Whitbread

CHESSIE RACING, the Chesapeake region's first ever entry in the grueling 1997-1998 Whitbread Round the World Race, has been sold to a Hong Kong yachtsman for $500,000. You didn't hear this scuttlebutt? Don't feel bad. Neither the Living Classrooms Foundation, owner of the 65-foot racing boat, nor George Collins, the retired T. Rowe Price CEO who invested $7 million in Chessie and its Whitbread effort, announced the sale.Parker Rockefeller, senior vice president of Living Classrooms, says the sale took place in February, after he, Collins and former Chessie helmsman Gavin Brady met for dinner in Florida with Karl Kwok, an Asian businessman acclaimed as Hong Kong's premier yachtsman.

Skipper Ken Read of Baltimore-based Chessie Racing took a one-point lead over defending America's Cup winner Russell Coutts after the first day's competition of the inaugural 1D48 Chesapeake Grand Prix yesterday.Chessie Racing, which had finished second to Coutts in the first two of three races in the Outer Harbor, gained an opportunity to take the lead when Coutts' boat, Numbers, fouled Chessie at the Committee Boat end of the starting line of the third race.Read, aboard Chessie, retained right of way when he luffed to maintain position.

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."

Baltimore is nearly a lock to again play host to what is now called the Volvo Ocean Race, Round the World, but if the world's top racing yachts return in 2002, chances are they won't stop in Annapolis, according to sources close to the event.The two stops so close together proved tiring and costly for the racers. Each syndicate spent tens of thousands of dollars in logistical costs -- for such things as moving supplies and equipment -- to make the second stop in Annapolis. Baltimore's Inner Harbor would be the preferred location because of its ability to handle crowds and because of intense media attention, one official said.

AN EYE-POPPING tidbit from the World Cup soccer tournament: A survey found soccer star Alexi Lalas was the second-most recognizable U.S. athlete abroad, after Michael Jordan. That a player could be renowned overseas while unheard of at home was a vivid reminder that many gifted athletes perform in obscurity.With that in mind, supporters of lacrosse hope the 1998 International Lacrosse Federation World Championships in Baltimore this month will generate greater appreciation for their sport.

The Whitbread Round the World Race for the Volvo Trophy drew unexpectedly large numbers of spectators to Baltimore and Annapolis this spring, and this week area sailing fans have an opportunity to view a film recapping the nine-month competition.Gary Jobson, yachting commentator for ESPN and a noted international competitor, has produced "Caution to the Wind," a one-hour film that offers highlights of the nine legs of the race, on-board footage and interviews and close racing shots."My goal was to try to balance the human drama of the eventwith the speeds these boats go," Jobson said last week.

ON A bright day in April, sailboats competing in the world-class Whitbread Round the World Race moved into the Inner Harbor against the late afternoon sun as thousands cheered. The next morning, the stately Ecuadorian tall ship Guayas was moored at the Light Street quay, its sailors standing precariously high on the yardarms and waving goodbye. Fans on their way to Camden Yards mingled with conventioneers in suits, crowding the promenades.My heart quickened at the sight. And I couldn't help but think -- just 20 years ago the Inner Harbor was a waterside parking lot. It was known as Sam Smith Park, named for the Maryland war hero, and it owes its place in Baltimore history to being the site of the city's first parking meters.

Baltimore, Annapolis praised for warmth, knowledge of sailingOur yacht, Merit Cup, was one of the participants in the Whitbread Round the World Race, and we recently had our first stopover in the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis.Of all the countries and ports that we have visited in the past nine months, none beat the welcome that we received on the afternoon that we arrived in Baltimore and how the city and the people greeted not only our boat, but all the others. The same can be said for the farewell from Annapolis.

A year ago, physicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center equipped two ambulances with telecommunications equipment that is used to beam live images of stroke patients on their way to the hospital.Doctors sitting at computer terminals can watch for a drooping lip, listen for garbled speech and monitor vital signs blipping across the screen. By the time the person gets to the hospital, doctors have made crucial decisions about treating the patient.And saved precious minutes in doing so.Now, the physicians are thinking about establishing a video link with boats in the next round-the-world sailing race, scheduled to begin in 2001.

SOUTHAMPTON, England -- For the crew of Chessie Racing, the end of the Whitbread Round the World Race was anticlimactic. Sitting at the finish in next-to-last place, it couldn't even return to the docks for its celebratory homecoming because the tide was out.So the team left its boat behind in the high water and came to shore in an inflatable motorboat. The sailors' faces told it all -- tired, resigned, straining to smile as they stepped to shore."It was brutal," said bowman Jerry Kirby, who, like other Chessie sailors, had barely eaten or slept in two days of all-out racing.