Sail Newport Gets New Docks for Volvo Ocean Cup Race

Located in Adams State Park, Rhode Island’s Sail Newport is home to New England’s largest public sailing center. It offers fleets of rental boats, year-round dry storage for sailboats on dollies or trailers, and dockage for organized regattas, special events and rendezvous for both sail and power boats.

In 2015, sailboats participating in the Volvo Ocean Cup arrived at Sail Newport and berthed at a new floating dock system provided by SF Marina Systems. Now, as the facility prepares to host sailboats participating in the 2018 Volvo Ocean Cup, it has added another 150 feet of concrete floating docks to accommodate event visitors arriving by boat.

“This dock will be used by the public to drop off and pick up people who visit the Fort, but mostly for intermodal transportation, cross-harbor shuttles and launches,” said Brad Read, executive director of Sail Newport. “It’s part of the push to get people out of their cars and visiting this peninsula by water.” The dock will be helpful for other events that take place at the park, including the jazz and folk festival.

The dock’s wooden fingers, provided by Meeco Sullivan, are designed to move along a stainless-steel track on the side of the concrete floating docks. This allows the sailing center to reconfigure the piers for different events.