IOD Celebrity Invitational Regatta

2025 IOD Celebrity Invitational

August 134 - 15, 2025

Nantucket Race Week is pleased to announce the 21st annual running of the IOD Celebrity Invitational.

Karen Ryan Photography

Introduction

Imagine being provided a boat within a fleet of evenly matched IODs to be raced by your crew on Nantucket Sound. Further imagine having an America's Cup tactician, Olympic medalist or a world champion calling your tactics for the regatta. In keelboat one-design racing this is truly special.

Karen Ryan Photography

The Celebrity Invitational begins with an opening reception buffet dinner at a private home, with Master of Ceremonies Dawn Riley, followed by two days of racing and more social events. The series will consist of up to four races each day on Nantucket Sound. Each participating team will have a celebrity tactician on-board. Races will be sailed in a fleet format, and prizes will be awarded for daily and overall results. Opportunities abound for non-sailing spouses and significant others to explore and enjoy the island: beaches, bicycling, water sports, shopping, museums, sightseeing and more.

Karen Ryan Photography

Schedule of Events

2025 IOD Celebrity Invitational Co-Chairs:

Roy Weedon -- Roy is a member of the Nantucket IOD Fleet on the SIERRA Syndicate. He is the 2022 Nantucket Race Week IOD Celebrity Invitational Champion. Roy has competed in (9) IOD World Championships - Bermuda, Fishers Island, Nantucket (3), Norway (2), Northeast Harbor, and San Francisco. He is a two-time, back to back, IOD North American Champion, having won in Nantucket and San Francisco.

Steve Ulian -- Steve Ulian is a Nantucket Yacht Club member, the Island's Rhodes 19 Fleet Captain and a past co-chair of Nantucket Race Week. Steve grew up sailing at the Wianno Yacht Club on Cape Cod and sailed for 4 years at Boston College. Steve went on to campaign for the Olympics in Star Boats finishing 11th at the 1988 Olympic Trials. After the trials Steve worked for North Sails Marblehead where he won the J/22 World Championship, twice finished second at the J/24 Worlds and won the Etchells North American Championship.

Principal Race Officer:

Tom Duggan -- Tom Duggan is one of the most accomplished Principal Race Officers in the world. In 2021 Tom served as PRO of the Tokyo 2020/21 Olympic Games. He is a certified International Race Officer and is Past Chair of the World Sailing Race Management Sub-Committee. He has served on multiple committees with both US Sailing and World Sailing and is currently Chair of the US Sailing Race Management Committee. He has run races all over the world, but his home waters are Nantucket Sound, where he can be found lending his skills and watchful eye to the IOD fleet on a weekly basis.

Master of Ceremonies:

Dawn Riley -- As CEO and Captain of America True, Dawn was the first woman and youngest person to manage an America's Cup sailing team. She raced on four America's Cup and two Whitbread teams. A documentary of her first Whitbread Race on-board Maiden was released in 2019. She is a former president of the Woman's Sports Foundation, served on the board of US Sailing, and is an adviser to several public service organizations. Dawn has been in Oyster Bay, New York at Oakcliff Sailing since the inception in 2010. There she is building American leaders through sailing. A non-profit open to all, Oakcliff's signature Acorn and Sapling programs train athletes in inshore, offshore and high-performance sailing. Graduates receive training in all aspects of running a racing campaign from technical to finance to marketing and strategy. Need-based scholarships are provided for all programs, with additional funds for community sailing graduates. Match Racing is the original cornerstone of Oakcliff and the 5 graduates working and sailing with the American Magic team in Barcelona. Oakcliff trains offshore sailors, including 89 who were spread over 6 boats in this summer's Newport to Bermuda Race. The young trainees are inspired by other graduate's successes, including Mark Towill and Charlie Enright who won the last Ocean Race. Finally, Oakcliff has invested deeply in athletes trying to compete in the Olympics, providing small group training, organized week long camps and 5 ‘Triple Crown Regattas' where athletes can race and earn grant monies for their campaigns. Dawn is included in the National Sailing Hall of Fame, the America's Cup Hall of Fame, and the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, the only person with this triple honor.

