- Local News for Southern Sailors - June 2002 Next Story
Record crowds at Charleston Race Week
By Jim Kempert
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 Mixing it up on a mixed up Charleston Harbor. Jean Wolfrum photos. |
Dan Machowski, race week chairman and past commodore of the Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA)—organizing body for the event—said that making the move to two courses was the logical step for this growing event.
"Last year we knew things could be done better. We knew we had to separate into two courses to raise the level of competition," he said. "That was the big success of this race week."
Machowski pointed out that this started out as a local event and remained so for several years.
"As it improved, the goal was to open it up and let people come to Charleston and realize what we had—both in the venue and in the people," Machowski said. "We've gotten to the point now where the word is out that we do it right."
The word has apparently spread far as entrants this year came from as far away as Canada, California, Chicago, and Rhode Island.
John O'Dwyer, pit crew on the J/105 Forro from Toronto, said the boat was launched in Charleston two years ago and did its first racing at Race Week 2000. Returning to Charleston was something of a homecoming for the crew, besides "it's cold as hell to race in Toronto now," said O'Dwyer.
The Canadian sailor marveled at the tidal conditions in the harbor. "It's a lot of fun to see boats skidding sideways," he said. "You have to think backwards a little. You have to realize that when you think you're high on the mark, you're actually low on the mark."
Besides raging currents, racers faced choppy seas and 10- to 15-knot winds from the north-northeast on day one with frequent gusts well over 20 knots. Winds dropped Saturday when a light rain moved in but built again on Sunday when the sun came out once more for a picture-perfect finish with 10-15 knots from the southwest (albeit with more current).
Bruce Gardner of Washington, D.C., squeezed the southern race week into his crew's busy schedule of racing up the East Coast from Key West to Block Islandsomething race organizers envisioned years ago. Gardner's Beneteau First 10 L'Outrage took second in PHRF B despite the tricky conditions.
"We've never had to deal with so much current in our lives," Gardner said.
Local boats led the way through the currents in several fleets with excellent results posted by Terry Smith's J/125 Raincloud (1-1-1-3-2-1-1), winner of PHRF A, and Ken King's Sabre 38 Quintette (2-1-3-2-1-3-1), the winner in PHRF D. Local boats also swept the top three spots in the Level 165, PHRF C, and PHRF D fleets, plus four of the top five in PHRF E. Bob Johnstone's Tern 7 took third in the high caliber J/105 fleet.
Charleston sailors were especially well represented by the all-female crew of the Northstar 1000 Cheers, a mainstay of race week. The women claimed a second-place finish in race two and battled to fifth place overall. Crew Brenda Gould said they were in contention for third place "until we went crabbing on the third day, then we couldn't recover." Skipper Sylvia Galloway claimed nobody had more fun on the water.
"We're sort of the ambassadors of race week," she said, "but everybody knows we're still competitive." Gould added, "We're not just a bunch of girls sailing around out there."
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"The game plan has always been to revolve around good racing," Machowski said. "The goal first off is to have good racing on the water. Even if we have bad parties, people will still come back. But if we can do both and do them well, then people will really enjoy it."
The Palmetto Cup perpetual trophy is awarded annually to the winner of the most competitive race week fleet as determined by the lowest average split between the first- and fifth-place finishers in each fleet. This year's Palmetto Cup was awarded jointly to the most competitive one-design and handicap fleets. In one-design racing, that was the Melges 24s, won by Doug Kessler's Liberty 3 from Atlanta. Kessler, a five-year veteran of race week, said Charleston is the best place in the world to race.
"We knew we'd be the fleet that had the most fun," he said. "It's a very competitive fleet, and it's a good thing for me that I had such a good crew. I just pointed the boat where everybody said to go."
The most competitive handicap racing was found in PHRF C, dominated by local sailor Dick McGillivray's Beneteau First 8 Adrenalin Rush. Local knowledge (and, perhaps, sailing the title sponsor brand boat) helped the crew of Adrenalin Rush jump to an early lead that would prove untouchable after Saturday.
"All we had to do was protect our position," McGillivray said Sunday. "We just stayed out of everybody's way and it worked."
Walking away with possibly the most tangible spoils, however, was Chicago's Ken Ganch, skipper of the J/105 Gonzo, who won the trip for two to the Paris Boat Show, courtesy of Beneteau USA.
