Phrf

With nearly 90 entries signed up for the Severn River Yacht Club's annual Bacardi Cup race last Saturday, the top three finishers had to do it the hard way, by working through the fleet after starting last.That's because the event uses a pursuit start format in which the handicap allowance is taken out first, with the slowest boats starting first, instead of subtracted from the finish time. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins.The course is determined the day before, so its length is known.

The Sailing Club of the Chesapeake's annual Ted Osius Memorial Regatta last weekend brought about 50 smaller PHRF C and cruising one-design boats out for a 7.7-mile windward-leeward race on Saturday, with some 40 or so bigger PHRF A and B contenders completing an identical distance on Sunday.A major wind shift from the morning's westerly to a southerly sea breeze on Saturday caused some problems as some racers got caught on the wrong side of a nearly 90-degree shift, but for Jim Cullen and his crew on his J/30 Jackrabbit, planning for the anticipated swing to the south paid off with a win in that 17-boat class.

The West River Sailing Club conducted its annual big boat regatta last weekend.For the PHRF competitors in last Saturday's race, a meandering 20.7-mile tour of the bay from a start at the mouth of the South River to a finish in the West River provided a nice set of extra bonus points toward High Point scores in the process.The 47-boat fleet, which included five PHRF splits as well as a multihull class and a separate Triton one-design division, was not so lucky on Sunday, when the scheduled around-the-buoys race had to be abandoned in light to nonexistent wind.

Last weekend Eastport Yacht Club and Severn River Yacht Club got together to put on their annual joint Level Regatta.Sweltering heat had the PHRF 60, 96, and combined J/29 and 111 splits, and the J/30s in the SRYC fleet, and the J/22s, '24s, Catalinas, and Tritons in the EYC fleet bobbing around through the early morning hours waiting for the southerly sea breeze to fill in.But when the wind came each day it was pleasant and fairly steady, so that each...

Shearwater Sailing Club's annual Twilight Race last Saturday evening was a lovely one, despite dire weather predictions calling for rain and no wind. The precipitation held off and moderate 12- to 14-knot breezes sent the fleet of 109 starters in 15 classes up and down the bay.The three PHRF A divisions (IMS, PHRF Sport and PHRF B), along with the J/30s, sailed a 20.12-mile course, while the rest of the fleet competed on a 13.47-mile version.First to finish was Paul and Kathy Parks' Mumm 36 Sundog, clearing the line just after 8:30 p.m. But with Ben Michaelson and his crew on his J/44 Quintessence coming in 5 1/2 minutes later, to correct to first in PHRF A-0, the Parks -- who had lingered near the finish to check their status -- found themselves in second by about 30 seconds.

The Miles River Yacht Club and the Maryland Capital Yacht Club staged their annual Memorial Day races from Annapolis to St. Michaels and back the next day, drawing a typically large fleet last weekend.More than 160 boats started the race last Saturday morning from the mouth of the Severn River, sailing either a 24.3-mile course for the MORC, J/30 and PHRF A-C divisions or a 17.2-mile version for the other cruising one-designs, the multihulls, and PHRF Sport and Nonspinnaker. Light and fluky air stretched out the time for many finishers, although Miles River did not report times for the race.

Cruel wind gods truncated the Annapolis Yacht Club Spring Race last weekend, when only the cruising one-designs and the MORC and PHRF C sailors were able to sail a complete race.That event drew 71 starters for a six-mile CBYRA minimum course on Saturday.The fleet of big boats in the upper ranks of PHRF, the IMS competitors and the J/35 fleet had to call it a day on Sunday after an extremely light-air start in a foul current.On Saturday, however, despite light six- to eight-knot air the day's conditions were sailable for a three-legged NTC windward-leeward contest, particularly for Mike McGuirk and his Gunsmoke crew, who won the J/30 class, the day's largest division with 18 starters.

Nearly 50 crews sailing in MORC, PHRF C and D, and cruising one-design classes for Catalina 27s, Cal 25s and J/30s met in the 45th annual Spring Race of the Sailing Club of the Chesapeake last Saturday for 6.3-mile contest.The next day some three dozen entries in PHRF A-0, A-1, A-2 and B chased each other on a couple of courses, the first at 7.7 miles and the second race of the day over 4.6 miles.The action was especially hot in Saturday's MORC class, when the top five boats all corrected to within a one-minute, eight-second range of one another, with victory going to Bob Dunning and his crew on Skylarkn.

Shearwater Sailing Club's annual St. Brendan Cup Regatta last weekend drew 67 teams for a single contest on Saturday, sailing in eight PHRF splits and one-design starts for Catalina 27s and Tritons, followed on Sunday by a two-race series for 24 MORC and J/30 crews.Saturday's bigger boats in PHRF A-0, A-1, A-2, B and the new Sport class sailed a 19.3-mile course, while their smaller counterparts in PHRF C, D and Nonspinnaker and the one-design classes contended on a 12.9-mile version. It was a wet, cold day as steady rain drenched the fleet and winds were unpredictable.

The Naval Academy Sailing Squadron played host to its annual big-boat racing season opener last weekend with the traditional NASS Spring Race.Saturday's 78-boat fleet of PHRF, MORC and J/24 classes had one of the larger starts in recent memory. The PHRF ranks were swelled by a third PRHF-A split (now called PHRF A-0), in addition to A-1 and A-2, a new Sport boat class for high-performance racers and a new PHRF D division for the smallest contenders.All three of the PHRF A classes, PHRF B and the PHRF-Sport sailed a 12.5 nautical-mile course around government marks, and PHRF C and D, MORC and the J/24s sailed a 11.1-mile version.