Floatline - Chesapeake Bay News

October SpinSheet is on the docks

The October issue of SpinSheet magazine has been released and, as as is always the case with the "Boat Show Issue," it's a big one.

The issue is 172-pages and has a solid section devoted to Annapolis and the rapidly approaching U.S. Sailboat Show. In addition to the Boat Show section it includes special coverage of southbound cruisers (including a listing of the record-breaking Caribbean 1500 fleet) and coverage of CBYRA Annapolis Race Week. The issue also includes a special 24-page Preview program for the great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. Download a PDF of the Schooner Race Program here.

Every issue of SpinSheet is available at more than 750 carefully-picked, carefully monitored locations throughout the mid-Atlantic.

The September Used Boat Review features the Catana 431 catamaran. A big archive of Used Boat Reviews is available at the SpinSheet.com website.

Hutchinson splits with ETNZ

Annapolis-based sailor Terry Hutchinson has resigned from Emirates Team New Zealand (ENTZ) after the tactician and the team were unable to agree on terms and conditions of his future role with the team. Hutchinson, is currently in Porto Cervo, Sardinia for the TP52 Global Championship. Hutchinson has served as the team's tactician since 2004. He sailed with ETNZ  through 13 America's Cup Acts, the Louis Vuitton Challenger Selection Finals, and the America's Cup Finals. ETNZ lost the finals to Cup Defender Alinghi by a score of 5-2.

Terry Hutchinson says, "It was a good run and a hard-fought regatta. I loved the racing and I believe we achieved a great deal. While disappointed that I could not come to a satisfactory arrangement with the management of Emirates Team New Zealand, the success of the campaign has created an amazing number of opportunities that I am now free to explore."

Hutchinson is a product of Annapolis's St. Mary's High School and Norfolk's Old Dominion University (ODU). He was twice College Sailor of the year while racing for ODU and has won world championships in the Farr 40 and J/24 classes. He challenged for the Cup in 2000 with Paul Cayard's AmericaOne team. In 2003 he served as tactician for Team Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes effort. He sailed a portion of the  2002-03 Volvo Ocean Race with the DJuice team.  He has won the Congressional Cup match racing regatta twice, once as a skipper and once as tactician for ETNZ skipper Dean Barker. In the later victory, 2005, Barker, Hutchinson and crew defeated Russell Coutts, among others.

ETNZ managing director Grant Dalton, acknowledging the contribution Hutchinson had made to the team, says, "Terry was an integral part of the rebuilding process that led to the team winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and performing so credibly in the America’s Cup match. His commitment was total and his ability and experience were vital components of the 2007 afterguard. We wish him well."

Related Link: Coverage from the The New Zealand Herald

Fall Oxford Weekend A Blast

The NASS Annapolis to Oxford Race (September 15) and the TAYC's Hammond Memorial Race (part-way) back (September 16) were sailed in idyllic conditions: sunny deep blue skies and a fresh northerly breeze. This is one of the few events that puts CBYRA's sanctioned Beach Cat on the same course as the Bay's big boats and cruising one-designs.

Here is a video from the race showing the Beach Cats absolutely thriving on the race down. It was posted to YouTube by "Catsailortoo."

The Catamaran Racing Association of the Chesapeake website reports: "The team of Doug Kirby  and Andy Herbick on Tygart Racing [Nacra 20] broke the record they set last year to Oxford!  They finished with an elapsed time of 2:19:23 breaking last years record of  2:27:20.   They missed the overall first gun by losing a tacking duel to the finish with Donnybrook [SC72] by just four seconds.... Their average speed was 12.6 nm/ hr and reported a top GPS speed of 26 knots!  WOW!"

NASS 2007 Race to Oxford Results (PDF)

2007 TAYC Hammond Memorial Race Results (PDF)

Bay sailor Mike Haffey took this photo on the way to Oxford aboard Wildfire, an SR33 out of the West River.

Gemini #1000 launched in Annapolis

Last week, Annapolis-based Performance Cruising launched Gemini catamaran hull #1000. This landmark achievement comes after more than 25 years of production. Designer Tony Smith built the first Gemini  in 1981, in Mayo, MD. The firm is now based on Back Creek and employs more than 50 people. Geminis are sailing the world over. Hull #1000 will be on display at the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis next month. Look for additional coverage in the October issue of SpinSheet magazine.

Performance Cruising's website

October PropTalk is on the Docks

The October 2007 issue of PropTalk magazine was delivered from the printer this morning and distribution is underway. The issue will be distributed at more than 750 carefully-selected spots throughout the mid-Atlantic.  A big shipment is southbound and will be distributed at the  Virginia In-Water Boat Expo in Norfolk (September 14-16). 

