While the rest of America was fretting about tax filing deadlines, Charleston Harbor gave sailors a tax day gift - nearly perfect weather for sailboat racing on Friday. "I don't think I've ever had a day with such perfect sailing weather," said a competitor on the offshore PHRF course. "We had tight racing with 15-18 knots out of the East - perfect wind, perfect waves, and warm sunshine all day."
Racing offshore on the north/south courses were the big boats. Kemah, TX J/122 owner Doug Shaffer leads the class with just four points in three races aboard GAMBLER, getting a 1-1-2 score. In second was yet another J/122, Robin Team's TEAMWORK from Lexington, NC with a 4-2-1 record, getting stronger every race as their team dials it in to be a class leader.
The talk of the dock after the spectacular day's racing was whether or not the dire predictions for Saturday's sailing would come true- a weather forecast that included no less than trailer-destroying tornados, frightening line squalls, severe ginormous thunderstorms, massive car-destroying hail stones, monster micro-burst puffs and gale-force wind conditions. If Friday's conditions provided a chance for racers to knock the rust off, Saturday would undoubtedly separate the top teams from those who could use a bit more practice-- or the crazed from the simply normal. As Saturday dawned, it was clear the prognosticators were correct, the forecast was more accurate than most had hoped; in fact, the storm front killed nearly 50 people in tornados less than 100 miles away. As a result, Regatta Chairman Randy Draftz was put in the unenviable position of having to cancel racing for the first time ever in the race week's history. Nevertheless, many were sanguine about the dilemma and felt it was a good call.
Multiple J/24 World Champion Anthony Kotoun of Newport, RI was one of them, and the Virgin Islands native who has sailed the past four Charleston Race Weeks, shared his thoughts on Charleston Race Week: "I just love this regatta," he said. When pressed on why, he mentioned the parallels with Caribbean regattas. "I just came back from sailing in St. Thomas at the Rolex Regatta, the BVI at the Spring Regatta and St. Maarten for the Heineken event, and Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week is the only event in the country that's got a flavor like those." Kotoun cited "great breezes, beautiful surroundings, and the regatta village here on the beach that's really something you don't see anywhere but the Caribbean."
An earlier start time for Sunday saw frantic preparations as all boats were seen pulling piles of extra sails and gear off their boats to lighten their loads for the expected forecast of a dying 5-10 kt wind. The offshore courses saw sufficient sailing breeze through most of the day, with the first race run under very light northerly conditions and the final race in a moderate Charleston sea breeze of 10 knots.
In PHRF B, Doug Shaffer's J/122 GAMBLER simply sailed away, leaving the fleet in their rear-view mirror, winning the last two races to win by 9 pts over the J/111 VELOCITY. After their Friday "practice race" day, the gang on the J/111 VELOCITY got their act together, retuned the rig, trimmed the sails faster, avoided some big holes and even led the entire fleet around one leeward gate to secure 2nd overall with a solid 2-2 showing on the last day for a total of 15 pts. Third was Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK, sailing an uncharacteristic 7-3 to finish 3rd with 17 pts.Thanks to Mike Lovett's contributions from his Sailing World Forum report (http://www.sailingworld.com).
Sailing Photo Credits:
Meredith Block- www.blocksail.com
Priscilla Parker- www.priscillaparker.com
VIdeo coverage:
- OTWA Sailing Coverage- Day One
- T2P.TV- Day One Summary
For more Charleston Race Week sailing information
