No it's not a Golf Tournament! It's a 55-mile sailboat race, you would have thought Huck Finn thought up. The course takes you down a meandering stretch of the Potomac (from Quantico to Colonial Beach and back). The start/finish is off Quantico Marinas flag pole and a government mark.
The middle leg of the race creates a dilemma. The sailors have to choose the safest route, or the shortest distance - but needing to navigate through a section of shoals and wrecks. Some of the shoals with only two feet of water over them are marked only by up-churning water.
This years race took 11 hours for the first spinnaker boat with the non spinnaker boats coming in just about the same time but sailing a shortened coarse.
Quantico Yacht Club and the Daingerfield Island Sailing Club put on the race. They have very laid back clubs and cap-off the summer sailing season each year by hosting this long and challenging race on the Potomac.
The northern Potomac River sailors have to put up with a variety of novel issues as compared to those on the Chesapeake Bay: narrow channels, unmarked shoals and significant tidal current.
