{"id":193,"date":"2022-05-13T15:13:23","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T15:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southwest.jboats.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2022-05-28T18:29:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T18:29:06","slug":"annapolis-sailing-world-regatta-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jboatssouthwest.com\/annapolis-sailing-world-regatta-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Annapolis Sailing World Regatta Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
(Annapolis, MD)- Maryland\u2019s colonial state capital city is surrounded by vast waterways that stretch deep from the interior into the greater Chesapeake Bay, which is why Annapolis is hailed as a sailor\u2019s playground and residents call it \u201cThe Sailing Capital\u201d of the United States. This will be especially true when the national Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series hosts nearly 200 racing sailboats and crews over the coming weekend of May 13-15.<\/p>\n As the Chesapeake\u2019s popular early-season regatta and an important East Coast destination for keen traveling sailors, the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Annapolis stop draws locals as well as competitors from 18 different states and Canada who come annually for the high level of competition. Teams of professional and amateur sailors will race in a variety of keelboat classes, ranging from 18 to 40 feet, on four individual race areas established on the waters south of the iconic Bay Bridge. This area of the Chesapeake is known for reliable spring winds but also its notorious and tricky currents that provide an unpredictable element to every race. <\/p>\n While many teams will splash their boats early to train and prepare for the expected racecourse conditions, the bulk of the racers will launch Friday morning (May 13) from Annapolis\u2019 three active sailing clubs. The regatta\u2019s host, Annapolis Yacht Club, along with Severn Sailing Association and Eastport Yacht Club will provide professional race management.<\/p>\n The regatta\u2019s bigger boats will race on a course set furthest south near Thomas Point Lighthouse while the smaller boats will be spread across three race areas due east of the entrance to the Severn River. On Saturday, organizers will also host the North Sails Rally Race, a one-day distance race in which competitors will sail a long course using navigation buoys located throughout the bay and finishing off the U.S. Naval Academy. Among the Rally Race fleet will be two-person teams as well as bigger boats scored using a time-correction handicapping system.<\/p>\n The bulk of the regatta\u2019s entrants, however, are \u201cone-design\u201d classes; classified as different boat types that are essentially identical in construction. The most popular among the one-design classes today is the 23-foot J\/70<\/a> , which is typically raced with a crew of four or five, coed teams consisting of professional and amateurs together. The J\/70<\/a> is easily trailered so the class maintains a busy winter racing schedule, and for many teams, the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Annapolis is the culmination of a season\u2019s worth of races before teams continue their migrations back to the Midwest and New England<\/a> for summer racing.<\/p>\n To say the regatta has become a de-facto “J\/World Regatta” would be a bit of an understatement. There is a J\/Navy headed to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the host clubs are better prepared than ever to entertain the throngs of enthusiastic sailors over the three-day weekend. <\/p>\n Of the 175 boats registered, 120 are J\/Boats of various stripes… a whopping 69% of the fleet! A new record for participation that will go down in the history books. 23 J\/22s. 30 J\/70s. 5 J\/24s. 21 J\/80s. 9 J\/30s. 4 J\/35s. 23 J\/105s. And, J\/88<\/a> and J\/100<\/a> sailing handicap. <\/p>\n Starting with the biggest class, it’s a testimony to J\/70<\/a> class strength and popularity that over two-thirds of the teams did NOT sail in Charleston Race Week a few weeks earlier. In other words, 20 teams are local to the Chesapeake Bay and the other 10 are traveling teams from afar. There are a few notable teams that should figure at the top of the leaderboard, including Brian Keane’s SAVASANA, Mark Hillman’s SIX, Dan Goldberg’s BAZINGA, and John Heaton’s EMPEIRIA, Cate Muller-Terhune’s RULE 34, Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE, and Jenn Norwood’s TRIXIE. <\/p>\n The twenty-three-boat J\/22<\/a> class will feature many of the