Captain John's Blog

The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, 2007

                                                                  Portsmouth, VA
                                                                        Sunday, October 14, 2007

            This was the penultimate race, an experience I describe as not so much a race as a very fast parade of sail under the most ideal conditions imaginable.  The wind blew a steady 20-25 knots from the Northwest for the first six hours before shifting to the West at the same speed.  There was never a calm, although it did drop to 15 knots for a few hours around sunset. We never tacked, never jibed, but simply steered our course all the way down the bay.  Most of the 38 starting schooners sailed at or near hull speed for most of the race.
            The Mystic Whaler’s finish time of 13 hours and 40 minutes (averaging 9.3 knots) was a few minutes shy of the course record, yet we came in fourth!  The real race was between Pride of Baltimore II and Virginia, and they raced very hard.  This was Virginia’s race all the way, though.  Pride recorded 18 sail changes in less than twelve hours, to Virginia’s one sail change.  Pride never held the lead.
            We carried a reefed mains’l for the entire 127 mile race, and I have no regrets, even though it probably cost us third place (in a fleet of eight).  When the forecast calls for winds gusting to 30 knots (which we never saw), I don’t want to race; it is enough to have a fast, safe sail down the bay with a manageable helm.  Shortly after we crossed the finish line at 3:20 Friday morning, we were astonished to see Lady Maryland cross two minutes behind us.  At Thursday’s sunset, she had been at least a half-hour ahead of us, and we could not comprehend how she had managed to lose so much ground during the night (the answer, we think: Lady Maryland did not reef, and spent much of the night steering a somewhat serpentine course trying to overcome the power of the mains’l).  Since the Mystic Whaler gives Lady Maryland 14 minutes on handicap, she beat us by 12 minutes on corrected time).
            The order:
1st place:          Virginia
2nd place:         Pride of Baltimore II
3rd place:          Lady Maryland
4th place:          Mystic Whaler
5th:                   AJ Meerwald
6th:                   Liberty Clipper
7th:                   Mystic
8th                    Gazela
DNS-               Unicorn

Some of my treasured memories of the race:
            -watching Pride of Baltimore II blow by us at a distance of 80 feet like we were standing still-- oh, the power in that rig!
            - calling Pride of Baltimore II on the radio to advise them that they were flying the Maryland State flag upside down.
            -as the setting sun broke through the clouds, watching Gazela on our starboard quarter carrying a tremendous amount of sail on her 120 year old masts.  The golden light on her sails, contrasted with the dark grey sky behind her was an image that few artists could capture.
            - around midnight, roaring along at between 10 and 11 knots under star-filled skies with the AJ Meerwald on our port side at a distance of 50 to 100 feet.  Every so often we would get ahead by a boat length, and our stern light would illuminate her hull and sails.  It was ghostly, beautiful, and exhilarating.  The two schooners raced in company for over six hours.
            - sailing with the 25 crew of the Mystic Whaler.  They did a great job, and kept us all safe.

            Saturday’s pig and oyster roast was a delightful gam under sunny skies, as some 400 sailors swapped news and learned that there were no injuries, no damage, and that only one schooner did not finish (Ann Elizabeth, 36’, pulled into Solomons with steering problems).
            The awards ceremony was wonderfully positive, with accolades all around for the many new course records set, and with each winning captain congratulating the ones they had bested.

            The final award, the Black Dog Perpetual Trophy, is the only one given to a person rather than to a boat.  It was started last year in memory of the founder of the race, the late Captain Lane Briggs, and honors “the individual who best exemplifies the spirit of Capt. Lane Briggs…”.  There are more particulars in the description, but I cannot remember them.  I cannot remember anything that happened next, for I was numbed by shock.  I am told that there was a standing ovation, though I did not hear it.  I am told that I accepted the trophy, and that I did not drop it.  But I do have one memory I will always cherish: my father was there.

            Fair Winds- John