Floatline - Chesapeake Bay News

The January 2008 issue of SpinSheet Magazine is on the docks

Welcome in the new year with the January 2008 issue of SpinSheet magazine. The issue includes comprehensive coverage of the Caribbean 1500 rally which sent 73 boats and crews from Hampton to Tortola in November. It also includes a Chesapeake-biased preview of Acura Key West Race Week (January 21-27) and a look at the new Sailfest component of the Baltimore Boat Show (January 23-27).

Rod Jabin, owner of Jabin's Yacht Yard and the Farr 40 Ramrod is the APS performance Sailor of the Month.

The Beneteau First 42s7 is the featured boat in Jack Hornor's Used boat marketplace column.

Bay sailor Eamonn McGeady, who is leading the reconstruction of the Annapolis City Dock, is profiled by Molly Winans. Molly also contributes a fun look at the hearty sailors who liveaboard through the Chesapeake winter.

As usual, the back section of the magazine is packed with hundreds--perhaps thousands--of geographically-applicable used boats for sale from individuals and from the region's leading brokerages. These listings are also available at spinsheet.com.

Every issue of SpinSheet is distributed at more than 750 carefully-chosen and closely monitored locations throughout the mid-Atlantic. The January 2008 issue will also be distributed in Key West and at the Baltimore Boat Show.

Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Race Back in April 2008

Racing sailors looking to rotate the boat back north after a winter in Point South will be signing up for the 2008 Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Ocean Yacht Race. Scheduled to begin April 23, this event marks the rebirth of a race that originated in 1968 and ran for 10 years.  The 408-mile Gulf Stream-aided race will start just outside of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and finish just outside of Charleston Harbor.

The race is sponsored by the Lauderdale YC and the Carolina Yacht Club of Charleston. The race will be organized and managed by SORC Management, which includes members of the Storm Trysail Club  and Lauderdale Yacht Club.

Additional information including the Preliminary Notice of Race, on-line entry and accommodations can be found at www.fortlauderdalecharlestonrace.org. 

Unfortunately, the new race does not mesh well with the timing of Charleston Race Week, an increasingly popular regatta scheduled for April 17-20, 2008. Hopefully the schedule can be better coordinated going forward as it seems there would be a degree of overlap in participating boats and the distance race could feed potential entries to the Charleston round-the-buoys event. 

Another growing event in the region is the Bald Head Island Regatta, set for April 4-6, 2008.

Captain Buddy Harrison Video

A video tribute to "The Boss Hog of Tilghman Island"

Source: YouTube

Prepping For The Plunge

“Take a nice cold beer from your fridge, and pour it down your pants. That’s kind of what it feels like to run into the Bay in January,” so says an expert here at SpinSheet. Each year, the dead of winter beckons a small (but increasing) segment of society to gather around the Chesapeake Bay’s waters to dip and cheer. Who are these people? Polar Bear Plunges are a national epidemic, and the frostier the water, the better.

Each year, the Maryland State Police (MSP) happily support this insanity, but always for a good reason. MSP will host the Polar Bear Plunge on January 26 at Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis (register at 9 a.m., and plunge at noon and 3 p.m). The annual MSP Plunge inspires warm-hearted souls to don Speedos and give of themselves to support Special Olympics Maryland (SOMD). The 2008 MSP Plunge will help support SOMD’s new Young Athletes Program, benefiting thousands of special kids aged two to seven.

Learn more at www.plungemd.com.

Want to make a splash in other parts of the Bay this winter? New Year’s Day features the Polar Bear Swim in North Beach, MD ((301) 855-6681). Groundhog Day brings the Polar Plunge to Virginia Beach.

Destructive Fire in Portsmouth

The Skipjack Nautical Wares headquarters and showroom were destroyed yesterday in a fire. The Portsmouth, VA-based business was a purveyor of "maritime antiques, marine art, nautical furnishing, and decor"  and the showroom was full of beautiful original paintings and other classic items. The enterprise was housed in a recently restored building in the Olde Towne section of Portsmouth. 

Skipjack's owners, Joe and Alison Elder, also lost their home which was located above the store.

The fire also destroyed a historic church.

"It looks like a war zone,"  Jeff Terwilliger, battalion chief for Portsmouth Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services, told the The Virginian Pilot.

Skipjack Nautical Wares Website

PilotOnline News Story 

Key Countdown

 

 

Walter Cooper Photo - Event Website

Sea Sprite 30 reviewed in the December 2007 issue of SpinSheet magazine

In the December 2007 issue of SpinSheet magazine Jack Hornor reviews the Sea Sprite 30.

