Light, Challenging Annapolis Sailing World Regatta
(Annapolis, MD)- While Mother Nature may not have cooperated for this past weekend’s Annapolis Sailing World Regatta, there is no question the 175 boats participating had a good time both on and off the water, such as the nature of sailors to “make lemonade from lemons” no matter what the scenarios. It was a record-setting weekend in one respect, 120 J/Teams of various stripes participated, a whopping 69% of the fleet! The J/22s, J/24s, and other classes racing closer to the entrance to the Severn River enjoyed more localized wind throughout the weekend while the classes racing further out in the Chesapeake Bay were less fortunate. On the circle with J/35s, J/105s, and J/80s— the latter being the two of the regatta’s larger classes— only two races were completed over three days, putting a premium on top finishes. Here is how it all went down in the various divisions for one-design classes of J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/30s, J/35s, and J/105s.
Jeff Todd and his teammates on the J/22 HOT TODDY finished second in their class at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Annapolis more times than they can, or care, to remember. But, this weekend they finally broke the curse with a win in their 22-boat fleet. After sailing five races in extremely challenging conditions: light winds, strong currents and a talent-packed fleet of competitors, Todd, and his crew prevailed with a consistent string of top-five finishes.
“We are experienced Chesapeake Bay sailors, so we’re used to dealing with the conditions we had this weekend,” Todd said. “These are our normal sailing conditions, which may be frustrating for others, but we’re used to it.”
Todd contributed his team’s success over the three-day regatta to good starts and boat speed, but mainly to his team keeping their cool when things went wonky. “We were always in the hunt at the first weather mark and a couple of times we passed people on the run,” he says. “In the short, half-mile legs we had, we had to get a good start and stay ahead. We set the rig loose, the headstay loose, and just tried to keep the boat moving and find the breeze. The boat needs power.”
Rounding out the top three behind HOT TODDY was Brad Julian’s YARD SAIL in second and Dodge Rees’ UNCLE FLUFFY in third. The balance of the top five included Chase Quinn’s OSPREY in fourth and Sandy Adzick’s HOT TICKET in fifth place (also 1st in Mixed-Plus Division J/22 ).
On the same course was the J/24 Class. Winning was Pat Fitzgerald’s RUSH HOUR, followed by Pete Kassal’s SPACEMAN SPIFF in second, and Sam McGuire’s BLOW’VIATE in third place.
J/80 division winners Will and Marie Crump and Thomas Klok’s R80 won the only race on Saturday and finished fourth in Sunday’s only race—and just barely—to win the division.
“The last race was really crazy,” Will Crump says. “We actually won the pin end, and in this kind of race, what you’d normally expect would be to win the pin, go into the positive current, extend, tack, and then cross the fleet.”
But that’s not how it played out.
“We got out there and realized there was more wind in the middle of the course,” Crump says. “So we got antsy and tacked back into the middle of the course.”
They rounded the first mark eighth in a cluster of J/105s and J/80s and battled their way toward the front of the fleet.
“It was hard to get clear air on the way down the run, but we found the best breeze we could. We may have lost a couple of boats early but then gained a few back.”
On the next leg, they decided to “do something totally different” and sailed toward the western shoreline in search of more breeze. “That didn’t work out either,” Crump says, and it wasn’t until they started the final downwind leg (still in ninth) when they lucked into a localized streak of wind. “We picked up four or five boats to cross the line in fourth place,” Crump says. “It was just enough.”
Behind R80, it was Tom & Jennifer Kopp’s KOPP-OUT that took the silver, with Derick Lynch’s OUTLAWS rounding out the podium. The rest of the top five included Kevin Hayes & Jeff Kirchoff’s MORE GOSTOSA in fourth and JR Maxwell’s SCAMP in fifth place.
On the very same racecourse, Cedric Lewis and Fredrik Salvesen’s J/105 Mirage was having its own battle. Having won the previous day’s race they were in command, but then found themselves going head-to-head with Ray Wulff’s team on Patriot when the race committee set the fleet off into the unpredictable and light wind.
“We got a clean start—not the perfect one—and after a long and crazy race, we finished a foot behind Patriot,” Lewis says.
That set up Mirage with a 1-point lead going into what was expected to be the regatta’s final race, which Patriot was winning by a large margin before the race committee canceled it on account of too little wind.
“We’ve won this regatta so many times and never won the overall,” said Mirage’s navigator Molly Wilmer. “Honestly, we always thought it was rigged against us, so this is amazing and we will definitely be there. We’re going for sure, and we’re going to win it.”
Just finishing out of the chocolates one point back was Ray Wulff’s PATRIOT in second, with Andrew Moor’s Canadian team on THUNDERSTRUCK on the third step of the podium The rest of the top five included Angelo Guarino’s CRESCENDO in fourth and David & Beth Scheidt’s SMOKE’N’OAKUM in the fifth position.
The trickiest of all the race circles was that set in the middle of the Chesapeake’s strongest current and packed with J/70s and J/30s.
In the J/70s, Ian Hill’s SITELLA was leading the regatta before the final day’s only race. John Heaton’s EMPEIRIA got the better of the start and went on to win the race while SITELLA battled to recover from mid-fleet.
“We got fouled in the start and that put us on the back foot a bit,” said Terry Hutchinson, SITELLA’s tactician. “But we had a good first beat, got around the top mark in 18th, and clawed our way back to 11th from there.”
Patience, he says, was the key to SITELLA saving enough points to win by 2, and Hutchinson credited crewmates Dan Morris and Dave Hughes— a two-time Olympic sailor— for ways to get back into the race. “Dave was a huge help,” Hutchinson said. “This is the first time we’ve sailed together, and I can see why he has sailed for our country twice at the Olympics. He’s really good.”
It was tight for the top five slots. Second to SITELLA two points back was John Heaton’s EMPEIRIA, third went to Dick Kalow’s SUPERIOR I taking a tie-breaker at 19 pts each over David Schoene’s UNOS (also winning Corinthians), and fifth went to Jim Golden’s DERECH) (second in Corinthians). Coincidentally, finishing 6th and 3rd Corinthians was Peter Firey’s PHOENIX.
Winning the J/35s was Jim Sagerholm’s AUNT JEAN, a repeat winner for the past few decades. Second was Roger Lant’s ABIENTOT and third was Bruce Artman’s T-BONE.
Winning the J/30s on a tie-breaker was Bruce Irvin’s SHAMROCK, with Pam Morris’ BUMP losing that countback to take the silver. Third was Ron Anderson’s INSATIABLE.
Making the podium in the ORC Division was John Bell’s J/88 HIWASEE in third and in ORC Doublehanded was Ben Jatlow’s J/100 WILD THING in second place.
With the regatta’s awards presented at host Annapolis Yacht Club after racing on Sunday afternoon, Commodore Ed Hartman drew the regatta’s overall winner from amongst individual class winners, and it was Team Mirage that finally earned a coveted berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship in October. For more Annapolis Sailing World Regatta sailing information