Sailing Club

Pusser's Caribbean Grille has been gearing up for its crucial summer period for a couple of months now. Managers at the popular restaurant on the Annapolis waterfront have nearly tripled the wait staff to 70 people, while their food orders to suppliers have spiked. Memorial Day weekend is here, and business is about to take off — until it quiets down again in the fall. "This whole week, through the weekend, is really our launch weekend for the season," said J.J. Peddicord, Pusser's manager.

Heads up, everybody -- the deadline for entries for Annapolis Race Week, set for Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 5-7), is fast approaching.Those who snooze will lose $10 in the form of the late fee that will be tagged on for entries hand-delivered or postmarked after Thursday afternoon.This will be the 26th annual Annapolis Race Week, managed under the aegis of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association.The event, which drew a record 219 boats last year, has a couple of important new features this year, as part of an ongoing process of improving the regatta and responding to the wishes of the racers.

It's still the biggest, and plans are well under way to make it the best ever. Annapolis Race Week, under the overall auspices of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association, is set this year for Saturday through Monday, Aug. 31 through Sept. 2.Race Week chairman Howard Kluttz says he expects a similar turnout to last year's 200-plus boats, making Annapolis Race Week once again the largest multi-class, multi-race keelboat event on the Chesapeake Bay.This year especially, it's a be-there-or-be-square event not to be missed by any self-respecting handicap or cruising one-design sailor, with starts for four PHRF splits, three IMS divisions and MORC, aswell as J/35s, J/30s, J/24s, Pearson 30s, Alberg 30s, Cal 25s and Catalina 27s.As it has been managed for the past seven years, the classes will be divided among two separate fleets, each with its own course area, and race management will be by seven individual clubs: Annapolis Yacht Club, Eastport Yacht Club, Magothy River Sailing Association, Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, Sailing Club of the Chesapeake, Shearwater Sailing Club, and West River Sailing Club.

Light and shifty air on the Choptank River made for highly challenging competition in this year's Flying Dutchman Nationals, sailed out of the Cambridge Yacht Club Friday through Sunday.A fleet of 15 from across the country was on hand for the seven-race series, which began with a full-fleet series of three races on Friday. After that the group was split for scoring purposes into two separate fleets based on each team's best two scores of the three races sailed.The Proctor Fleet, made up of the top seven from the preliminary series, sailed for the championship title, while the others competed in the Carling Fleet, although both divisions continued to start at once.

THE LABOR DAY Regatta sponsored by the West River Sailing Club in Galesville features three days of sailboat races interspersed with social events. In a tradition begun more than 70 years ago, about a dozen Chesapeake 20s take to the river in a series of races. This classic one-design sailboat was born on the West River in the days when boats around here were mainly used for work. Bill Heintz, 94, of the tiny community of Bayfields remembers how it all got started. "I must have been about 18 years old that first Labor Day when we decided to have some races on the water," Heintz said.

It's the beginning of August, so it's time to start planning for the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association's annual Annapolis Race Week during Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 3-5.New this year, all skippers who get their regatta entries in before Aug. 24 will receive an invitation to a pre-event party sponsored by Hecht's and Nautica.Yacht clubs providing the organizational on-water management include Annapolis Yacht Club, Baltimore City Yacht Association, Eastport Yacht Club, the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron, Magothy River Sailing Association, Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, Sailing Club of the Chesapeake, Shearwater Sailing Club and West River Sailing Club.

Have you ever had the desire to hoist a sail or get an up-close-and-personal look at a 60-foot yacht? Are you seeking a tasty new recipe for crab cakes or some other seafood? Would you and the family like to enjoy some mostly free entertainment around the Inner Harbor? If you answered affirmatively to any of the above, your ship has come in. The fifth annual Baltimore Waterfront Festival, which celebrates life on the water -- and delivers all of the above -- got under way yesterday and continues every day through next Thursday.

The Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association's annual general meeting traditionally includes the election of officers to guide the 1,700-member organization.This year's meeting, conducted Dec. 1 at Essex Community College, saw a number of familiar faces advance in the ranks and the addition of some new ones.Replacing outgoing President Bruce Johnson is 1990 Executive Vice President Dave Blessing.A resident of Alexandria, Va., Blessing is an International 5-0-5 sailor based out of the West River Sailing Club in Galesville.

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.

Marcus Asante is ready to set sail. When the wind is at his back, he plans to pilot his boat Soukous (named for a jazzy type of African dance music that's similar to a rumba) out of the Inner Harbor and into open waters. Founder of the 40-member Universal Sailing Club of Baltimore, Asante is one of an increasing number of African-Americans taking up sports such as sailing, hiking, biking and scuba diving. Groups such as the Universal Sailing Club are making a big impact, according to Charles K. West, publisher of Black Outdoorsman magazine.