The 18th Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race...

October 11, 2007

The Year of a "Perfect Race Down the Bay"!

We left Annapolis for Baltimore on Wednesday, Oct. 10th, Captain Ken's birthday. We had little wind so we motored our way up to Fells Point. The parade of sail was breezy enough to set sails as 40+ schooners sailed through the inner harbor firing cannons. The party at Fells Point was fun, but it was really warm inside the Latin Palace. In fact, the weather outside was unusually warm for October!

All the schooners left the docks on Thursday for the 1:30pm start just south of the Bay Bridge. We had a breezy WNW wind that was building in strength nicely. As Captain Jen manuevered for the start we decided to hoist our new fisherman sail after the start so we could more easily manuever for best starting position between the two Navy YP boats making up the starting line. We were a matter of a few seconds from the line at the "start" and quickly flew ahead of the rest of Class AA and A schooners.

Just before the starting gun (photo by Caryl Weiss)

Once the fisherman was hoisted and drawing, we began the perfect trip down the Bay. Perfect wind speed, perfect wind direction, perfect crew and perfect passengers. We never tacked, gybed or changed sails as Woodwind surfed down waves in a synergy of sailing forces that sailors can usually only dream about. At one point when the wind seemed to pick up in strength to about 30 knots, Captain Ken considered taking down the fisherman.

Just 5 minutes into the Race! Photo by Mark Talbott	Ahead of the fleet! Photo by Mark Talbott

According to Captain Jen, "We never shortened sail. We had all four sails up the entire way." Jen, who also serves as Woodwind's chef, was cooking dinner on Thursday evening when she heard her father having a discussion about reducing sail. "Let's think about taking down the Fisherman," Ken said. Jen, unaware she was still carrying a galley knife, scrambled on deck to admonish her father for such a thought. "I said something like "Don't even think about taking down that sail" and I had this knife in my hand. I think the passengers must have thought I was crazy," Jen said with a laugh.

Sailing a straight rumb line course, we finished in our record time of 11 hours, 55 minutes, ahead of any previous course record set. We corrected to 1st in our class after crossing the finish line well ahead of the other boats in our class and just behind the Pride of Baltimore II. Since most boats arrived in Portsmouth in the early morning hours of Friday, there seemed to be an additional day of partying and sleeping!

Thanks to a fabulous crew made up of Ken, Jen, Ellen, Dan, Rai Muhlbauer (navigator), Andy Schell, Tiffany Talsma, Scotty Hanley and guest crew Mike and Deb NcNelly and Joe and Joan Warren. What a sweet memory!

Woodwind leads the fleet down the Bay in the first 20 minutes! Photo by Mark Talbott

Pre-start manuevers with Schooner Virginia Photo by Caryl Weiss

Woodwind crew with trophy!

Previous Schooner Races
Official Schooner Race Site