bridge Fiasco” in San Francisco and Corbo gave us his take on the last J... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: RCR has always been very committed to the local racing scene dating back to the very early days of the company. Bob and Don always had the latest demo that they would race out of Youngstown YC. They’ve had all sorts of boats over the years and aside from selling new boats, they wante... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I’m running a little behind today, we had a customer fly in from the east coast to look at a boat. Tonight, we are working the “Boasting Buffalo” event and so we need to get that setup too. Nevertheless, it’s Wednesday and the Racer’s News must go out! ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: All eyes are on Key West Race Week as we are into day three now of the five day event. I must say that Quantum KWRW gets by far the most press of any event and I love it. So many videos, photos, and blogs getting published by the minute. If you love sailboat racing, this is the place to ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I just returned Monday evening from trip to CT and RI with several stops along the way. The biggest news to come out of the trip is the closing of Hall Spars located in Bristol, RI. Those who read this newsletter are racers and are well aware of Hall and have probably had boats with their masts ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy New Year! We are back from our holiday break and ready to kick off 2017, our 45th year as RCR Yachts. We were technically on break but managed to sell a few boats over that two weeks, so it never really stops for us, and that’s a good thing! We hope that everyone had so... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: This will be the final RCR racers news for 2016 as we head into our annual holiday break. We will be closed from December 17 through January 2, returning rested and ready to go again on January 3. We do check on the marinas and boats throughout that period and are always available by cell... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The first event of the three part J/70 winter series gets underway this weekend. RCR Rochester broker Corbo Corbishley will be racing his boat in the 55 boat fleet. I believe he got to North Carolina last night and should arrive tonight into sunny Tampa, FL. This is the fourth year at Dav... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The Melges 24 Worlds is going on right now in Miami, Florida. Now, I was already feeling a little bummed out as I look directly outside my office to see our J/70 tucked away inside our showroom for the winter and it made me think of that Snickers commercial “not going anywhere for awhile?... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at RCR. We hope all of you get a chance to spend some time with family and enjoy the holiday tomorrow. Given the holiday, we should make note of how thankful we are for our customers, friends, and fellow racers that make this profession such a joy. We app... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The mild weather has been a huge help lately as we are finishing up our boat and mooring haul-outs. The guys were working in the yard without coats on and Jimmy Egloff is still wearing shorts! The rush is on to finish before next week when temps will drop significantly and snow will likely fol... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Congrats to all of the yacht club fleet award winners out there. I know Buffalo, Erie, and Youngstown had their fleet awards dinners last weekend and Rochester hosts theirs this coming Saturday night. I'm sure many more clubs around are doing the same. Its great to honor the accomplishmen... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Our J70 is inside, stored for the winter, and I just dropped my sails with Quantum Rochester to have them looked over. The J88 is coming out of the water this week too, so that's about it for sailing this year...the wait for spring begins. In the meantime, there is plenty to do to make me a better sa... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Thank you to all that came out to our Fall Open House in Buffalo. Saturday was cold with a stiff breeze while Sunday was much more pleasant, except for that brutal Bills loss. We served lots of grill food and got to catch up with many customers. Thanks to our guys in Buffalo who did all ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: As you may have noticed from the email blast yesterday, we are preparing for another Fall Open House at our Buffalo marina. The joke is always about us ruining the weekend weather by hosting an open house, but we keep trying anyway. We will have the usual grill food going and cold beer for thos... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Dad and I are in Bristol, RI this weekend for a family wedding and while in town we will of course mix in some business. Today we are heading over to CCF to drop off a J70 trailer that will go with our next stock J70, a 2017 model that will be in the 1100 hull number range. CCF is a boat build... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The local weeknight racing has come to an end for most clubs around here and it always comes too soon. In reality though, we had a great year that allowed us sailing in May, good weather all summer with successful regattas all over the lakes, and still ahead is another month of fall sailing and weeke... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The Canada’s Cup concluded yesterday with RCYC’s Hollandia retaining the Cup for Canada with a 4-1 best of seven score. We don’t have a full report yet, but it seems as though Hollandia had an extra gear upwind and Yquem just couldn’t keep up despite good starts and plenty of tackin... Read More
