Race Committee

The Volvo Ocean Race Round the World, which came to Baltimore and Annapolis in April, will cut the number of stopovers to reduce costs and possibly attract more teams for the race in 2005-2006 - a move that could intensify competition among East Coast cities, including Baltimore, to be a host for the event. The current race, scheduled to conclude Sunday in Kiel, Germany, has 10 stopovers along a 32,000-mile journey that eight teams began in September. Helge Alten, chief executive of Volvo Ocean Race, said yesterday that the number of stopovers in the next race will be trimmed to "five, six or seven," and be complemented with shorter "pit stops."

One of the rites of late winter and early spring for many `D Maryland fishermen is the stocking of hatchery trout in lakes, polds, creeks and rivers. This year, nearly 350,000 trout will be stocked between now and the second week of May.The state Department of Natural Resources, whose Freshwater Fisheries Division stocks the trout, has released a stocking schedule that includes times of closure after stocking to allow the fish to acclimate and disperse before...

While most Marylanders have endured stifling summer heat over the past few days, offshore sailors enjoyed one of the smoothest races in recent history. This year's Annapolis to Newport Race was powered by a strong, steady southwesterly wind. The biennial race started at noon Friday, and the first boat finished in Newport, R.I., on Sunday evening. The final boats are expected to finish this morning. "They had no real light spots, and it is a nice steady breeze," said Chip Thayer, race committee chairman.

The Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship race committee ran just one race yesterday on the Chesapeake Bay before it canceled the second race and sent everyone back to the dock. With 18- to 25-knot winds packing 30-knot punches, the four-person crews worked aggressively to keep their 22-foot boats under control, while several teams experienced harrowing knockdowns that tossed crew members overboard while pinning masts to the water and exposing white underbellies of hulls. Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.)

More than 80 racing sailboats ranging in length from 22 to 45 feet are expected to rendezvous this morning off the mouth of Middle River for the beginning of the fourth annual Northern Bay Race Week, one of the premier sailing events held in the Baltimore region each year.The regatta hosts are Columbia Sailing Association, Glenmar Sailing Association and Havre de Grace Yacht Club.The regatta will consist of three races, one each day through Sunday starting about 11:30 a.m., for four PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet)

The invitations listed the attire as "pink tie optional." For those gentlemen who didn't own a pink bow tie, one could be provided. And that was only one of many pink touches in the Hayfield's Country Club, for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's "Maryland Race for the Cure VIP Reception." Bunches of pink roses, in custom-made, pink polka-dot ceramic vases, decorated tables covered in fuschia cloths. Various rosy shades adorned many of the 160 attendees -- many sipping ruby-tinged cosmopolitans.

Status: Day 6, Leg 8Standings:Boat, Nautical miles to finish1. Toshiba, 1,767.12. Merit Cup, 1,767.83. EF Language, 1,777.44. Innovation Kvaerner, 1,778.15. EF Education, 1,783.66. BrunelSunergy, 1,792.57. Swedish Match, 1,793.38. Silk Cut, 1,830.09. Chessie Racing, 1,840.6(as of 00: 04: 37 GMT)Boat beat: The American yacht Toshiba grabbed the lead from Merit Cup yesterday during the eighth leg of the race. Toshiba, seventh in the overall standings, was just 0.7 nautical miles ahead as the boats sailed through the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

The largest fleet of one-design racing keelboats ever assembled begins the four-day J/22 World Championships regatta today in Annapolis. Competitors from five countries and the United States and four past winners of the J/22 Worlds, including defending champion John den Engelsman of the Netherlands (2003) and two-time winner Chris Larson of Annapolis (1992, '94), will be among the 130 entries. Faced with the prospect of so many 22-foot sloops fighting for position on one starting line, the race committee randomly placed the fleet in four groups.

After three days of breezy sailing, the Santa Maria Cup match racers got lighter conditions yesterday off Annapolis, but Cory Sertl of Rochester, N.Y., and Dawn Riley of San Francisco barely missed a beat as they finished the round-robin series with 17-5 records.Sertl and Riley, seeded 1-2 through tiebreakers at the end of two round robins, both won their opening matches in the semifinals.The race committee expects to finish the semifinals and championship series today.Entering the final four races of the round robins yesterday, Sertl and Riley were tied for second, one point behind Drusilla Slattery.

Chances are most racing sailors have been using their winter weekends for other pursuits than keeping themselves, their crews and their boats in top competitive trim.And even frostbiters have had to give up that pursuit with the end of those series well before the start of this area's High Point racing season with the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron Spring Race on May 1.There's a cure out there for boring weekends without any racing, and a remedy for winter rust in the skills and speed department, and it starts in about a week.