Chesapeake Racing Beat: Annapolis Race Week, Constellation Cup, Harbor Cup, Star Celebration, J/30 North American Champion- ships, and More Fall Racing

Chesapeake Racing Beat

Annapolis Race Week 2011

Solid Breeze, Keen Competition

Three days of wind on Labor Day Weekend, two years in a row. This in itself stands out as exceptional for veteran Chesapeake Bay sailors, and this is the luck that has befallen the Chesapeake Bay YRA (CBYRA) during its signature annual regatta, Annapolis Race Week (ARW). The 2011 event, contested off Annapolis September 3-5, was memorable for good sailing conditions as well as well-run races and lively parties at race central, the Susan C. Campbell Park at City Dock. Following a three-day, eightrace regatta, at the final awards party when the skies opened up for downpours heavy enough to make even the heartiest sailor say, “Wow,” there remained a festive, summer vibe in the gear-clad crowd.

Marty Roesch, owner of the J/111 Velocity that topped the six-boat PHRF A1 division, with Ken Comerford at the helm, had an excellent experience at ARW. His crew traded places at the top of the fleet with Bob Moran’s J/111 Ragin’ over the course of the weekend and proved victorious by a seven-point margin in the end; although both boats posted four bullets each.

Roesch, who is in his first full season of racing, comments on what how his crew contributed to their success: “We really got into a good rhythm on the boat and applied lessons that we’ve learned over the season successfully to get the most performance from her. The J/111 is a new design. We’re still finding the sweet spots where she performs best. I think we reached a new level at ARW!”

A sponsor of the event, North Point Yacht Sales, docked the J/111 Ragin’ at City Dock to showcase the high-tech boat to the public. Moran tells ARW Daily News reporter Bill Wagner, “I can’t tell you how many people stopped by to ask about the boat or to ask about racing.”

Craig and Dotty Saunders, who captured first place in the 21-boat PHRF A2 fleet on Monkey Dust, also worked hard for their victory, with the second-place scoring team, John Eyring’s Hero Squad, having won three races and taken second in three.

On the topic of “miraculous recoveries,” Craig says, “Going into the last race with a 12-point lead, we were being so overly cautious at the start that we wound up crossing the line 30 seconds late and in last place. With 21 boats entered, we could have easily lost our lead and the regatta. Fortunately, it was a six-leg course and with the crew staying calm, we were able to claw our way up to sixth place for that last race and maintain our lead po-

# Peter Scheidt’s Maggie crew took top honors in the J/35 Fleet. Photo by Dan Phelps

sition.” Saunders chalks the overall win up to consistent crew and crew work, as well as having Annapolis pro Mike Hobson onboard calling tactics.

Clawing the way to the top was an idea echoed by Scott Gitchell, who with brother Carl at the helm of their J/105 Tenacious, proved once again that their crew attitude matches their boat name and won top honors in the 15-boat fleet. Gitchell explains, “I called a horrible start on the last race and crossed the line in last place, having to sail below part of the fleet on port tack, at the committee boat. We rounded the first mark in 12th place and ended up in fourth. We just kept concentrating on picking off a couple of boats each leg and keeping our lanes as clear as possible.”

# Tom Walsh and John Potvin continue their winning streak on the Catalina 27 Slam Duck.

Photo by Dan Phelps

CBYRA Annapolis Race Week 2011 Results

Farr 40 (4 boats)

1

Nightshift 2 Endorphin 3 Tsunami Kevin S. McNeil 2-1-1 -1-4-1-2-1: 13

Erik Wulff

1-2-4-4-3-2-1-4: 21 Ostberg/Olds/Dailey 3-3-3-2-2-3-3-3: 22 J/35 (9 boats) 1 Maggie Peter Scheidt 2-1-2-1-4-1-1-1: 13 2 Medicine Man Charles Kohlerman 3-2-1-3-2-6-3-10/DNS: 30 3 Bzing Ken Karsten 7 -4 -3 -4 -5 -5 -2 -2 : 32 PHRF A0 (2 boats)

