Detailed Information

Karen Ryan Photography

For Participants

Teams should arrive with four-person crews, to which a boat (boats are essentially identical, maintained evenly and rotated daily) and a celebrity tactician will be assigned. The Nantucket Race Week IOD Celebrity Invitational committee may be able to arrange for crew if teams are short-handed. Crews should have experience and competency racing in heavy keelboats. The event will commence with an Opening Night Reception and Buffet Dinner at a private home, where teams will be paired with a celebrity tactician for the two-day competition.

Celebrity Tacticians generously donate their time and talent to support Nantucket Community Sailing. A blind auction prior to the event gives amateur teams a chance to help determine tactician assignments. Bids are not required, but are nonetheless welcomed, encouraged, and importantly, deductible as charitable contributions to NCS. Pairings are announced at the Wednesday evening reception. The bidding process is strictly confidential. If a crew chooses not to bid, the organizers will make a tactician assignment.

Nantucket Island and Logistics

If you have never been to Nantucket, you have yet to experience on one of the great American vacation and sailing venues, and you need to rectify that! And if you're a repeat visitor - welcome back! Situated 30 miles south of Cape Cod, the island enjoys steady winds, pristine waters, and is one of America's great sailing destinations. Along with its rich sea-faring history on display in museums and other attractions, present-day Nantucket also offers an outstanding array of interesting shops, inns, and restaurants. Nantucket boasts some of the most beautiful beaches and best sailing waters in the world. But the best part of the island is the community of people you will meet and their generous hospitality.

We will be happy to do everything we can to make your participation in Nantucket Race Week a fun and enjoyable experience. Your spouse or significant other is welcome! Housing will be provided in local residences for the three nights coinciding with the events of the Invitational . In addition, you are welcome to enjoy the small sailboats, paddleboards, and kayaks at Nantucket Community Sailing's Jetties Beach location throughout the week.

If you would prefer to stay in one of the local hotels or a rental property, Nantucket Visitors Services maintains a list of up to the minute room availability for the Nantucket hotels, inns, and bed & breakfasts. The Nantucket Visitors Services website has useful information on what to do, where to eat, and how to get to the island. You can call them at 508-228-0925 or e-mail at visitorinfo@nantucket-ma.gov to order a Nantucket Visitors Guide.

In all, the Celebrity Invitational presents an unparalleled chance to sail with a master tactician in strong competition, in classic, closely matched boats, in great racing conditions. Add the enjoyment of a few days on Nantucket at the best and busiest time of the year, all while making a great contribution to a worthy organization: Nantucket Community Sailing.

About the Nantucket International One Design Fleet

The International One Design was the first class to achieve 'International Classic Yacht' status with the International Sailing Federation. Inspired by the majestic 6-Metre class, Cornelius Shields commissioned Norwegian naval architect Bjorn Aas to design a strict one-design class. In 1935, the International One Design was born. 21-feet on the waterline, with long, graceful overhangs extending to 33-feet overall, and a powerful 45-foot rig, the IOD resembles a scaled down version of a majestic J-Boat. With fleets in Northeast Harbor, Marblehead, Nantucket, Long Island Sound, San Francisco, Nova Scotia, Bermuda, Scotland, Sweden and Norway, the IOD class has a strong tradition of inter-fleet competition. The King Edward VII Gold Cup leg of the Swedish Match tour is sailed in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club's fleet of IODs.

IODs are typically sailed with crews of four or five. The small rudder, tall rig and heavy displacement demand focus, reflexes and strength from both helmsman and crew. In Nantucket, races are held outside of the island's harbor on the Nantucket Sound. This is one of America's great racing venues, where crisp August afternoons, reliable sea breezes of 15-20 knots, and uniform currents across the course make for exciting racing, with Nantucket's legendary beauty and island life to return to after racing.

Karen Ryan Photography

Formed in 1998, the Nantucket IOD Fleet is based on a unique concept. Rather than the traditional system of sailors owning their boats individually, the fleet is owned by an association consisting of fifteen syndicates, each of which owns an undivided interest, or share equivalent to one fifteenth of the entire fleet. The boats are identical in every way: hulls, standing and running rigging, sails, supplied equipment, instruments (just a compass!), tuning, and even the bottom paint. Syndicates rotate boats on a weekly basis. It is truly one-design racing at its purest.

Nantucket Community Sailing

The IOD Celebrity Invitational is a fundraising event to benefit Nantucket Community Sailing. NCS is a non-profit organization focused on providing sailing instruction and affordable access to water sports for the Nantucket community. NCS serves 2,000 sailors in its sailing programs, and provides equipment and instruction through many community outreach programs, including sponsoring Nantucket's High School Sailing Team, sailing scholarships to island youth, free water sports to children from other non-profits, therapeutic sailing for the elderly, and adaptive sailing lessons for sailors of all abilities. Nantucket Community Sailing needs to raise $2M each year to support its programs. Nantucket Race Week is an essential aspect of the fund-raising effort, contributing 25% of the total. The IOD Celebrity Invitational is a major component of this success!