Every Wednesday at 5 p.m., a sharp horn blares, cutting through the calm in Oriental. Out on the Neuse River that noise serves as the start signal for sailboats that circled and jockeyed for position during the weekly sail race.

Organized by Joe Valinoti, 87, and the Oriental Dinghy Club, the Wednesday Night Sail Race offers a gateway to sailboat racing for area residents.

“It gives the people who live here that say, ‘I want to learn how to race,’ …a place to learn,” Valinoti said.

A Navy veteran of 36 years, Valinoti proudly wears a white hat that indicates his years of service and covers his hair of the same color, tied in a neat small ponytail. He sports a comfortable Hawaiian shirt and shorts to match, all while resting on a cushion behind the captain’s wheel, with the posture of a dad in his favorite chair after a long day of work.

Valinoti got his first taste of sailing at age 23, after serving four years of active duty. “One of the commanding officers of the unit that I was in raced, so he invited me out,” Valinoti said.

Sailing became a lifelong hobby for Valinoti who, after retiring from running a Volkswagen and Porsche garage in New Jersey, moved to Oriental in 1998. Valinoti was direct about why he moved to Pamlico County: “Sailing.”

Sailboat racing was already popular in Oriental and when Valinoti arrived, there were about 30 boats participating in sanctioned Saturday races. However, there were few opportunities for people to learn the sport, so Valinoti began organizing the Wednesday night races.

Aboard Valinoti's Il Gatto, Italian for “the cat" in honor of the ship’s catboat design, a spunky crew of four, including Valinoti, prepared the vessel for racing, lubricating the blocks and removing the cover from the mainsail.

Pulling out of the dock using the boat's engine an hour before the race, the crew members chatted with each other, catching up over the past week, discussing the dolphins they’d seen in the marina and making adjustments as necessary. Using modern equipment, we soon arrived at the Neuse River, jutting across a bumpy, but steady sea. 

Alan Hackett, 60, is the freshman of the crew, joining after moving to Oriental from Nashville about six months ago. “The salt water was calling me, so I felt like I had to get back into the ocean,” he said. 

Standing 6 feet 2 inches, the former maintenance mechanic had some experience sailing when he was “knee-high to a grasshopper,” but his interest was reignited while watching YouTube videos about three years ago.

Having participated in three Wednesday Night Sails, Hackett displays a natural curiosity, peppering Valinoti with questions before, during and after the race about rules and regulations as well as mechanical questions about his personal boat. 

“I like to learn about sailboats and what's new about them, and what's old about them, and listen to the older guys talk about what they know about sailing,” he said.

As the start time neared, the crew cut the engine and hoisted the large sail. Valinoti said the race begins right at 5 p.m. regardless of your position near the starting marker. 

As Valinoti’s crewmate Andrea Pape counted down the minutes and seconds like a rocket ship preparing to launch, blowing the airhorn at different timed intervals, Il Gatto and five other vessels weaved toward the start, careful not to jump ahead of it. 

The final horn blew and Il Gatto crossed the start line as Valinoti announced, “We’re racing!”

It was not a pulse-pounding start as the crew sailed against the wind, jogging along with the rest of the pack. With each boat being unique, the racers use a handicap system in which each vessel is given a score by the North Carolina Performance Handicap Racing Fleet to factor into the final times. 

Arriving at the first turn involved tacking — turning the sail from one side to the other with a dramatic swing from port, or left, to starboard, right, or vice versa. 

At the helm during these turns stood Pape, 69, serving as the trimmer, who is responsible for the operation of the sails. Pape joined Valinoti’s boat in September 2022, but has been on the water for much longer. 

“I've been sailing since I was 4 years old,” she said. “I grew up in Massachusetts in a town called Duxbury, and it's in a bay near Plymouth. Sailing was something that we just did.”

The skilled sailor supplemented the knowledge of Captain Valinoti and often played the tactical role, denoting markers and preparing to tack. Her work as the manufacturing director for the Hartford Courant was evident as she directed the crew members and the “rail meat,” people who move around the boat to serve as counterweights.

“It's just a great place to sail,” Pape said of the area. “I mean, it is the self-proclaimed sailing capital of North Carolina.” 

After settling into a groove during the hour-and-a-half race, the crew members continued their chit chat and Valinoti asked if anyone wanted a beer. 

At one point, Jean Klark, 73, leaned over and told me not to wear any hats that I was too attached to, warning that he had lost a few over the years.

Klark, whose sunglasses hide piercing blue eyes, lived in Ohio for over 40 years. He and his wife attended their first sailing class in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2001. But Klark didn’t really begin to sail until 2015.  

He found Ohio to be less than ideal for sailing. After his wife retired in 2019 and Klark’s already remote job environment, they moved to Oriental in 2022.

“Look at it. There's nothing more peaceful than being on the water; there really isn't,” Klark said while staring out into the blue. 

“When I'm working on a project for work or something, and I just can't figure something out, I go sit on the dock, and it comes to you,” Klark said. “My wife will say, ‘I know where you were.’”

Klark’s quick wit and youthful attitude brought smiles to his crewmates’ faces, but he remained equally at the ready, shifting sides with each tack or helping to operate the sheets, which are the ropes controlling the sails. 

“You can learn a lot more doing this than reading books or on YouTube,” Klark said. “I mean, you can learn on both of those, but it's not like being on the boat and having to do it.” 

Soon enough the crew approached the finish. Though Il Gatto had been passing other boats, the race became tighter as we got closer to Oriental’s shores. In the final seconds, Il Gatto was beaten by another boat, but that didn’t matter, partially because of the handicap, but mainly because competition wasn’t the first thing on this crew’s mind.

“Tempers never flare here,” Klark said. “Every once in a while, somebody will say, why did you do that? But… it's a learning thing, and it's a fun thing. Once it's not fun, you don't do it.” 

To learn more about the Wednesday Night Sails, contact Valinoti at [email protected] or check Down in the County’s monthly events page.