top teams from across the northeast. Some of those teams include top woman helm Sandy Adzick’s HOT TICKET, Jeff Todd’s HOT TODDY, Kevin Doyle’s MO’MONEY, Chris Doyle’s THE JUG 4 1, Brad Julian’s YARD SAIL, and Jake Doyle’s ZESTY ENTERPRISE. <\/p>\n Twenty-three J\/105s will be on the starting line… wow, over a tenth of a mile of boats… watch out! The J\/105s also features many of the perennial hot Chesapeake Bay teams, like Andrew Kennedy’s BAT IV, Ben duPont’s CTRL ALT DEL, Ray Wulff’s PATRIOT, Hugh Bethell’s JESTER, Cedric Lewis & Fredrik Salvesen’s MIRAGE, Donald Santa’s SANTA’s REIGN DEAR, and Carl Gitchell’s TENACIOUS. <\/p>\n Ray Wulff, a top-shelf local who only recently made the J\/105<\/a> switch from the J\/70<\/a> class, has been fast out of the gate in some early season local skirmishes. He says he has sailed plenty of \u201cother peoples\u201d J\/105s over the past 20 years, but now he\u2019s the one with the tiller in his hand. His boat didn\u2019t need much work after sitting on the hard in a yard in Annapolis for a few years. He stripped out its wheel steering and swapped it with a tiller, and replaced the halyard clutches, which don\u2019t get a lot of use these days anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still learning the fast setup,\u201d Wulff says, \u201cbut we do a bit of in-hauling on the jib, using the weather sheet. We\u2019ll keep that on the weather winch and always play it. We also keep the halyards on the cabin top winches because we are always playing halyard tension. The cunningham? Skip it; sometimes we\u2019ll luff the main for a second and grind the halyard up, so the sail looks like the sailmaker intended it to be. A lot of people rely on the clutches and the boat isn\u2019t as efficient as it could be.\u201d<\/p>\n The critical point, he adds is, \u201cthe boat doesn\u2019t have that many adjustments, which makes the adjustments that you do have all the more important.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of big-fleet and small-course management, Wulff\u2019s advice is to do whatever it takes to get clear air\u2014but don\u2019t look for it in the middle of the racecourse. \u201cWith the J\/105s giant keel profile and big rudder, these boats throw a lot of bad air and bad water, so we just try to stay away from other boats and keep our maneuvers to a minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n The fleet of twenty-one J\/80s will be warming up and doing some serious training as part of their preparations for the 2022 J\/80 World Championship in Newport, RI. Top teams should include Bert Carp’s ELEVEN, Tom & Jennifer Kopp’s KOPP-OUT (aka the LASSO WAY), Mike Hobson’s MELTEMI, Will & Marie Crump & Thomas Klok’s R80, JR Maxwell’s SCAMP, Shannon Lockwood’s SHENANIGANS, Ramzi Bannura’s STACKED DECK, and David Andril’s VAYU. <\/p>\n The collection of J\/24s will almost always have fun sailing the regatta as they have a cool, challenging racecourse area underneath the old submarine comms towers on the north side of the river. The weekend may turn out to be a battle between Sam McGuire’s BLOW’VIATE, Pat Fitzgerald’s RUSH HOUR, and Pete Kassal’s SPACEMAN SPIFF. <\/p>\n While the quartet of J\/35s may be a small fleet, the teams that are sailing are all capable of winning… a frightening prospect for all. Notable teams include past winners like Jim Sagerholm’s AUNT JEAN, Dan Grimm’s INCORRIGIBLE, Bruce Artman’s T-BONE, and Roger Lant’s ABIENTOT. <\/p>\n Enjoying some fun & games on Saturday for the North Sails Rally will be John Bell’s J\/88<\/a> HIWASSE in the ORC Division and Ben Jatlow’s J\/100<\/a> WILD THING in the ORC Doublehanded division. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd\/ Outside Images<\/a>. For more Annapolis Sailing World Regatta sailing information<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Annapolis, MD)- Maryland\u2019s colonial state capital city is surrounded by vast waterways that stretch deep…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,24,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-j-70","category-j-80","category-jboats_news_reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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Competing for their East Coast Championship is a fleet of nine beautifully maintained J\/30s from the Bay area. Will past champions keep their edge? Or, will a new team step forward and assume the top step on the podium? Familiar teams vying for that honor will be Dan Watson’s AVITA, James McGinnis’ BLITZ, Pam Morris’ BUMP, Bruce Irvin’s SHAMROCK, and Rob & Beth Lundahl’s RAG DOLL.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n