Thank you to the 2024 IOD Celebrity Invitational Tacticians:

as of 7/10/24

Rod Favela -- Rod Favela grew up sailing in the coastal town of Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, where Sunfish were the 'big thing' in dinghy one design racing. Simultaneously, he also developed his love for offshore racing in the Caribbean. Coaching was a mandatory part of the sailing education he went through and he helped hundred of sailors of different ages get and improve their sailing careers. In 2005, Rod moved to the US where he kept racing dinghies and keelboats on both One Design and handicap scenes but he never left out the coaching and support of other sailors. He also started his own sailing outfit business providing specialized support and equipment for racers and cruisers; always looking forward to make sailors take advantage of the best of the sailing program. Rod is a coach for North U and keeps racing in several classes. During his time in the American sailing scene, Rod has been part of the winning teams on North American Championships on VXOne, Hobie 33 and US Sailing Championship of Champions as well as very successful path on the offshore such as victories on the Chicago – Mac, NYYC regattas and other top finishes including the Herreshoff trophy. He is also a part of the winning crew at the 2021 J/22 World Championship, 2022 J/24 World Championship, J/80 North Americans and World Championships. Ultimately Rod remains active in the racing scene, while sharing his time with his sailing business and coaching, giving back to the sport.

Dave Franzel -- Dave founded the Boston Sailing Center in 1977, because in his youth he found it easier to create a yacht club than to join one. Also, it was a way for him to feed his sailing fix on a daily basis and entice many thousands of others to become equally entranced by the sport. After selling BSC in 2007, Dave attempted to mix retirement with racing and coaching. Then, in 2016 he founded the St. Thomas Sailing Center at the St. Thomas Yacht Club in the US Virgin Islands, showing himself to be a complete failure at retirement. In addition to starting and running sailing centers, he has coached many teams in one design and handicap events. He also coaches clinics and seminars in conjunction with North U where he has had some success guiding less experienced teams to the podium. He campaigned Solings and Sonars for many years, finishing third in a Soling World Championship in 2002 and winning a Worlds in the Sonar class in 2009. Today you'll find Dave campaigning a J/70 and enjoying winters in the Caribbean racing IC-24s at the St. Thomas Yacht Club.

Al Girard -- Al grew up sailing in Barrington, RI. He was on the sailing team at the University of Rhode Island where he graduated in 1983. Al was an avid Laser sailor and won the Laser Master North Americans in 1996, 3rd at the Laser Nationals in 1995 and competed in the Laser World Championships in 1990. He is a two time North American Interclass Solo Champion, 1994-95. In 1993 he became the first alternate member of the US Olympic Laser team. Al was the Navigator on Courageous IV in Perth Australia in 1987 vying for the Luis Vuitton Cup. He has been a Professional Tactician on Farr 40's, 12m Tactician aboard Hissar winning the 2001 Prada Trophy and Americas Cup Jubilee. In 1989-1991 he was the offshore sailing coach for the US Coast Guard Academy. He's now an avid kite surfer and wing foiler and occasionally a private yacht captain and lives in Newport, RI.

Stuart Hebb -- Stuart, having grown up sailing in Nova Scotia, won the World Youth Champs in 1982 in the Lightning class. He was on the Canadian America's Cup team in 1987 in Australia. Stuart has a well-balanced sailing background having raced in one design as well his own Thin Ice offshore program where he won the 2005 Pineapple Cup setting the best corrected time course record which still stands today as well as back-to-back SORC victories in 2019/20. He made the Canadian Olympic sailing team in 2012 campaigning in the Star Class finishing 4^th in the medal round race in Helsinki as well as some top 5 finishes in major Etchells regattas from 2000 -2011. Stuart finished 2^nd as a competitor in this very regatta in 2018 and most recently won top Corinthian in the Melges 20 class this winter.

