2026 CJ Buckley Regatta Draws Record 48 Team Field to Greenwich Bay

By Airwaves Writer: Grayson Tella

The 23rd annual CJ Buckley Regatta (C420Jr. Team Race Championship) was sailed August 3 & 4 at in Warwick, RI. This 23rd edition was the largest fleet the event has ever seen. Organizers capped the field at 48 teams this year and sailors showed up from 18 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and two entries all the way from China, making it also the most geographically diverse CJ yet.

The regatta is run in memory of CJ Buckley, a member of the Greenwich Bay Sailing Association who passed away in 2002 at age 17 from brain cancer. What started as a small local race in his honor has grown into the Club 420 class’s national team race championship, and the motto that’s followed it the whole way, “Sailing is life, the rest is just details,” was on full display all weekend.

Final Results:
1st: West Coast Best Coast (Alamitos Bay YC)
2nd: The Pipeline
3rd: Maximus

West Coast Best Coast defended their title from 2025, winning the CJ Buckley/Club 420 National Team Race Championship trophy.

CJ’s father, Carter Buckley, ran the event in person this year.  Carter credited the more than 75 volunteers, many of them CJ’s old teammates and their families, who return year after year to keep the regatta running.

“The volunteers are just amazing,” Carter said. “Many of them have been with us since the inception.” Of the event’s growth and staying power, he added simply: “CJ’s legacy continues. It just warms your heart.”

Special thanks go out to the entire CJ Buckley Regatta committee, the volunteers, the race and umpire teams, and everyone at Goddard Memorial State Park and the Greenwich Bay Sailing Association who made the event possible.

You find more event details HERE. Photo credits to Al Chenard.