Race to Oxford Moves to Saturday
Hold on to your hats, PHRF sailors: Change is blowing in. If you were one of those sailors who clicked to the CBYRA schedule, back to the Tred Avon YC website, and back thiking, “What the…” you’ll be happy to know your eyesight is working fine.
The Race to Oxford, also known as Summer Oxford, starting in Annapolis will not be held on a Friday as usual but will start Saturday, August 8, with the first warning at 10 a.m. Following a Saturday night awards ceremony at TAYC, buoy racing on Sunday will head you back toward the Bay. To learn about one-design racing on the Tred Avon for the Oxford Regatta, visit tayc.com
Annapolis Fall Regatta Open for Entries
The Storm Trysail Club Chesapeake Station and Eastport YC announced the dates and format for the 2015 Annapolis Fall Regatta Friday through Sunday, October 23-25. Entries are invited from all eligible big-boat one-design classes and entries racing under HPR, IRC, and ORC club handicap systems.
“We have found renewed interest in racing here in Annapolis at this time of year, because the weather conditions are ususally superb,” says Dick Neville, regatta chair. “For the last two years we had this event one week later and had to finish one day early for Hurricane Sandy, and then we had gale-force conditions for two days last year. A week earlier will give us longer days to enjoy good races, more moderate temperatures and weather, and more time for visiting boats to move south for their winter season.”
A popular feature for the Annapolis Fall Regatta has been its innovative format, where the first day typically features a coastal race tour of the mid-Chesapeake, with a mid-race scoring gate so that two races can be scored in one long race. The remaining two days will offer conventional windward-leeward courses, but sometimes with a twist: the Harry Anderson course option adds both broad and tight reaching legs into the course layout, challenging crews with an additional set of boat handling skills not normally found in conventional inshore courses.
Neville says that use of ORC Club ratings will give more options for scoring in the classes not racing in HPR or IRC. “There is a diverse range of boat types in this class, and with the ORC rating options we can more fairly score them in a variety of courses and conditions. This will make for more fair racing, and with the certificates freely available online, we decided to give this a try this year.”
Ken Comerford of North Point Yacht Sales, local dealer for J/Boats, Alerions, and Dufours as well as a brokerage for racing yachts, endorses the event as the “perfect end-of-season finale for our friends and customers. The emphasis is on having fun and fair racing, and we think the format and timing are perfect for the local fleet members who want one last competitive regatta before the weather turns cold.”
Locally based teams agree. “This is one we really look forward to,” says Geoff Ewenson, who with his wife Mary entered the C&C 30 Swedish Fish in last year’s event. “It’s nice to have a strong field of competition come into our town to have great fun and great racing.”
Visit stormtrysail.org for entry information and contact Neville at [email protected]
Annapolis Labor Day Regatta
Mark your calendar for the annual family-friendly, two-day sailing event Saturday, September 5 and Sunday, September 6: the Annapolis Labor Day Regatta. That’s right—expect two days of great racing and fun parties and Monday off to recover and spend time with family.
On Saturday, racers choose between a government-marks distance race or windward-leeward racing, with a post-race party with children’s activities and specialty food at Eastport YC (EYC). All will compete on windward-leeward courses on Sunday with a post-race cookout and overall awards ceremony at the Annapolis YC Annex.
Projected classes at print time were PHRF A0, A1, A2, B, C, and N and one-design classes: Alberg 30, Cal 25, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/30, J/35, and J/105. Sport boat classes are welcome as are any classes with six or more paid entries by the close of registration.
For more information, contact event chairs Marsha Malkin ([email protected]) and Kathy Parks ([email protected]). Online documents and entry will be available on eastportyc.org/on-the-water/racing
Save the Date: August 22
Just a shameless little plug here for our friends at Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB): put the Boatyard Bar & Grill Regatta for CRAB down on your calendar for Saturday, August 22. It’s a family-friendly, pursuit-style race with a fantastic lighthearted party at the end of it. This year, CRAB has added a Crowdrise site to help teams raise money to provide life-changing sailing experiences to disabled people. Visit crabsailing.org to learn more. Team SpinSheet will be on the water and at the parties, so come have some summer fun with us!