"The Sea Sprite 30, built by Rhode Island's C. E. Ryder Co., may be easily overlooked by sailors unfamiliar with the model or the builder, but this small cruiser offers traditional style, good cruising accommodations for her size, well above-average quality, and perhaps a bargain price...

"Many sailors are more familiar with Ryder's Gilmer-designed Southern Cross series of double-ended cruisers introduced at the 1975 Annapolis Sailboat Show than with their Sea Sprite series. Actually, Ryder began building its Sea Sprite series a year earlier when it took over production of the Carl Alberg-designed Sea Sprite 23 in 1974. Following the success of the Sea Sprite 23, the 28-foot, 30-foot, and 34-foot models were subsequently introduced, and all remained in production until 1986."

Read the rest of the review at the SpinSheet magazine website.

Composite Yachts runs a new 26-foot Sportfish

Composite Yacht in Trappe, MD has sold hull number one of the new 26-foot sportfishing boat even as the crew prepares her and the prototype for showing and demo rides at the Miami show in February. Both boats are rigged as center-console boats powered by Yanmar 315s. Initial tests had the boat blazing around at more than 35 knots wide-open with full tanks and five passengers. She settled into a comfortable cruise pace of about 26 knots with a burn rate of about five gallons per hour. Composite is prepared to rig the boat with bigger engines if necessary. The prototype seems to run well with 300 horsepower for now.

In an effort to keep the weight aft, Lewis and Martin Hardy installed a SeaStar outboard hydraulic steering system athwart ships in an aluminum box frame instead of the customary longitudinal arrangement. This allowed for a bigger rudder mounted further aft than the usual arrangement. The Composite 26 is intended to be an affordable custom boat with a base price of about $88K. Outboard power could reduce the base price a bit. Rob Hardy predicts that a pair of 200-hp four strokes would be an excellent option.

Learn more at www.Compositeyacht.biz or by calling the shop, (410) 476-4414.

Excerpt from: PropTalk Magazine's Boatshop Reports by Joe Evans, January 2008 issue.
Sponsored by Interlux

Welcome FloatLine sponsor Atlantis Weathergear

Atlantis Weathergear has signed on as a FloatLine site sponsor.

Atlantis is a familiar name on and along the water. The company has been relaunched by a group of active sailors based in Marblehead. The products and the vibe are fresh and worth a closer look.

Learn more via the top button under "Sponsor Links"

New Year's Racing in Annapolis

“People who aren’t sailing in the wintertime are missing a great opportunity,” says Annapolis-based sailing legend Stuart Walker, who founded the New Year’s Day Ice Bowl on the Severn in 1955. “No one else is out there but the sailors. The winds are up, the water is less bumpy. It’s quite pleasant,” he says.

Sailed in Solings and J/22s in recent years, the Severn SA (SSA) Ice Bowl starts at the mouth of Weems Creek, heads up the Severn River and around St. Helena Island in Round Bay, in either direction (although Walker admits it’s almost always better clockwise,) and back. The 13-mile course takes about two hours, depending on the wind. Having missed only two of these races in 52 years, Walker has introduced countless sailors to the tradition as well as having won it many times himself.

“I have raced the Ice Bowl since 1973,” says fellow Soling sailor Tom Price, whose achievement of winning the New Year’s race, hiked out in a harness on an International 14 at the age of 55, is one he’s proud of. “It can be very cold—especially in a 14 after a few capsizes—but it is surprisingly decent most years. The worst are the light air days when you are sitting still,” he says. Price is also active organizing and racing 210s in Gibson Island harbor in winter. He’s regularly asked if he gets cold. “It’s really cool that you can put your mind somewhere else,” he says. “Someone will ask if I got cold, and I realize I was so busy sailing, I didn’t think about it.”

A few hundred yards downstream from the Ice Bowl start line is that of the Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC) Hangover Bowl, a New Year’s Day tradition. AYC has an active, 100-boat frostbite fleet, with healthy numbers in J/105 and Cal 25 fleets, as well as many other big boat types. Unlike some of the dinghy sailors in dry suits in the harbor, AYC big boat sailors don’t anticipate capsizing. They stay in the cockpit, sail without spinnakers, and dress as if they’re going skiing, not swimming. Santa hats are optional.

- From the December 2007 issue of SpinSheet Magazine.
- Story by Molly Winans. Top photo by Al Schreitmueller. Bottom photo by Dorian Haldeman.