Transitioning Roles in the Evolving World of Sailboat Racing
What happens when a paper club that has run sailboat races for the last 61 years hands its racing program to another club? Does it sail off quietly into the night? Or, does it reinvent itself and find a new heading? CCV Racing set a new course in the southern Chesapeake Bay.
In 1964 a group of six racers from cities surrounding the natural harbor of Hampton Roads formed the Cruising Club of Virginia (CCV). In their invitation letter dated Nov. 3, 1964, they wrote, “We expect to promote cruising and racing and to sponsor additional sanctioned large boat races in the South Bay as well as providing just-for-fun type events like last year’s Snoozing, Boozing and Cruising Race.”
This invitation letter worked and CCV quickly grew to 100s of members, and it hosted as many races as the traditional clubs. It also published the annual Racing Guide that includes general sailing instructions, the list and locations of all CCV Marks, and copies of all local club race circulars and NORs; it was the information base for racing in the southern Bay.
Enter the 21st century, and CCV is still going strong and gained a reputation for its excellent race management and highly competitive race series that were primarily windward-leeward affairs with drop marks; there was no cruising in the agenda. CCV’s name seemed like an oxymoron—cruising vs. racing. In 2018 we followed KFC’s (aka Kentucky Fried Chicken) lead and became CCV Racing (CCVR).
But as all racing sailors know well, participation in racing has been declining the last decade. The increasing costs of running races, particularly insurance, and burdens on the volunteers running its race infrastructure (think websites, collecting fees, etc.) caused the CCVR Board to seek guidance from its members: what do you think of handing over the execution of our races to the brick and mortar Hampton Yacht Club (HYC)? If done, over 50 percent of the Southern Bay races would be under the HYC roof, a seeming advantage.
Most voted for the handoff, so we were faced with the reality of what do we do now? Our inspirations for becoming CCVR Version 2.0 came from the February 2025 workshop led by Dawn Riley. The author lobbied Dawn to bring her Celebrate and Collaborate tour to Hampton Roads, one of only two stops on the Chesapeake Bay. At this gathering, we learned the details and power of collaborating to build the sailing community. The other inspiration was stated by our founders in 1964, “to promote cruising and racing.”
Starting in 2026 CCVR’s goal is to make the sport of sailing in the southern Chesapeake Bay sustainable by bringing in as many people and boats into sailing and sailboat racing as are leaving; hopefully even grow the sport. We are doing this by being a Central Information Source (website and social media, annual CCVR Racing Guide, CCVR Crew Connect phone App, surveys), an Entry Point for new sailors and a means of Retention for current sailors via Education and linking boats and crew via the new App, and Outreach—getting the word out to the 1.7 million people in Hampton Roads that sailing competition is fun, affordable, and an activity in which the whole family can participate.
In terms of communication, we’ll continue to print (yes) the Southern Bay Racing Guide, and we’ve updated this ancient technology with a phone app called CCVR Crew Connect which lists all the local clubs and all their races on a calendar. An owner/skipper lists their boat looking for crew for each race, and crew posts that they looking for boats. Additionally, the clubs can post up-to-the-minute changes in their races like adjusted start times on the App.
We’ve run “how to crew” classes for over 25 years. These are being updated, and we’ll offer topic-specific short courses for crew and skippers like how to start, trim a spinnaker, etc. These education initiatives help to bring new racers into the field and keep them here by increasing their skills.
As a service to the racing community and area clubs, we are and will conduct surveys of all local sailors about what they need/want in the way of racing. Outreach takes many forms like websites or social media, but we are also refocusing on mainstream media. Sports reporting by local TV news used to regularly feature sailing; we’ll entice them to do so again. CCV Racing is charging ahead to collaborate with all area clubs and sailors so hopefully all southern Bay racers can celebrate together.
Learn more about CCVR.
~By Gregory Cutter, 2026 CCVR Commodore