1 Anema & Core Ennio Staffini 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 : 8

2 Stray Dog Charles Engh 2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -3/DNC -3/ DNC -3/DNC: 19

1 2

Velocity Ragin’ 3 Mummbles PHRF A1 (6 boats) Martin Roesch Bob Moran Brad Kauffman

2 -1 -2 -1-1-1-2-2: 12 1-7/RAF-1-2-4-2-1-1: 19 3-2-3-3-3-3-3-3: 23

PHRF A2 (21 boats) 1 Monkey Dust Craig & Dotty Saunders 1-3-1-3-6-5-1-6: 26 2 Hero Squad John Eyring 11-1-2-2-1-15-2-1: 35 3 Gallant James Chesson 14-2-4-6-3-2-18/40%-3: 52

1 Tenacious

J/105 (15 boats) Carl & Scott Gitchell 4-1-1-2-2-1-1-5: 17

2 3 Inigo Bat IV Jim Konigsberg Andrew Kennedy J/30 (11 boats) 9-2-2-1-1-2-2-1: 20 3-4-3-5-5-3-7-2: 32

1 2 Bebop Bob Rutsch/Mike Costello 2-1-1-1-1-2-2-3: 13 USA-90 David McConaughy 4-4-2-3-2-1-1-1: 18

3 Insatiable Ron Anderson 1-2-8-2-4-5-4-2: 28

J/80 (14 boats) 1 Angry Chameleon Kristen & Brian Robinson 2-1-1-2-3-3-2-3: 17 2 1162 John White 1-6-2-3-2-12-1-2: 29 3 Dragonfly Chris Johnson 11-4-5-1-1-8-4-1: 35 Cal 25 (9 boats)

1 2 Upchuck Krigare Jimmy & Mike Praley

1-1-1-2-1-3-1-1: 11 Erik & Marty Lostrom 3-2-2-1-3-5-3-2: 21

3 Hasty

Will Farrell Catalina 27 (6 boats) 1 Slam Duck Tom Walsh/John Potvin 2-4-3-4-2-4-2-3: 24

1-1-1-2-1-2-2-1: 11

2 Swell John Anderson 2-4-3-4-2-1-1-4: 21

3 Pussycat Ross Arnett 4-3-5-1-4-5-3-2: 27

CBYRA Annapolis Race Week 2011 Results (cont.)

J/24 (7 boats) 1 Millenium Falcon Paul van Ravenswaay 1-1-2-1-2-2-1-1:11

2 Sane Asylum Brent Ellwood 4-3-1-4-1-4-2-3: 22

3 USA 4006 Peter Rich 2-2-4-2-4-3-4-4: 25

PHRF B (9 boats) 1 Flying Circus Janet & David Coleman 1-1-1-1-1-6-2-3: 16 2 A’ Parent Tripp Brett Harrison/John Yeigh 5-5-2-4-2-1-1-2: 22 3 Miss Trixie Dylan Stewart 4-3-8-2-4-2-3-1: 27 PHRF CD (3 boats)

1 Defiant Frederick Caison 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1: 8

2 Double Agent 3 Incorrigible Rick McGregor

3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2: 17 Robert Seidel 2-4/DNS-4/DNS-3-3-3-4/ DNC-4/DNC: 27

1 Divide by Zero 2 Nembo 3 Parrot Head

PHRF N (8 boats) John Lanigan Marino Dimarzo Aaron Ressler 4-1-1: 6 1-3-2: 6 2-2-3: 7

Although he usually trims the mainsail on Tenacious, the crew was short-handed, so Scott would set the main after a tack, hop up on the rail to hike, and let Carl fine-tune as he steered. “I believe that this really kept us pointing high and gave us that little extra speed.” Scott also attributes good boat speed and pointing ability to their brand new North Sails mainsail.

Regular competitors and followers of ARW from year to year may glimpse the final results and say, “They won again?” Tom Walsh and John Potvin on the Catalina 27 Slam Duck, brothers-inlaw Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello on the J/30 Bebop, David Coleman on the Pearson Flyer 30 Flying Circus, and Fred Caisson on the S2 7.9 Defiant are among the winners in class in 2010 and 2011. (As noted in the ARW Daily News, Walsh also won 10 years ago—and a few times in between.)