The October PropTalk includes a special section previewing the U.S. Powerboat Show as well as in-depth coverage of the upcoming Trawler Fest in Solomons. The featured "Dreamboat" is the Krogen 48 North Sea. The October destination theme is "Gunkholing the Wye River Complex". Annapolis Harbormaster Ric Dahlgren and South Riverkeeper Drew Koslow are featured in profiles.

Two Bay boaters contribute interesting stories with "planning" as the theme. Senior Editor Ruth Christie reports on the Legacy 40 her family researched, bought, and delivered to Chesapeake Country. Veteran boater Peter Trogdon reports on the planning process he went through in the run-up to a 2006 ICW and Bahamas cruise aboard his Bay-built Zimmerman 36.

All of this--plus a Chesapeake Calendar, race news, boatshop reports, fishing forecasts, and a boatload of applicable and valuable ads--are in a FREE 88-page package. Nice!

Where to find PropTalk.

Bay sailors at the Snipe Worlds

Annapolis-based sailor Brian Bissell is in Portugal where he is competing in the 2007 Snipe World Championship with crew Danny Pletsch. He has been posting daily updates from the regatta on his blog.

Bay sailor Henry Filter is also in the fray (sailing with crew Gustav Wirth). Filter reports, "Porto is a shipping port on the coast of Portugal on the Atlantic Ocean. The water is very clear and quite cold compared to the Chesapeake."

The 62-boat fleet includes teams from 12  nations. The wind has been light and shifty through the first two scheduled days of the regatta.

Bissell describes the scene with refreshing candor: "To keep honest to the reporting I have to write about the painful day we had even though I’d rather not.  Only one race was completed in about 3 knots and we finished 39th overall.  ouch.  Not the way we wanted to start, but it happens and we’re moving on.  In six races there will be a throwout, but many people are having doubts they can get 5 races in the 3 days we have left of racing.  There is just no breeze and the forecast doesn’t look any better."

Bissell Racing Blog

Snipe Worlds (Sept 8-15, 2007) Website

Thomas Point 32 to Debut at Annapolis Powerboat Show

Mi Amante, a new Thomas Point 32, built by Mast & Mallet Boatworks in Edgewater, MD, will be in the water and polished up for the U.S. Powerboat Show in Annapolis October 11 to 14. Mi Amante is the first of the Thomas Point 32s, but the 16th in the popular Thomas Point family. 

PropTalk editor Joe Evans has sat down with designer, builder, and owner for a roundtable discussion on the project and his story will run in the November / Boat Show issue of the magazine.

Mast & Mallet Boatworks (Edgewater, MD)

U.S Powerboat Show 2007

Farr 11s to Debut at Annapolis Sailboat Show

Among the hundreds of new boats at the U.S Sailboat Show in Annapolis next month will be the Farr 11s. The 11s will debut at the show, scheduled for October 4-8 at the City Dock. The Farr 11s is a 36-foot high performance canting keel boat. The package includes twin asymmetric canards and twin retractable rudders. The rig and sailplan includes no backstays, a non-overlapping jib, and a the boat can fly a massive masthead spinnaker. The boat is being built by Premier Composite Technologies in Dubai.

The Farr 11s Designer's Comments hold that, "The acceptance of canting keel technology and the incredible outright speed of the VO 70's and Open 60's has opened many sailors' minds to new frontiers of high performance monohull sailing."

Farr will also display a Farr IRC 42 at the show. This boat is built by Austral Yachts in Australia.

Farr Yacht Sales

U.S. Sailboat Show 2007

Ferries To Race for the Talbot Cup

The Talbot Cup, September 22, pits the Oxford Bellevue Ferry Talbot (pictured above) against the paddlewheeling riverboats Dorothy-Megan and Choptank River Queen from the Suicide Bridge Restaurant in an around-the-buoys, no-holds-barred race on the Tred Avon River off Oxford.

The Talbot crew will join the post-race luncheon cruise aboard the Dorothy-Megan and Choptank River Queen. Pay $100 and join the festivities as part of the official race committee to observe the racing from the Tred Avon YC with lunch included. Your contribution will benefit the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care, the Oxford Fire Company Building Fund, and the Richardson Maritime Museum. www.ferryboatrace.com

Annapolis Hospice Cup XXVI, 09/08/07

Hospice Cup Photos from Dan Phelps / SpinSheet

White Fleet results

Red Fleet Results

Hospice Cup XXVI Website

Photo: Esse 850 enjoys the warm breezes of the 2007 Hospice Cup off Annapolis. Photo by Dan Phelps/ SpinSheet