2026 CJ Buckley Regatta Draws Record 48 Team Field to Greenwich Bay August 10, 2026

By Airwaves Writer: Grayson Tella

The 23rd annual CJ Buckley Regatta, the Club 420 Association’s National Jr. Team Race Championship, went off August 3 & 4 at Goddard Memorial State Park in Warwick, RI, and it did so in front of the biggest fleet the event has ever seen. Organizers capped the field at 48 teams this year, nearly double the 28 boat fleets that were the norm for most of the regatta’s history, 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 the largest and most geographically diverse CJ in its 23 years.

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.

Monday, August 3: Torrential rain kept boats ashore for the start of racing, and the fleet didn’t get on the water until about 2:00 PM. Once conditions cleared, race committee and umpires made the most of the afternoon, running roughly 120 races across two circles before calling it a day.

Tuesday, August 4: Racing resumed and pushed through qualifying, sail offs, and a Gold Fleet final to determine the national champion. With 48 teams and two full racing circles, the event completed well over 100 additional races on day two alone, continuing the CJ’s tradition of packing an enormous amount of racing into a short 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 for a second year in a row.

Beyond the racing, the CJ has built a reputation for what happens off the water, including team dinners, lunches ferried out to sailors mid regatta, and an awards ceremony that draws hundreds of sailors and families together at the end of the weekend. College coaches are known to make the trip too, using the event as a scouting ground for the next wave of team racers.

CJ’s father, Carter Buckley, ran the event in person this year. His wife and longtime co organizer, Lucy, was unable to attend due to a health issue but remained involved behind the scenes. 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 75 plus volunteers who ran the two circles, the race and umpire teams led by Justin and Kyle Assad, and everyone at Goddard Memorial State Park and the Greenwich Bay Sailing Association who made the 23rd running of the CJ possible.

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