Photo: http://www.brigantines.com

Talk about match racing!  This Sunday off Newport Beach, CA, two identical brigantines, the Irving Johnson and the Exy Johnson, will race.  They will be manned by crews from rival local clubs, the Bahia Corinthian and Balboa Yacht clubs, under the supervision of the brigantine’s permanent captains and crews.  The Irving Johnson and the Exy Johnson are two identical 90′ brigantines launched in 2002, named in honor of the the husband and wife team who sailed the brigantine Yankee four times around the world over eleven years.  The two brigantines are part of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s “TopSail Youth Program,” a sail training “education and adventure” program.

Here comes the 2011 Great Brigantine Race

Thanks to Tom Russell in the Traditional Sail Professionals Linked-In Group and Irwin Bryan for passing the word along.