← Nantucket Now

⛵ Nantucket Race Week 2026 · 23th edition

Nantucket Race Week is Thursday, August 6 – Sunday, August 16.

Starts in 26 days — Thursday, August 6. Ten one-design classes, the Women's Regatta, and the Opera House Cup wooden-boat finale, right in Nantucket Harbor.

--days
--hrs
--min
--sec

Until Race Week begins

Rainbow Fleet Becalmed, Nantucket, Mass. — Detroit Publishing Co., via NYPL / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

📜A bit of history

The Rainbow Fleet — the little catboats in the photo above — dates to 1921, when Nantucket Yacht Club Commodore Henry Lang and Vice Commodore Clarence Gennett commissioned a one-design fleet for young sailors. Gennett's idea: give each boat a different-colored sail so parents could pick out their kid from shore. The lively effect earned the name on the spot, and roughly 70 Rainbows still sail the harbor today.

The Opera House Cup — the wooden-boat finale that closes out Race Week — started as a bar conversation in the summer of 1973. A group of sailors at the Opera House restaurant were grumbling that the new fiberglass boats were leaving classic wooden ones behind in every race. Restaurant owner Gwen Gaillard offered to host the awards party and, on the spot, donated her own antique silver wine bucket as the trophy. The first race — the East Coast's first all-wooden-boat regatta — ran that August, won by Bob Tiedemann of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club. This year is the 54th running.

DatesThursday, August 6 – Sunday, August 16
OrganizerNantucket Yacht Club & Great Harbor Yacht Club
BenefitsNantucket Community Sailing
Cost to watchFree from shore

📅The full schedule

  • Thu, Aug 6Youth Opti Regatta · 420 Regatta
  • Fri, Aug 7Youth Opti Regatta · 420 Regatta
  • Sat, Aug 8One-Design Regatta · Kiteboard & Winging Regatta
  • Sun, Aug 9IOD & J/70 Regatta · Hobie 16 / Laser / Melges 15 Regatta
  • Wed, Aug 12Women's Regatta · Harbor Race · Kos Evans Rock & Royals Cocktail Party
  • Thu, Aug 13Celebrity Invitational · Ratsey & Lapthorn 235 Years of Sailmaking
  • Fri, Aug 14Celebrity Invitational · Nantucket Regatta · NCS Gala
  • Sat, Aug 15One-Design Regatta · Nantucket Regatta · Classic Yacht Exhibition · Brewery Night
  • Sun, Aug 16Rainbow Parade (9:40am) · 54th Opera House Cup · Awards Party

👀Where to watch

  • The Rainbow Parade and Opera House Cup finale (Sun, Aug 16) are the spectator-friendly ones — free public viewing from shore, no ticket needed.
  • Best spots: Brant Point or Jetties Beach. Bring binoculars.
  • The Wooden Boat Parade through the harbor starts at 9:40am — arrive early with a chair or blanket, the beach fills in.
  • Most other race days are open water (the harbor and Nantucket Sound) — better watched from a boat than the shore.

Official details, schedule updates & registration: Nantucket Race Week. Live conditions and what's open right now: Nantucket Now.