Ask the top two teams of the Lightning, J/29, and 29er classes of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series their take on the first of the regatta and the answer is the same: no wins come easy when competition is good, the wind is shifting and the current is running hard.
And that summed up conditions for the bulk of nearly 240 teams that kicked off the regatta on Friday with a building southerly breeze and a strong running ebbing tide. With four race circles hosting multiple classes, clear air didn’t come easy either, especially on the southernmost circle with the J/105s, J/80s, J/70s and J/88s—more than 80 boats racing up and down the course.
Cate Muller-Terhune’s Casting Couch, last year’s overall winner of the J/70 class and the regatta, has proven in the past they know how to manage the traffic and came away with two race wins and a second to set up a 4-point lead on Alec Culter’s team on Hedgehog.
John Bell’s team on Hiwassee is sitting pretty with two race wins, but Andy Graff’s team Exile, a perennial rival to the Hiwasse crew, is only 5 points back, winning with a 2-1-1 but Andy Graff’s exile only 5 points back. Equally close in points are the J/105 leaders, with Ben DuPont’s Warbride winning the last race to end day 2 points atop Bill Zartlere’s Deja Voodoo. At press time, the J/80 scores were incomplete.
On the Division 1 race circle. The Lightning class, a new addition this year in Annapolis with 16 boats, perennial champ Dave Stark is in familiar territory at the top of the standings, but tied with skipper Abbie Probst with each team having won a race.
For the Albacores, sailing their US National Championship with nineteen teams, it’s all about Barney Harris, the Albacore’s guru builder and boat whisperer. He’s unbeaten again after four races with skipper Paul Clifford a good 13 points in arrears.
In the 29ers, rival skippers Annie Sitzman and Sophie Niemann, traded race wins to end the tied on account of Sitzman winning the fourth race of the day.
Sara Morgan Waters and Katherine Shermock posted back-to-back race wins in the last two to build a 5-point lead.
Division 2 of the regatta, set mid-Bay had plenty of current to contend with, but Lanny Helms’ Windswept was the lead team on the Alberg 30s after three races. Two wins and second gives Helms and his crew a 1-point lead over Barbara Vosbury’s Carnival Lady. The two were never far apart, and no will doubt continue to spar over the next two days.
Jeff Hayden’s team on the Polar Express leads the J/22s and Dan Watson’s Avita is top J/30.
Jimmy Praley’s Robot Flamingo is undefeated in the 17-boat Viper 640 fleet and Michael Baugh’s J/29 Persephone is tied with Glenn Smyth’s Shadowfax.
The Waszp class, contending its US Nationals, enjoyed excellent conditions closer to shore once the sea breeze filled in. The fast charging Hawaiian foilers Gavin Ball and Pearl Lattanzi are firmly in the top two after four races. Ball took the first three and Lattanzi the fourth.
Tomorrow, the regatta’s ORC teams will sail their distance race, alongside the Cal 25s, and the Harbor 20 fleet return for its Spring Championship with a talent packed fleet of locals.