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# Erik Wullf’s Farr 40 Endorphin team placed second at Annapolis Race Week. Photo by Dan Phelps

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Park at City Dock is a proven winner— especially with increased participation by the public, perhaps due to good media coverage, the rising success of Annapolis’s Summer at City Dock program, and more visible “Open to the Public” signage.

Gitchell says, “It was excellent having it downtown and open to the public. It was nice to see people who don’t race out there enjoying it. I thought it was better attended by non-sailors than last year, which is always a bonus for the sport.”

Kristen Berry, crew on Ragin’ and also the director of Baltimore’s Downtown Sailing Center, thinks inviting the public to the ARW parties at City Dock is “the coolest thing going. We were coming into the dock, and I looked onshore, and I saw hundreds of non-sailors at the party. That means hundreds of people are getting introduced to sailboat racing and learning what it’s about. Hopefully, some of these folks will want to get out on the water themselves someday.”

For complete results, visit cbyra.org/arw.

# The Gitchell brothers on the winning J/105

Tenacious. Photo by Dan Phelps

The North Winds of the J/30 North Americans

Asurprisingly autumnal northerly breeze blew into town to welcome the J/30 North American Championship Regatta, hosted at Annapolis YC (AYC), September 16-18. The breeze brought along with it an unusual milky mud water color and potentially dangerous assortment of debris—trees, telephone poles, barrels, and more—following tropical storms, flooding, and the subsequent opening of the Conowingo Dam gates. One of the teenagers from Wisconsin who sailed with Team Rafiki said, “It’s not like this sailing at home.” From those of us who live on the Chesapeake, we can honestly say, the water is not like that here, either. Or it wasn’t until the floods.

Competitors traveled from as far as New York, Chicago, IL, and New Orleans, LA, with the winning boat, White Boat skippered by David McConaughy, making the trip from Hampton, VA. Sailors worked their way around the debris issue and focused on the serious task at hand: winning the title.

Team Rafiki, skippered by 18-year-old Wisconsin native Whitney Kent and crewed by her sister Alison and two sailing buddies Kate and Elizabeth Hayes—ranging in age from 14 to 17—as well as J/30 class president Dave Erwin (Destrehan, LA), were the buzz of the regatta after winning race one of seven. The crew sailed on Bear Away, generously lent and happily crewed by Annapolitan Bonnie Schloss, with Louisianan Scott Tonguis and Chicagoan Dennis Bartley rounding out the team. Although Team Rafiki had two races they didn’t want to talk about, they did score a second and third and finished overall in fifth; this was the goal when they hatched the plan to give the sailing-crazy Wisconsin teenagers a chance to compete at the national level.

McConaughy and his Hampton-based crew posted three bullets and beat former National Champion Stephen Buzbee of Raritan YC in New Jersey by four points. Following their victory at Annapolis Race Week, Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello and their Annapolis-based team were next in line in third place.

AYC hosted a lovely team dinner with paella on Saturday night and hosted a Sunday night dinner and awards ceremony early enough for competitors to fly or truck their boats home. Find complete results at race.annapolisyc.com. Find regatta photos for purchase at spinsheet.com.

# Photos by Dan Phelps # Defending J/30 National Championship winner Stephen

Buzbee placed second on Blue Meanie.

# Bonnie Schloss lent the Wisconsin-based Team Rafiki her boat,

Bear Away, and she also crewed for the team. # Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello on Bebop scored third in the three-day event.

Bring On the Harbor Cup!

by James R. Gray

# Triple Threat poses a threat to the multihull division at the Harbor Cup. Photo by Emily Jones

# The Crackerjack crew competing in a sunny

Baltimore City YA Harbor Cup. This year’s event unfolds October 22. Photo by Emily Jones

# Photo by Boat Pix

That cool fall air and the changing color of the leaves mean it is once again time for Chesapeake Bay racers to rendezvous at Baltimore Lighthouse for another edition of the Baltimore Harbor Cup, presented by the Baltimore City YA (BCYA). Although BCYA will not partner with the Leukemia Cup in 2011, the regatta will go on. The Harbor Cup has always been a “must do” race on the calendars of Northern Bay racing sailors, with typical fall weather conditions providing for exciting and challenging racing.

