New Canaan Yachtsman Becomes Club Commodore

A veteran New Canaan sailor has been installed as the commodore of the Cruising Club of America, a club for mariners who are passionate about offshore sailing.

The CCA started the next chapter of its history during its March 4 annual meeting, at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan, when New Canaan resident James Binch, and W. Bradford Willauer of Prouts Neck, ME, were installed as Commodore and Vice Commodore, respectively.

“I am keenly interested in the broadest possible connotation of seamanship and having the CCA at the forefront of education, including online and hands-on training relating to that,” said Binch, who learned to sail at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in his hometown of Toronto, Canada.

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He has been sailing offshore since the 1969 Miami-Montego Bay Race, and in 19 Newport Bermuda Races he has achieved a division win as well as second overall (1990). He also has sailed four doublehanded races, and has cruised in Croatia, Greece, Thailand, Turkey, New Zealand, the Great Lakes and the Caribbean.

Binch also said, “On my watch we also will significantly broaden our Technical Committee so that it includes the most prominent of our navigators, designers and naval architects, who can meaningfully address the topics of modern materials and designs, for monohulls and multihulls from an offshore passaging safety perspective.” He also said he will work to advance rating rules, with a focus on the most equitable VPP-based (Velocity Prediction Program) handicapping rule for members and the North American sailing community.

According to Binch, 68 percent of the 1,300 international CCA members own a sailboat larger than 30 feet. “To be a member you have to have sailed several thousand miles offshore as either a watch captain, navigator or skipper,” said Binch, who joined the organization in 1991.

“But we are not just an organization of cruising sailors as our name might imply. There are hard core racers too — 25 percent of the skippers in the Sharing information gleaned through personal experience is the lifeblood of the club’s international membership.

The fraternity of veteran sailors shares its experiential knowledge to promote cruising and racing by amateur sailors. Among the 12 founding members were young naval veterans of World War I, as well as several boat designers who pushed for balance between performance and safety; through the years the CCA has been a leader in developing and supporting rating rules that promote safe and stable competitive boats.

This year the CCA and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club are celebrating the 90th anniversary as co-organizers of the biennial Newport Bermuda Race, and will send approximately 190 boats off on the 635-nautical mile race for the 50th time on June 17.

Photos: Commodore Binch, past Commodore Tad Lahmon, Vice Commodore Willauer; and Binch. Credits: CCA/Dan Nerney.