Sperry Charleston Race Week - Day 1
by Sperry Charleston Race Week 16 Apr 2016 07:39 BST
14-17 April 2016
Cold, stormy day no barrier to inshore racing excitement
Morning came on like a winter blast today, with cold, driving rain and a brisk northeasterly breeze greeting the more than 2,000 sailors competing this weekend in Sperry Charleston Race Week. With dangerous surf at the harbour's edge and a building wind forecast, all offshore racing was canceled before 8:00 a.m Event Director Randy Draftz said that while he hated to see the big boats lose a day, it wasn't a difficult call.
"After looking at wind readings and wave reports from private boats and the US Coast Guard, and consulting with our Race Officers, we decided safety was far more important than racing, especially in potentially boat-breaking waves," Draftz said. "There was definitely relief on most of the skipper's faces after we called the offshore racing off."
Meanwhile, the shelter of Charleston Harbor meant the inshore fleets – eight of them on three separate courses – had powerful but very manageable conditions, with all classes finishing three or four races in winds under 18 knots.
Sperry Charleston Race Week 2016 serves as the Melges 20s National Championship regatta, and two-time (and reigning) US champ Jason Michas looked determined to take the three-peat this year as his New York-based Midnight Blue jumped out of the blocks to an early five-point lead. California's Danuel Thielman (Kuai) and Russ Lucas (Shimmer) each took a race win, though Michas' speed and consistency would win the day.
Just under 70 teams are racing identical J/70 sportboats, with more America's Cup, Olympic, and Championship racers than one can easily count. After three races, no professionally driven and crewed boat is beating 13-year old Gannon Troutman, whose crew includes his dad. "We put a lot of time into getting faster and progressing over the winter, and it's definitely showing this week," said Troutman, who said his biggest focus when he's out on the race course is...focus.
"I work on keeping distractions to a minimum and doing my job – driving – the very best I can, all the time," said the teen, who added that he's rarely intimidated even when being shouted at by sailing superstars. "They're just trying to mess you up, so it's best to ignore them and just sail fast," he said, with wisdom far beyond his age.
Troutman's youthful confidence may be brimming, but there's another, far younger J/70 sailor looking to put a dent in the 13 year-old's game plan; Connecticut couple Molly and John Baxter are racing their J/70 Vineyard Vines at the regatta, despite expecting their new baby in just four months. "It's early in the regatta, but we hope to have the first prenatal Charleston Race Week Champion crowned on Sunday," Molly said.
Youthful exuberance abound in the J/70 fleet, while experience and tradition fill the J/24 fleet – a Charleston staple. Local racer Mike Palazzo and his team on Jo'mama sit in 10th place after three races, and he was all smiles this afternoon, even before his first Gosling's Rum Dark-n-Stormy. "We had a middle-of-the-pack day, but it was still a ton of fun out there racing in the best place there is. Everyone started the day with blade jibs, and the smart guys transitioned to bigger headsails for the second and third race when the wind dropped. Unfortunately, we didn't make that move, and paid for it," said Palazzo.
Another local, College of Charleston sailing coach Mitch Hall, unexpectedly ended up on the tiller in Michelle Lee's Viper 640 for all four races today. "She initially gave me the helm to get out to the race course since I know that area so well, and when we got close to the start, she just said, 'You're doing great, just keep going.' Hall and company ended up with scores of 3, 3, 9, 1. Hall says their success wasn't necessarily due to local knowledge. "It was pretty two dimensional out there except for the last race. What was cool is that the top competition is really close. There were at least two races where the top four positions weren't decided until the last 60 yards of the course." Also sailing on board with Lee and Hall are John Calaruso and Alexis Scott.
In their class racing debut at Charleston Race Week, the word was "more fun than go-carts" in the GP26, or at least that's how Peter D'arista put it after stepping off his Annapolis-based Supra Turbo, racing today on the Division 1 course just meters off the Charleston waterfront. The 12- to 16- knot breeze kept these boats going fast, completing the five-leg, five-mile courses in just 40 minutes. Supra Turbo, driven by Annapolis-based pro Geoff Ewenson sits just a point behind fellow Annapolitans John and Linda Edwards aboard Rhumb Punch, and they both trail Serhad Ciftci's Rattle N Rum, driven by Kiwi ex-pat Mike Beasley, who won every race of the day.
"The fleet is getting used to their boats and everyone is on a learning curve," said designer Jim Donovan, who races Kevin Farrar aboard his home-built GP26 Pithy from Stonington, CT. "In Race 2 the difference between 2nd and 3rd place was one second on corrected time, and we expect things to only get tighter as the learning continues."
2014 J/70 World Champion Tim Healey turned some heads when he jumped ship to the Melges 24 Class in advance of that class's historic World Championship later this year in Miami. "Learning a new boat is a challenge I really enjoy," said Healy, who sits in third place behind former Melges 24 Class President Travis Weisleder and former Corinthian Melges 24 World Champion Bruce Ayres. "We had some great runs today and we're in a good spot on the results, and we're loving it," Healy said.
Weather forecasts show significantly warmer temperatures tomorrow with stable racing winds on all courses.
You can track many fleets in real-time from any smart device or computer thanks to SAP Sailing Analytics and the SAP Sail InSight app along with US Sailing. The trackers include replay ability and feature course, speed and leaderboards. View the SAP Sailing dashboard here.
www.charlestonraceweek.com