Woodwind is First Schooner to Finish in the Twelfth Annual

The 22nd Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race...

October 13, 2011

30 Schooners Started the Race, 15 Finished.
Almost 26 hours for the race !

How the race works: The schooners are split into classes using a complicated formula, but to keep it simple, let's just call it speed & length. Class AA (the big traditional schooners) and Class A (our class, which are smaller, lighter, and not as traditionally rigged) start at the same time on the starting line. The finish line is 127 nautical miles down the bay at Thimble Shoal Light's latitude line to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The Class B & C schooners finish at Windmill Point Light's latitude line, 80 nautical miles. If they want to race for the perpetual trophy and bragging rights, they can sail to the bigger boats' finish line at Thimble Shoal.

Our competition: We normally race against the same schooners every year. Heron, Prom Queen, Adventurer 56 and Mistress are all very capable of winning the race depending on the conditions on race day. The 74-foot, gorgeous schooner Brilliant (1926 Sparkman and Stevens) was back this year competing for the third time. We raced against her in 1993 and she beat us by more than an hour, but in 1994, we beat her by a half an hour. Scarano Boat Builders' replica of the Schooner America was a new entry this year. She was designed and built to be light and fast just like Woodwind, but she has a 20-foot longer waterline which would make her tough to beat.

The handicapping system for schooners: The reason the boats are "handicapped" is so that every boat has a FAIR chance of competing in the race, based on length, weight and sail plan and past experiences racing in various conditions. This formula is computed to "adjust" the seconds per mile each boat has for the length of the race. In our class, we "owe" every boat varying amounts of seconds or minutes or hours over the course length. This is because we are computed to be faster than each boat on an individual basis.

The race: The prediction for wind this year was 5-10 knots from the southwest, building to 15 knots by late Friday. We all were led to believe that this would be one of the longest races in the history of this schooner race. At the start, we had drizzly conditions with winds of 10 knots.

As always, we wanted to have full control as we jockeyed for position at the start. Our main concern is to have a clean start at the front of the pack with clear air. As we were setting up for a terrific start, America 2.0 sailed near us and was clearly going to push us off the starting line to keep a clear air start. Captain Jen made a wise decision to back out of the confrontation and fall off to her stern. Watching all the boats in our class stack up to leeward between us and the pin boat (Norfolk Rebel), we had to get a little clear air to be able to go forward. Just at the right time, the wind gave us the boost we needed so we pulled out in front of the oncoming Adventurer 56 and Mistress. The wind was coming from the east to south east so we wanted to stay in the shallows in order to get out of the current against us. America 2.0 took off like a shot in front of us, but we were ahead of the pack of boats behind us.

The wind varied in strength and direction, but mainly came from the direction we wanted to go, causing us to tack the whole way down the Bay. Around 4:00, the rain and cloudy skies departed and the sun came out giving everything that golden glow. We were in second place as nightfall hit. Our boat speed went from 8 to 5 knots as the night went on. Whenever we got close to land, the breeze seemed to decrease.

In racing, you need to push your boat constantly. We continued to check the tell tales and the pennant's direction to make sure we were heading as close hauled as possible. There were no other schooners within 3 miles of us, so we stayed with our strategy. When the clouds parted and the moon came out, it was so bright that you could see your sail trim pretty well. There were thunderstorms over land that we could see in the distance all night. Luckily they never came our way.

It was unusual to see the sun rise while still more than 50 miles from the finish line. We had not had that happen in at least the past five years. The wind started to build as the sun rose and we found ourselves in the middle of the Bay. We had the current against us and we were heading into the building seas. By the time lunchtime hit, we were 20 miles or so from the finish line and we were now close reaching at speeds near 10 knots! It was warm and sunny, and the winds increased past 30 knots causing us to take down the fisherman for the fourth time. We finally finished at 3 pm and did not see any other boats. A wonderful, large welcoming committee was there to greet us in Portsmouth, Virginia at sunset! America 2.0 was sitting at the dock, and Prom Queen was close behind us in docking order.

Once we had docked and eaten dinner... showers and sleep were first on the list. The race took us 25 1/2 hours this year. This is about 10 hours longer than it has taken us in the past five or six years!

The results: America 2.0 finished just under 2 hours ahead of us, but corrected to only six minutes ahead with their handicap. They finished first overall and first in their class, which was the AA class, and we finished first in our class (A) by 36 minutes corrected time (and over 2 hours in real time) over Prom Queen. Heron finished in third place. (Full results, Click here)

The activities in Portsmouth were as wonderful as always and the volunteers were great and supportive, too. The oysters and clams were outstanding! The Rum Party was once again sponsored this year by Pusser's Rum aboard the Woodwind. (See more pictures, click here!)

We want to thank our fabulous crew made up of Ken Kaye, Jen Kaye, Rai Muhlbauer (navigator), Mike Oh, Rena Kazmierski, Sarah Buhlman, and Aubrei Barton and guest crew Mark Talbott with guests Hope Andruss, JoAnn Lovell, Cynthia Hooper and Chris Wood. You are all terrific!

Call to reserve a spot for next year, 410-263-1981 starting Jan. 2, 2012.
October 10-14, 2012

Previous Schooner Races
Official Schooner Race Site