Evelyns i550 click for 2 views of Naptown Harb

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nbayracing.com 2012 ................news from 2011 here & 2010 here

"Examining racing in the Upper Bay because, pretty much, no one else will"

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1.03.12

Not to be a Total Homer, But:

Congrats to two of the skippers nbayracing.com has the pleasure to crew for on occasion. Trevor Harney's Merit 25 "Audrey" won CBYRA High Point for PHRF C/D in the 3SE Region. Tom Schwartz won the Havre de Grace J24 Summer Series.

(left) Trevor Harney at the beginning of SMSA's Hooper Island Lt/Pt. No Pt. Race.

It was honkin' in the mouth of the Pax and Trevor wisely decided not to go with the kite for the downwind start. We were super glad by the time we approached the turn to the south, out at the light. The breeze had built well into the 30's and seas were a very steep 4-7 feet.

Trevor has racked up a great record for distance racing a small boat. He's super gung-ho but prudent enough to know that the boat has to finish to win.

We did the Eastport to Solomons Race with him this year, all 3 days of Screwpile and the race pictured at left. All of the events were a blast and there is nothing better than sailing on a fun boat with great peeps.

Hats off to Trevor and hey, winning High Pt. before you turn 30 is nothing to take lightly. They are a lot of us codgers on the bay who have been trying to for decades and never will!

Tom Schwartz, pictured at left on the Leach'es Antrim 27, started the J24 Summer Series with a bang, winning 2 of the first 3 races. He had the third in the bag, but a misinterpretation of that night's course resulted in a DNF with four other boats (just 3 out of 8 got it right).

Still, team "Just Right" hung in and completed enough good races to qualify in a series depleted by floods and hurricanes and a night without breeze.

I first met Tom, sight unseen, when he consented to drive my boat a bunch of years back at Screwpile. In the ensuing years, I have learned more from Tom than all the other people I've raced with put together, including sportsmanship (still learning that, actually...) and fair sailing.

I'm sure anyone who has ever been on a boat with Tom would agree.

So a big salute and congrats to these two racing skippers. In my opinion, people like Tom & Trevor make the sport of racing sailboats a better endeavor just by having them out there on the course, competing and doing things "just right."

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1.03.12

RESOLUTION (another one) for 2012: More Multihull coverage

The reality of the situation is this: the multi-hull community on the bay is growing and we here at nbayracing.com are damn glad of it!

We get the feeling that the organizing authorities on the bay are FINALLY coming around and ridding themselves of the opinion that multies should be treated like pariahs.

Proof of this is on the Screwpile 2012 website: the 2012 Consair Nationals will be hosted by the Screwpile Regatta! How cool is that? The buzz is: as many as 50 Corsair tris will show up and be based at Calvert Marina, with OD starts for the 27's and 31's.

SLickkkkk!!

Also: the Chesapeake Multihull Assoc. has decided to split their racing fleet into two groups, based on their ratings. This is great news on two fronts: 1) it shows the growth of the multi racing fleet on the bay and 2) it makes for better racing for the boats that turn out (in impressive numbers, usually!)

Thanks for the heads-up from Corsair owner Kevin D. (whos boat I hope to see a lot of in 2012)

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1.01.12

RESOLUTION for 2012: A better website

Apologies for the stale nature of this site for the past 2.5 months. A lot of stuff kept me away from Dreamweaver® (including Dreamweaver®)

At any rate, here is what the priorities are for 2012:

- Promote a viable, active sportboat class on the Bay

- Promote Northern Bay Race Week

- Promote the i550 design

- Get on as many boats as possible with an SA/D greater than 30! (we can round off the A27's 29.95 to 30)

(left, the articulating pole set-up on the Antrim 27, "Bad Mojo")

There have been a lot of theories put forth as to why there has been such a pathetic Ches Bay response to the sportboat phenomena.

The most common rap is: "They are uncomfortable to cruise."

One response to that might be: how many people actually use their boats for cruising these days?

Unless you own something 40' or larger, and have unlimited vacation time away from work, the vast majority of sailboat racers will seldom subject their wife and kids to a week on a 30 foot racer/cruiser and will cruise their keelboats at most once or twice in the next 3 years.

So, how important is standing headroom, a proper head, and 4 comfortable berths on a boat these days? We are saying "not very," and we're hoping to see some movement toward faster, funner racing in the next 365 days.

This won't happen unless:

- people get involved and

- organizers of important bay-wide events, like Screwpile, get on board and help promote racing where planing hulls race against planing hulls, not Navy 44's.

Enter Brian Jones:

(left, the original "Problem Child," sold and recommissioned as "Frosty Paws on the upper bay a few years back...sorry, Brian, I know you hate this photo! ;-)

Brian Jones is well known on the bay as the guy who built and campaigned the original BC27, "Problem Child." "PC Mk l" (left) was an amazingly successful design over the course of seven years. Then, Brian sold it and upped the ante by designing and building a new version, "Problem Child MK ll (below)." (here's a link to Brian's results page)

We're not sure of what the process was, nor do we care, for that matter, but Brian has now taken on the mantle of "2012 Sport Boat class fleet captain" and we here at nbayracing are really psyched that he has. Brian has the cachet and respect among racers in the mid and upper bay to effect some change and an effort to promote communication among sportboat owners has already begun.

Enter the economy:

Look we're not going to soft-pedal this thing. Let's face it, the economy stinks and most people are going to want to stick to racing their 35 year old 5 knot crap-boxes instead of plunking down $40-50 K for a boat that sails best 3-4 up, no proper head below and requires the dexerity of a 9 year old to get into the V-berth.

We get that.

But there are alternatives. You can pick up a decent U20 for $18-22 K and if you're handy you can splash an i550 for less than 12K. Companies like Seascape in Europe and Open in Marina Del Ray, CA are trying to lure buyers into the lower price range sportboat market. An older B-25 or SR Max could be a nice low-cost intro to the world of boats that get up out of their own wakes in a decent downhill breeze. Heck you can probably luck into a used Viper 640 for less than $20.

Will many owners make the jump into faster (and, most likely, smaller) racing boats? Probably not. Who is most likely to do so?

- Affluent parents who have kids that are into sailing but bored out of their minds doing 6.3 knots on the family leadmine.

- Racers who have been doing the same thing forever on their leadmines, with kids that are out of college, still fit and athletic enough to want the challenge and thrill of doing 14 kts close to the water and now have the $$$ to do so.

- Younger guys with decent jobs and no kids who want to race fast sailboats.

- Women: Heck, even the Women's Match Racing circuit has adopted the Elliott 6m as its platform.

Enter 2012:

We'll see. A couple of i550s will probably hit the water this summer. Throw in some new factory-built sporties, Brian's efforts to organize and, at the very least, get a Sportboat Class start at Screwpile, and who knows? Heck, even dowdy old Marblehead, Mass (keepers of the Rhodes 19 and I.O.D. one-design flames) has a Viper fleet!

We've begun fiberglassing the decks of the i550, so one more sporty is on its way for 2012.