This year, on Saturday, October 22, approximately 75 boats hope to have great fall weather, with blustery winds, as they set out to conquer the course of this CBYRA High Point distance race. And to do that, they will need to master all points of sail, as the course takes them from Baltimore Light, around CBYRA marks in the Bay, up the Patapsco River, past Fort Carroll, under the Key Bridge, and to the finish in the heart of Fells Point.

Once in Fells Point, a great post race-party awaits with food, drinks, results, and awards. Visiting boats are invited to raft up to the Broadway Pier. The race will once again offer classes for multihull, spinnaker, and non-spinnaker racing.

Will the Wild Card team be able to defend its victory in the always exciting multihull class? And how about the crew on The Fish, who managed to win by only 25 seconds over Valkyri, in some very tight racing in the A fleet last year. The always tough-to-beat Flying Circus won last year. Can they make it two in a row? Will Problem Child, Swell, and Witch’s Flower be able to defend their victories from the 2010 edition of the race? For boats looking to have a full weekend of racing, there is the opportunity to enter the Francis Scott Key Classic, hosted by Rock Creek RA, on the following Sunday.

Find registration, race documents, and social information for the Harbor Cup at bcya.com. Find information on the Francis Scott Key Classic at rockcreekracing.org.

A Windy History Tour of Baltimore The USS Constellation Cup

# The enthusiasm exuded in the photos year after year piqued our interest in learning more about the event. Photo by Bill Kautter It’s less than 30 miles as a seagull flies from the SpinSheet world headquarters in Annapolis to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, but sometimes, the distance seems greater. From the perspective of those of us in the sailing media, sometimes our “world” may consist of those sailing events that unfold right under our noses, in our “backyards,” or those for which some eager promoter or volunteer sends regular updates.

Until quite recently, the USS Constellation Cup in Baltimore remained somewhat of a mystery, with SpinSheet only receiving photos after the fact. What was compelling, however, even before organizers connected with SpinSheet last year, were the quality of the photos over the years and the enthusiasm exuded by the sailors in these photos. This year, I decided to make a concerted effort to learn more about this event—in advance of the October 15 regatta—and get to the bottom of why those sailors beamed year after year in the pictures. The race organizer, Michael Brassert, was pleased to fill me in on why this event is particularly memorable.

“Ever since we started it seven years ago, I’m not sure we’ve had winds under 20 knots, usually blowing out of the west,” he says. “It’s become a seamanship test rather than a traditional race. Two

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things are in play: first, the race takes place in the harbor, and there are always commercial ships. Then, the race finishes in the Inner Harbor, and the end is a tacking duel. Anything can happen when you’re tacking every 30 seconds in squirrely winds… Last year, I got knocked down [on a 1966 Hinckley Pilot] next to Domino Sugar!”

The Constellation Cup started as a classic boat race, modeled on the Good Old Boat Regatta (the previous weekend October 8-9 off Annapolis). To broaden the regatta’s scope to bring in more competitors than the small population of “classic” boats, the event integrated other boat types. There are four classes: a multihull and a spinnaker class, which have fleet starts, and a non-spinnaker fin keel and a non-spinnaker full keel class, which do pursuit starts.

The Baltimore City YA (BCYA) does race committee and scoring for the event, which is contested one week before BCYA’s signature Harbor Cup October 22, mak-

ing for exciting back-to-back Baltimore regattas.

“What’s most memorable is the character of this race,” says Brassert. “You really get a feeling for Baltimore when you’re racing in high winds, tacking up the Patapsco among commercial ships, and then docking at Pier One. It’s like a tour of historic Baltimore—you go past Fort McHenry, around Fort Carroll in either direction, and then finish in the Inner Harbor. We have a party on the USS Constellation. To be on that ship is remarkable for sailors. There will be about 250 sailors at the party, and even the band is made up of crew members. It’s really special.”

Proceeds from this event benefit Historic Ships’ education and preservation programs. To learn more or register, click to ussconstellationcup.org. ~M.W.

# Winds are usually in excess of 20 knots for the

USS Constellation Cup, held this year in Baltimore

October 15. Photo by Bill Kautter