Thomas Lundqvist -- Thomas Lundqvist of Stockholm makes his second visit to Nantucket Race Week, bringing a long sailing resume, interrupted periodically for studies and work, with about 30 World Championships and countless international, national championships in boats ranging from dinghies to schooners. Thomas grew up sailing local classes on Sweden's west coast, near Gothenburg. By age 15 he was racing an Olympic Class Finn, a child prodigy in a big man's dinghy. He took on Europe's best, and eventually the world's best single-handed dinghy sailors, campaigning the Finn for ten years during which he won the Swedish Nationals, Kiel Week, and the Finn Gold Cup, and also competed in the 1972 Olympics. The Gold Cup victory at age 22 made him the youngest ever Finn world champion for many years. Then Thomas focused on the Star boat, competing in the Worlds and many regional events. In the early ‘80's Thomas started racing a modern 6-Metre, the class that originally inspired the IOD, taking the podium in numerous European events and World championships. Thomas is now racing a Wally Nano, besides other classes, while continuing team racing in international competition, including the NYYC Grand Masters event in Newport, RI.

Scott MacLeod -- Scott was part of a 3X Collegiate All-American team and raced Sonars and Finn's in the 80's, including a five-year Finn Olympic campaign 1983-88. He won a bronze at the Finn pre-Olympic Regatta in 1987. He has won multiple Hinman Master, Grand Master, and Oyster Bay team racing championships. He's done the Newport to Bermuda race twice, and most recently was the tactician for second-place Onawa in the 12 Metre North Americans.

Mike Marshall -- Mike Marshall grew up in Rhode Island racing Optimists, 420s, and Lasers. He graduated with a degree in Geophysics from Connecticut College, where he was co-captain of the sailing team for two years. He is now a sail designer for North Sails, focusing on sails for one-design boats and one-design custom projects. These projects include designing sails for the US Olympic 470 teams and working with many other world-championship-level programs. A recent project has been designing the sail inventory for the New York Yacht Club IC37. In his own sailing, Mike won the J/22 Worlds in 2016, leading to a nomination for Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. He has also won the J/22 North Americans and been top-ten in multiple J/24 Worlds, North Americans, and Nationals. In addition, he serves on the board of directors for the Conanicut Island Sailing Foundation, a non-profit specializing in helping youth sailors in the Rhode Island area achieve their goals in the sport.

Casey Nickerson -- Casey started sailing at the young age of eight at Noroton YC, CT, sailing Blue Jay's, Finns, Lightnings, 505 and a Cal 40. Raced Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race at fifteen. He was the sailing instructor at Larchmont YC 1971+73. Winning first SORC race overall 1973 on a C&C 61. Casey sailed in the 1972 Bermuda Race then Transatlantic race at 20. Winning six Great Lake Mackinaw races on Sassy, including an overall clean sweep of the Chicago-Mackinaw-Port Huron Race. He was the alternate at 22 years old on Americas Cup winner Courageous 1974. He was the tactician for Team Salzman 1984-2009 winning many events including a Swan Worlds in Newport and St Martin Heineken's Cup as well as the winning tactician 2011 for the Gold Cup Bermuda Invitational Race Week in IOD's. Circumnavigated 2010-11 on a Swan 76. He has been team racing since the age of twelve winning the 2007 Hamble, England International Event as tactician. Casey is a member of NYYC, Ida Lewis, CCA, STC, Lauderdale YC and Winnipesaukee YC.

Pete Stalkus – Started sailing cat boats and dinghies at a young age on Shelter Island Sound and developed his racing skills at the US Merchant Marine Academy. Four-time America's Cup competitor with many years on the Grand Prix racing scene as navigator, tactician, and strategist. Won World Championships in the Farr 40 class, 12 meters, Maxis and two SORC fleet wins. Has sailed many one designs including J-24's, J-70's, IOD's, Shields and 6 meters.

Past Celebrity Tacticians: