Sailboat Racing

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.

The Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association-sanctioned season of sailboat racing in this area officially began on Saturday with the NavalAcademy Sailing Squadron's annual Spring Race.For some of the 115 starters in 12 classes of competition, including the new PHRF A-1 and A-2 divisions created specifically for Region III/Annapolis area events, the race was a rough beginning to the season.It seemed that both sailors and the wind itself were a bit out ofpractice after their long winter's rest from racing.

Match racing in sailboats, although a competition between only two vessels at a time, is not like a foot race. Tactics and smooth teamwork among crew members usually determine the outcome.Here are some hints to understanding the action in the Santa Maria Cup, taking place tomorrow through Sunday in the Inner Harbor.The Start: Sail races start when a gun or horn is sounded, but race maneuvering begins minutes earlier. As someone aboard counts down toward the start, the boats maneuver for the "favored position," trying to cross the starting line as close to the gun as possible, with good momentum and in a position where the other boat does not block the wind.

Imagine, if you will, a game between two teams of three in which the first member of either team to score by reaching a goal wins. The image is fairly easy to picture if the game is two-hand touch football or playground hoops.Now take those six players and make them sailboats initiating play from a common starting line and maneuvering toward a common goal, with each boat's finishing position counting toward a team score.The first image that comes to mind is confusion -- or maybe 10-year-olds turned loose in bumper cars or adults driving in a demolition derby.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.