Terminal Leave is Back Racing on the Chesapeake Bay
After a busy July racing with U.S. Patriot Sailing in Ireland at Volvo Cork Week and starting school at the Marine Corps’ Command & Staff College, we got Terminal Leave back out on the race course. On 7 September we kicked things off with the Navy Fall Race to Cambridge. In addition to winning our class, we won overall in the ORC fleet! This 30 nm race starts from Annapolis, heads south in the Chesapeake Bay, and ends in the Choptank River at Cambridge Yacht Club. The crew consisted of Jane Millman and Tim Forman, a fellow U.S. Patriot Sailing teammate who currently serves in the Navy.
With 17 boats on the starting line, ranging from us (21’) to an R/P 45, it was tough getting off the line in clear air, but we managed. It was surreal starting next to a powered up Class40 (Velocity) as they sheeted in and took off.
Terminal Leave starting next to the Class40 Velocity near Thomas Point Lighthouse
After almost two hours, the wind was light and dark clouds started moving in from the west caused by a front. The forecast had predicted a front to move in and we positioned ourselves to take advantage of the wind shift. Since we were one of the closest boats to the western shore, we were affected by this front first. As the wind rotated and increased, we hoisted the big A2 spinnaker.
As the wind velocity climbed from the teens to low twenties, we began to plane and skim across the surface of the water. We rode the dark cloud edge across the bay towards towards the mouth of the Choptank River. Most of the fleet ahead of us were still sailing upwind, while we were flying downwind towards them. (See picture above)
As we continued to push the boat, we started flying by other boats who were just now getting this new wind and trying to hoist spinnakers. The wind speed continued to increase and we were seeing gusts up to 32 knots. With the A2 Spinnaker still flying, the boat felt incredibly fast as we hit speeds up to 15.6 knots!!! We wiped out gracefully a few times, but managed not to break anything and continued to press on with the big spinnaker until turning up into the river.
The next few miles was a drag race with a close reach angle. We were still hitting speeds in the low teens with a full main and reefed jib. After we turned the next corner farther up in the river, we decided to hoist the A3R spinnaker in its reefed configuration. It worked great initially, until the zipper reef started to undo itself as we were short jibing down the narrowing river. Eventually we dropped it and still made decent progress under main and full jib alone.
Now this is something you do not typically see in a race with spinnakers, but most of the fleet actually finished wing on wing! The final mile of this race was directly down wind on a river that continued to narrow and get shallow. With wind consistently in the high twenties, it proved just as effective for us as flying the spinnaker.
We WON ORC 2 and the overall ORC fleet! With such a competitive fleet of 17 boats, filled with great sailors and many life long friends (and family!), it was a true pleasure competing against everyone that day. Everyone put up a tough fight in those crazy and challenging conditions. Thank you to Naval Academy and the Cambridge Yacht Club for hosting this terrific event. The yacht club was super welcoming (especially since they invited Jane and I to give a talk over the winter) and docked Terminal Leave right next to the race party! It was an excellent opportunity for everyone to check out the boat and share stories from the day. Finally, thank you to Jane and Tim for their support and hard work to make this race a success, I couldn’t have done it without them!!!
This event was such a rewarding experience personally to race Terminal Leave in Annapolis for the first time since completing the Mini Transat and to share the boat with so many supporters from this campaign.
Hospice Cup
The following Saturday (14 Sept) we raced in a local Annapolis distance race as part of the Hospice Cup regatta. Fellow U.S. Patriot Sailing teammate John Tersoni joined me for this event. With a light air, upwind start and current against us…it started off slow. However, we searched for the wind and current relief which initially helped us climb back up in the fleet. While it was not enough according to the final results, we still enjoyed the day racing and were proud to represent U.S. Patriot Sailing on the race course. Thank you to the Hospice Cup race organization for hosting this event to raise money for an incredible cause!
In between races, I also was able to share this Mini experience with long time friend Thomas Oberdorf. We were on the Naval Academy’s Offshore Sailing Team together and this was the first time back out on the water together since we were midshipmen. Thomas is also a Marine Corps officer in the reserves and we are currently students together in Quantico, VA at Command & Staff College. Small world!
Terminal Leave is enjoying her time on a mooring in downtown Annapolis near the Spa Creek bridge and Annapolis Yacht Club.
Next up….AYC Fall Race to Solomons, Saturday 21 September!
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U.S. Patriot Sailing
Supports the veteran community navigate the hardships of transition to civilian life, rehabilitation after injury, and the complex life challenges associated with combat deployments. The organization accomplishes its mission by welcoming veterans back onto a winning team, provides camaraderie, a sense of mission accomplishment, and new dynamic experiences
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