Sailboat Racing

The Second Half of the Annapolis Yacht Club's Frostbite Series came to a close last Sunday, and that's it for most folks as far as sailboat racing goes until April when the 1995 season opens.March can be said to be the cruelest month, because for racing addicts it's the only one of the year without large-scale formal competition.Because a couple of weeks during January and February racing was called off due to too little or too much wind, the AYC series went to only nine races in as many weeks, meaning there will be no worst-race throwout in this half of the competition.

When the Volvo Ocean Race sails into Baltimore and Annapolis in the spring of 2006, spectators familiar with the past two rounds of the sail-around-the-world race will notice a few major changes. The boats will be 10 feet longer - 70 feet instead of 60 feet. And they will stay in port longer - 17 days instead of the 10 days they stayed in 2002. At a briefing yesterday, local officials and sailing enthusiasts cheered the fact that, aside from a New York pit stop, Baltimore-Annapolis is the only stopover in the United States.

Helping draw attention to one of the films currently playing at its IMAX theater, the Maryland Science Center is sponsoring a sailboat regatta in the Inner Harbor today.The first Maryland Science Center Frostbite Regatta is scheduled at 1 p.m. on the waters off the Science Center's main entrance, with 20 Laser class, single-handed boats sailed by members of the Glenmar Sailing Association.The event highlights "Race the Wind," a film about the ways humankind has harnessed the power of the wind to provide speed.

WHILE THE America's Cup action in New Zealand heats up both on and off the water as a battle of billionaires, Eastport is home to its own fleet of America's Cup Class racing yachts. Every Sunday about 11 a.m., the Chesapeake Bay Model Racing Association converges for a day of racing at the Chart House. Here the America's Cup action is on a smaller scale - a much smaller scale. The fleet, which sometimes numbers up to 20 boats, is composed of 36-inch, radio-controlled replicas of the boats that are match racing in Auckland.

Sailors across the country can breathe a collective sigh of relief knowing they can participate in races without fear that a collision will stick them with a bill for damages even if the accident wasn't their fault.A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruling on an Annapolis case, upheld the system that has governed and protected sailors so well for a long time.Tuesday's decision ultimately benefits sailing in general and racers in particular, since it effectively removes a dangerous red herring -- the principle of assumption of risk of damages by a sailor whenhe enters a race.

WHILE THE America's Cup action in New Zealand heats up both on and off the water as a battle of billionaires, Eastport is home to its own fleet of America's Cup Class racing yachts. Every Sunday about 11 a.m., the Chesapeake Bay Model Racing Association converges for a day of racing at the Chart House. Here the America's Cup action is on a smaller scale - a much smaller scale. The fleet, which sometimes numbers up to 20 boats, is composed of 36-inch, radio-controlled replicas of the boats that are match racing in Auckland.

Barring the unforeseen happening today or tomorrow, Ken Read of Portsmouth, R.I., appears to have a lock on the J/24 World Championship.After four races in the six-race series, Read has finished 1-2-1-6. Oddly enough, his closest competitor at this stage of the regatta, Jim Brady of Annapolis, has finished 2-39-5-2 and stood in fifth place pending protests after yesterday's two races."It looks like Brady is the main competitor," Read said. "With a throw-out, he is right there. But that is no great surprise."

The Shearwater Sailing Club of Annapolis is conducting a series of seminars in March to provide crew training for sailors interested in sailboat racing.The objective of the seminar series, consisting ofthree weekly sessions of about 2 1/2 hours each, is to teach basic skills and responsibilities of crewing, and to encourage newcomers to participate.Qualified volunteer instructors from the club will cover essential topics including crew etiquette, sail folding, basic rules, race courses, starts, mark roundings, tacks and gybes and other basic information.

I don't wish to boast, but recently I was on the crew of one of the yachts in the prestigious Whitbread round-the-world yacht race.OK, if you want to get picky, I was not, technically, "on the crew." A more accurate statement is that I was "constantly in the way of the crew." But I was on the yacht, and it was an experience that will remain with me for the rest of my life in the form of chronic butt soreness, caused by "tacking." (More on this later.)For the benefit of those of you who do not keep up with international yacht racing, I should explain that the Whitbread is a grueling nine-month race in which hardy yachtspersons sail around the world, relying only upon their skill, the wind, and humongous sums of money from corporate sponsors.

There's a reason Tim Mudd is sailboat racing this spring. It's his density."I'm just a lot of weight on board," said Mr. Mudd, 24, who barely can tell a sheet from a halyard but found a way into racing by serving as ballast. "I don't really have enough jobs to mess up yet."Mr. Mudd, a trim 6 feet 1 inch and 185 pounds, is one of the newest additions to the Wednesday Night Races, an Annapolis tradition that has brought the high-rolling world of sailboat racing to the masses for the past 36 years.

As he had promised, Annapolis city council member Michael W. Fox has asked the city's Ethics Commission for its opinion before he votes on a plan to allow a prestigious around-the-world sailboat race to lease City Dock for $1 and to receive a contribution of city money and services. Council members have criticized Fox's dual roles in the race as an elected official and vice president of the nonprofit Ocean Race Chesapeake, which is arranging an Annapolis stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race Around the World next year.

As he had promised, Annapolis city council member Michael W. Fox has asked the city's Ethics Commission for its opinion before he votes on a plan to allow a prestigious around-the-world sailboat race to lease City Dock for $1 and to receive a contribution of city money and services. Council members have criticized Fox's dual roles in the race as an elected official and vice president of the nonprofit Ocean Race Chesapeake, which is arranging an Annapolis stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race Around the World next year.

Before the Whitbread racing boats were even out of the harbor last spring, event planners had turned their thoughts to the 1999 Baltimore Waterfront Festival."

So the Whitbread Round the World Race is stopping here. So what?So plenty, even if you are not a sailor or racing fan. The World Cup matches in Washington several years ago drew thousands who had never attended a soccer match because it was a chance to see superb players in an international championship. So it is with the Whitbread. The boats and their crews are the best in the sailing world.A lot of racing sailors around the Chesapeake Bay will differ. To them, the America's Cup matches are the summit of sailboat racing.

Annapolis could lose as much as $25,710 when the city plays host to the prestigious Whitbread Round the World Race next month, city officials said at a public hearing last night.The city expects to collect a little more than $70,000 in revenues from the state, the Spring Boat Show and the Greater Annapolis Chamber of Commerce, but the city will lose money unless other funding is found, city Administrator Walter N. Chitwood III told the city council last night.The city liquor board granted Whitbread planners a liquor license last week to serve beer during three days of the four-day event, but made the license contingent on city council approval of the lease with Whitbread Chesapeake Inc.Chitwood, testifying before the council last night regarding the lease, said the four days of festivities on city grounds -- including a fireworks display -- will cost about $148,710.

In the world of sailboat racing, there are the exalted, and then there's everybody else.Superstar skipper Chris Dickson is an exalted one. The tanned speed god gets stopped in airports, swooned over for his blue eyes and photographed in magazines with champagne spilling over his victorious blond head.He is courted by Toshiba, which is paying him at least $200,000 to race on a boat bearing the company name, and is flattered by personality polls that say 95 percent of his fellow New Zealanders know him and love him.Here in Baltimore, George Collins falls into the category of Everybody Else.

So the Whitbread Round the World Race is stopping here. So what?So plenty, even if you are not a sailor or racing fan. The World Cup matches in Washington several years ago drew thousands who had never attended a soccer match because it was a chance to see superb players in an international championship. So it is with the Whitbread. The boats and their crews are the best in the sailing world.A lot of racing sailors around the Chesapeake Bay will differ. To them, the America's Cup matches are the summit of sailboat racing.

SAN DIEGO -- The Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series opened yesterday, with Japan's Nippon Challenge matched against oneAustralia in the marquee race of the day.Before the race was started in light northerly winds, the pundits were saying that John Bertrand and oneAustralia would make short work of Nippon and its supposedly weak after guard.And indeed, oneAustralia won the start by five seconds. But Nippon won the race by 1 minute, 6 seconds.Shortly after the start, with oneAustralia sailing on port tack to the right side of the course and Nippon sailing to the left, the wind shifted, Nippon tacked back and began to build a lead.

At some point over the next year, George Collins is likely to do the following:Sail like a maniac, exercise with a fury, measure his body fat, exhaust his crew, gossip about his competition, study racing routes, try not to drown, eat energy food, scream commands, pop aspirin, sleep a little and otherwise end life as he knows it.In short, he will prepare for the Whitbread Round-the-World Race, one of history's most punishing sailing contests.The transoceanic competition, equal parts endurance test and status symbol, is the latest prize on which this Baltimore businessman has set his sights.

There's a reason Tim Mudd is sailboat racing this spring. It's his density."I'm just a lot of weight on board," said Mr. Mudd, 24, who barely can tell a sheet from a halyard but found a way into racing by serving as ballast. "I don't really have enough jobs to mess up yet."Mr. Mudd, a trim 6 feet 1 inch and 185 pounds, is one of the newest additions to the Wednesday Night Races, an Annapolis tradition that has brought the high-rolling world of sailboat racing to the masses for the past 36 years.