What's New? By Don Finkle: This is what happens when Tim ends up with too much to do, I end up with the newsletter back in my lap. I can see all the balls he is juggling so when it looks like one is going to come down and hit him on the head I volunteer to take the reins for a week. This weekend is going to be an exciting on... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I can’t believe we are already coming up to Labor Day Weekend, the summer always goes by too fast. But, as we like to say here often, the fall racing and sailing season can be the best of the year, so don’t go putting the boat to bed just yet. The sun is going down much earlier though, so that... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are getting to that time of year where major championships are going on every single weekend, so lots to report in terms of write-ups and results links. Big shout out this week goes to Buffalo’s Tom Lewin who won the J/120 Nationals last weekend. We have a summary below and a full... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The Lightning North Americans is in Rochester this week followed by the J/22 Worlds in Kingston Ontario next week. We have lots of locals racing in both. I’m quite jealous to be on the sidelines, but I will root on our friends as I watch the results online. In the Lightning ev... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are now into August, which should be quieter sales-wise, but that is not the case. We are seeing a bunch of action as of late and we are not complaining. It’s been so busy that I am just getting this newsletter out now (when all of my readers are out on the Wednesday night race co... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I’m coming off back to back regattas that were the focus of my racing for the summer. Two weeks ago, we were the host of the CanAm and it was the J70 Great Lakes Championship, so I naturally wanted to do well in that one. Then, just a few days later, we hopped in the truck and drove east ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We can relax a little bit now that the CanAm 2016 edition is in the books. We can do all the work to get the regatta setup but you can’t control the weather, which is really the most important aspect of whether you have good racing or not. We were very lucky and got 3 days of perfect sai... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: This is the YYC CanAm Challenge week and boy are we up to our eyeballs in coordinating everything. No matter how much you plan, it all has to come together in the end and that usually involves a lot of running around to finalize details. We have a good group of volunteers and I’m excited ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Several big events coming up around here, with the Lake Ontario 300/600 this weekend along with the J22 Raw Bar Regatta at BYC and J/24 Great Lakes Champ at RYC. Next week is the Jr CanAm followed by the CanAm Challenge and LYRA the following week. The action never stops and if you want to... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The newsletter got away from me this week with the holiday shortened week, so Thursday night it is! Plenty going on and many regattas coming up as we hit mid-summer. Many of my friends from YYC left for Sodus to kick off the Canada's Cup Challenger Series. After many hours of boat prep a... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Happy 4th of July weekend to all of you. This weekend is one of the best of the year for me, not just because it’s a holiday weekend, but in Youngstown we host our annual Jr Sailing Alumni Regatta. It’s a blast to see friends who come back to town to visit and hop in the dinghi... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: It was really cool to be here last weekend as all the LOSHRS racers came into YYC all at once. I was helping our harbormaster with the docking committee and I enjoyed seeing all the different boats that came in. Meeting the racers is fun too and they all had smiles on their faces, maybe because... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Unfortunately our Niagara Hospice Regatta was canceled last weekend, but that did not stop several of us J/70’s from going out anyway. We took some marks out with us and set our own course, getting in three very nice double WL races. The breeze started out great in the 15 knot range and t... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We had our first “local” regatta of the year last weekend at the Bayview One Design in Detroit, racing our J/70 “Junior”. We had a really good time meeting a lot of new owners who just bought boats as part of the fleet deal that Grosse Point and Bayview put together. 14... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We leave first thing in the morning for Detroit where we will be racing our J/70 in the Bayview One Design Regatta. It’s a decent sized regatta with 167 boats entered as of today. I haven’t been back to this one since it was the Detroit NOOD and we sailed on our Beneteau 36.7. ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Thanks for showing up last weekend for our annual "spring" open house in Buffalo despite the decidedly not very pleasant weather. By pushing the date to mid-May we thought we might get a break on the weather but not so. Snow flurries on Sunday, what was up with that? Thanks to those who came b... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Given the time of year, we have lots of news to report and action going on in all directions. The problem is not in finding content to fill this newsletter, but in finding the uninterupted time to actually put it all together in this format. Some newsletters come out better than others...anyway, lets... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: One of my favorite places to be this time of year is at Jabins Yacht Yard in Annapolis MD. I was there for a few days earlier in the week and felt the spring buzz going on in the yard. All machinery was in use at the yard as boats were launching by the minute. With regular customers going... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I just returned a few hours ago from Ithaca NY where Brian Buczak and I delivered and commissioned a brand new J/70 for a customer that belongs to the Ithaca Yacht Club on Cayuga Lake. It is the first J/70 on that finger lake, though there are some on Canandaigua Lake. We towed the boat down ye... Read More
What's New? By Don Finkle: I thought when I turned this editor job over to Tim my duties would be limited to maybe a few fill-ins here and there. He has been doing so much selling and sailing that my contributions seem to be a bit more than originally anticipated. No complaints though, he is doing a great job and I enjoy... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I broke the news to my Mom today that we are not going to Charleston Race Week this year and she wasn’t too pleased! We’ve taken our J/70 there the last four years and before that Dad took other boats. It has always been on the calendar because Mom likes going to Charleston and also because th... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: The first day of spring has come and gone and we can actually say that it feels like spring around here. What a difference a year makes. Lake Erie was still frozen over at this time last year and instead, we are talking about launching boats soon. We are all much happier with this situati... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We hosted two great events last week that got us all thinking about the upcoming season. On Wednesday, Terry Hutchinson of Quantum Sails came to the Buffalo YC to give a presentation on his professional sailing adventures. We had a full house and everyone was very engaged and asking lots of goo... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are all very excited for the Terry Hutchinson presentation tonight at the Buffalo YC, hosted by Quantum Sails Rochester and RCR. The interest has been great and we should have a packed house tonight according to the RSVP list. It’s not often that we get a speaker with his racing accolades to... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We returned home with our J/70 earlier this week after competing in the J/70 Midwinters in St Pete FL. Our winter racing program was short and sweet this year, just doing the last Tampa regatta and Midwinters in St Pete. This was the fourth winter we took the boat down south for winter racing a... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: St Petersburg YC is a very busy host this time of year having just hosted the NOOD, the J70 Midwinters this weekend, the Thistle Midwinters from Mar 2-4, and the 69th Annual Lightning Winter Championship from Mar 17-20. Now talk about needing a lot of volunteers, that’s a busy two mon... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I am using this platform to make an announcement for the 3rd Annual CanAm Challenge, hosted by the Youngstown YC. The dates this year are July 22-24, one week before the usual last weekend of July slot that we’ve used for over 40 years with the Level Regatta. We are always the w... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We usually get these newsletters out on Wednesday but I'm slightly behind from being away last week. Don and I towed the boat down to Florida last week for the last Davis Island event of the J70 winter series. Our trip took longer than expected as we drove through consistent monsoon type r... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I am writing this from a hotel in Annapolis, MD. Don and I are on our way to Florida for a J/70 regatta this weekend, but made a pit stop in Annapolis for Yacht Broker Association (YBAA) meetings. Don is on the board and the schedule worked out so that he could attend the meetings early in the ... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We are entering the fall boat show time of year. This weekend is the Newport International Boatshow. We had plans to attend but it is so busy around here that we couldn't get away this time. Newport is always a great visit and the show should be a good one, so we are sorry to miss it.&nb... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: I could continue writing this newsletter the rest of my career and not have another chance to announce two World Championships won by locals, especially not in the same week! What an incredible accomplishment for Youngstown and Rochester and we are all extremely proud of our sailors. The years and y... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: This has been a pretty cool work week so far. On Tuesday, we rigged and launched our brand new demo J/88. This morning, we rigged and launched our brand new demo C&C 30 One Design. Opening up all the new boxes of gear and rigging is pretty exciting. Tuning the rig, setting the keel, ... Read More
What's New? by Don Finkle: Well Tim is racing in Cleveland this weekend so the newsletter baton has not been totally passed back to him yet. He owes me because this week there was an exceptional amount of updating required for all of the new listings, sold boats and price reductions. Therefore it is worth a look at the lists... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: We apologize for not getting a newsletter out last week. We were busy running around getting our J/70 rigged and ready for Charleston Race Week. It was another great event and we learned some more lessons for the playbook. Unfortunately, we had some rainy weather and light winds that mad... Read More
What’s New? By Tim Finkle: Last year at this time, Dad and I were down south doing J/70 regattas in St Pete, Tampa, and Miami. For several reasons, we decided not to do all of those events again this year and I am really kicking myself now for that decision! Instead, we are bundled up inside our offices working aw... Read More
What’s New? By Tim Finkle: I’m just returning from a 20 hour drive from Tampa to Youngstown, towing our J/70 back from the winter series of regattas at Davis Island YC. Read Entire Newsletter ... Read More
What’s New? By Tim Finkle: Plenty of news coming in from other sources and the calendar is starting to fill up with regatta dates and industry events. If you or your affiliation has racing related news or events, please let us know so we can help spread the word! Don is in Annapolis this week for a Yacht Brokers ... Read More
What’s New? By Tim Finkle: I’m not going to lie, I was pretty jealous of those who were down in Key West racing last week. I’m not complaining though, I get in my fair share of regattas, but you can’t help but feel left out because of all the media attention that Quantum KWRW gets. There are rumo... Read More
What’s New? By Tim Finkle: As the 2014 season winds down, we shift our focus to planning and scheduling the 2015 season. There is no time to waste as regatta organizers need every bit of the “off season” to prepare for their events. Maybe it’s improving upon last year’s regatta or planning ... Read More
What’s New? By Don Finkle: I am looking forward to racing this Sunday afternoon in our final local race here on the Lower Niagara. I have warned my fellow members of the LYRA Executive that I will be leaving our meeting promptly at 1300 in time to make the start. Tim mentions below that he will be in Annapolis thi... Read More
What’s New? By Don Finkle: It was a pleasure to see many friendly faces last week at the boat show in Annapolis. Sorry I couldn’t stick around for the weekend as we had several appointments and a sea trail back here. October is one of our busiest sales months, coinciding with heavy boatyard activity to... Read More
What's New? By Don Finkle: This is my favorite time of year for sailing. The weather is usually cooperative with plenty of breeze, few bugs, and clear skies. The only issue, and not a small one, is the early sunset which puts the kibosh on weeknight racing. When you all get around to voting for me as Emperor my first offici... Read More
What's New? By Tim Finkle: Yesterday was one of those days where I was reminded how cool this job can be. I flew down to Providence, RI on a 630am flight, where I was picked up by Barry Carroll, well known boat builder of the Mumm/Farr 30, Farr 40, 1D35, Nelson Mareks, several Tripp and Frers designs, and many more. He told me over the 20 years of... Read More