Charleston Race Week - CORA - Charleston Harbor April 25-28 J/105 (Top 10 of 17 boats) 1. Masquerade/Tom Coates 26; 2. Tastes Like Chicken/Steve Tedeschi 26; 3. Tern 7/Bob Johnstone 29; 4. Angry Beaver/Larry Harvey 34; 5. Forro/George Mazo 47; 6. C-Jem/CJ Ruffing 50; 7. Planet B/Robert Baker 54; 8. Messy Jessy/Dom Candea 59; 9. Corsair/Mason Christman 64; 10. Dead on Arrival/Joseph Highsmith 64 Melges 24 1. Liberty 3/Doug Kessler 17; 2. Suzanne/Rout Reigert 19; 3. Moving Target/Bill Hankel 20; 4. Beelzebubba/John Lucas 23; 5. Buzzard/Brian Swan 37; 6. Bad Influence/Ryan Hamm 39; 7. Thunderbird/Buck Newsome 44; 8. E.IGO/Randy Wallace 57 Level 165 (J/24 & S2 7.9) 1. Footloose/J-24/Jeff Olson 16; 2. Orange Crush/J-24/Charlie Frasch 19; 3. Avalon/S2/Greg Siewert 19; 4. Brio/S2/Jim Krakau 23; 5. Cloud Nine/S2/Linton Lewis 33; 6. Latte/J-24/Fransico Davilla 45; 7. CCS/J-24/Adam Brightwell 47; 8. Lickety Split/S2/Jeff DeFalco 57; 9. Slingblade/J-24/Bill Milner 63 PHRF A 1. Raincloud/J-125/Terry Smith 10; 2. Fearless/ID 35/Marc Durlach 18; 3. Outrageous/SR 33/Michael Jones 33; 4. Winds of Freedom/Beneteau 36s7/Patrick LeGoff 37; 5. Gannet/J-120/Teddy Turner 38; 6. Temptress/SR 33/Jane Dunn 38; 7. Arrow/J-35/Willie Schwemzfier 44; 8. Teamwork/J-120/Robin Team 49; 9. Bada Bing/Viper 830/Peter Hunter 60; 10. Cotton Picker/Schock 35/Charles Douthill 68; 11. Cape Fear/Cape Fear 38 69 PHRF B 1. Liquor Box/Tartan 10/Bill Buckles 15; 2. L'Outrage/Beneteau First 10/Bruce Gardner 18; 3. Etage/C & C 37/Gary Oetgen 22; 4. Quixote/J-92/John Raymont 24; 5. Wrinkles/Olson 30/Jones King Hay 29; 6. Hoo Doo/F3/Rick Campeau 50; 7. Wolf Pac/J-33/John Peoples 57; 8. Bubba/Beneteau Figaro/J Morisson 59; 9. Miss Leonard/Capri 23.5/Wiley Price 70; 10. Mjourner/J-80/Soren Sorensen 75; 11. Streaker/Peterson 34/David Henge 75; 12. Rascal/N-M 33/Robert Hibden 78 PHRF C 1. Adrenalin Rush/Beneteau First 8/Dick McGillivray 14; 2. Dream Genie/J-30/Dave Hackney 20; 3. J-Moose/J-30/Rick Moore 26; 4. Uh-Huh/U20/Don Carey 29; 5. Ultimate 20/U20/O'Malley Avant 32; 6. Dissipation/Tartan 30/Tim Burke 40; 7. No Surrender/Morgan 27/Simons Hamm 53; 8. Tee Sou/Custom 24/Annick LeGoff 54; 9. Freerange/Ericson 30/Mark Stephenson 59 PHRF D 1. Quintette/Sabre 38/Ken King 13; 2. Swell Rider/Hunter 34/Ted Wickman 21; 3. Bold Venture/Pearson 33/Tom Black 23; 4. Slam Dunk/J-32C/Grant McClendon 29; 5. Andiamo/Beneteau 35s5/David Kowert 32; 6. Celadon/Beneteau 510/Steve Lesniak 44; 7. Drifter/Ericson 35/Frank Slater 46; 8. Osprey/Hunter 410/Ryan Condon 57; 9. Ghost/Sabre 38/Michael Kapp 58 PHRF E 1. Gazaway/Ericson 30/Lamar Walter 7; 2. Navigo/Hunter 23/JD Rosser 21; 3. English Beat/Catalina 30/Brian Hill 28; 4. Lunrsea/Pearson 26/Scott Kaple 29; 5. Cheers/Northstar 1000/Tom Mackin 35; 6. Toasted Cheese/Pearson 26/Mike Messinger 43; 7. Destiny/Sabre 30/Scott Strother 46; 8. Transference/Hunter 22/Kathy Wong 65; 9. Concubine II/Pearson 26/Mickey McMahon 66 |