The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race

Today we attended the start of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. It's a 125 mile race from Annapolis to Norfolk. We weren't contestants, merely observers, but we thought we'd tag along for a bit.

Here's my favorite entry, Sultana

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The Baltimore Clipper,
Pride of Baltimore before the start of the race.

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The start was very dramatic. A one knot ebb was running, and in order to make the line, the bowsprit of the Pride pretty much swept over the committee boat that defined the windward side of the start. Unfortunately, I was busy handling our boat and marveling at the spectacle, so didn't get a picture.

We gave chase after the last boat crossed the start... My goal, however unrealistic, was to catch the Pride.

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After two hours, we catch the Virginia, a reproduction pilot schooner.

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5 hours into the race, with the Pride just out of range of the long 9s, we retired to anchor and dine.

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You can see she has her fore t'gallant set and a stunsail on her fore topsail.

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In related news, before the schooner race, Suzanne and I held our own, the Conch Cup, the race around the horns. Here you can see our two brigs struggling up the second windward leg. Ultimately, Suzanne was victorious and crossed the line two turns in front of me.

Most instructive and enjoyable Dobbs.
Speedwell Lass and I had a good laugh at your little race.
Well done Suzanne! I hope you were rewarded with a nice prize.

Rob.

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Here's a picture from the start that Suzanne took. The fellow in the yellow shirt is on the stern of the boat that determines one end of the starting line. The sail to the right is just a spectator boat. As you can see from the flat flat sails, there was not much breeze, but a savage 1 knot ebb carrying boats to the left.

As a point of interest, we got to see Pride of Baltimore set her fore t'gallant and fore topsail stuns'l pretty much right in front of us. It was pretty cool and something we'd never seen before. Two folks working aloft appeared to do most of the work. The stuns'l was set after the start.

Excellent pictures thank you for sharing them with us. :beer:

Yet another excellent photograph Dobbs.
Thanks.
Rob.

Beautiful pictures and I agree that Sultana looks great.

Great photographs, Dobbs! By the way, which ship won the race?

Wonderful photos Dobbs.

Thanks for the post Dobbs.

Would I be wrong in thinking that out of all the games youv'e posted Suzanne seems to come out ahead more than not?

:wink::clap::clap::clap:

Thank you gentlemen for the rep points. David, the race only ended today (Saturday), and they haven't posted the results yet.

Yes, John, Suzanne often comes out ahead, and I have a reputation for getting slaughtered. For some reason, folks still want to be on my side? Maybe it's because I'm a good sport?

Eric ((DeRyuter) can confirm a tale of the undoing of my optimism, when I broke line ahead and got pummeled. Ultimately, my ship sank and Suzanne's ship(on Eric's side) chewed on everyone in range.

Well, it's Monday and they haven't posted the results yet. :sad:

Here's the link for anyone interested:

https://gcbsr.org/races/results/

It was sure fun to see the start, 30 entrant boats and maybe twice as many boats watching.

Nothing yet Dobbs. I will keep an eye on it.
Rob.

And the results are in!

Rob.