Destination? Paradise. At least for Annapolis Bermuda Ocean Race participants.
The Biannual Annapolis Bermuda Ocean Race returns for 2018 on June 8th and registration is open for the 50 slots available to sailors of many racing levels and mindsets. The voyage combines inshore and offshore racing through its route down the Chesapeake Bay, across the Gulf Stream, and on to Bermuda. The destination is tropical paradise—white sandy beaches and island hospitality—and well worth a few bumps along the way.
The Annapolis Bermuda Ocean Race only happens every other year. Don’t miss!
The race covers 753 miles, making it the longest ocean race on the east coast of the U.S. The Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, Maryland, is the host club for the race. The club and its A2B race committee work hard to help new and prospective racers get ready for the trip, offering educational seminars leading up to the race and pre-race social events. The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club in Bermuda hosts the fleet while in Bermuda.
First held in 1979, theA nnapolis Bermuda Ocean Race can be technically challenging, physically taxing, and conversely rollicking and serene. Signups for sailors looking for a boat or for boats looking for crew are available on the yachtscoring.com website. Categories of experience include novice, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and professional.
Last February I mentioned that the Chesapeake Conservancy has virtual tours of entire
rivers now available to view on their website. You can see what a Chesapeake Bay tributary looks like before you actually take a boat there.
Since then, the nonprofit conservancy has added many more tours including the Elk, Northeast, Potomac, Sassafras, and York rivers, and the Werowocomoco archaeological site along the York. Terrain360 creates the tours, which are recorded from a boat equipped with six cameras mounted 10 feet above the water’s surface to capture 360-degree images every 50 feet. The images are then stitched together to create a digital image map of an entire river. chesapeakeconservancy.org
America’s Cup “Your Majesty, there is no second place.”
Bermuda is abuzz. After all, not many venues get to host yachting’s holy grail. It’s time once again for the 166-year-old America’s Cup (AC) to eclipse the world of sailing and light up the imaginations of sailors and landlubbers alike.
In its 35th running, the often-controversial event has been dubbed the race of millionaires and draws a crowd of enthusiasts and critics alike, each hoping to catch a glimpse of the action and a photo of the silver. Love it or hate it, you certainly won’t be able to ignore it this summer as the defender Oracle Team USA takes on the winner of the 2017 Louis Vuitton Challenger Playoffs.
The action will take place in America’s Cup Class (ACC) catamarans, which are a little larger (nearly 50 feet LOA) than the AC45F yachts (45-foot, one-design, foiling, fixed wing cats) used in the Louis Vuitton World Series. An overhaul of the rules stipulates that the next AC, already set for 2019, will be raced only in ACC boats while the AC45Fs will be retired.
The venue is Great Sound near the city of Hamilton in Bermuda. This summer, Oracle helmsman, Jimmy Spithill, will defend the trophy for the Golden Gate Yacht Club against challenging clubs that hail from seven countries: Italy, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, and Japan.
U.S. enthusiasts can watch the action remotely during waking hours and without much risk of spoiler alerts because Bermuda’s time zone isn’t off by much from the U.S. east coast. The World Series will be raced in late May and early June, followed by the playoffs in the second week of June. The 35th defense will be the best of 13 (or the first to reach seven points) and is expected to take place June 17-27, although these dates are provisional.
Events beyond the qualifiers and the AC races are also planned. The first is the Youth America’s Cup that will consist of up to 16 teams of sailors aged 19-24 years. Another will be the attendance of eight classic J Class yachts, mostly replicas of the refined vessels that raced in the 1930s. Finally, superyachts of 80-plus feet will compete in an invitational just before the AC final matches begin.
Bermuda (BER), Arrival of the America’s Cup Trophy in the island
Hamilton (BDA) – 35th America’s Cup Bermuda 2017 – ORACLE TEAM USA – America’s Cup Class training (ACC)
Portsmouth (UK) – Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth – Practice Day – Day 0
San Francisco (USA) – 34th America’s Cup – The America’s Cup Trophy in San Francisco Bay
Part of the bay has already been staked out for spectating superyachts to enjoy front-row seats. Who among us would pass up the chance to sit on the aft deck behind celebrity-sized sunglasses, sipping a glass of chilled white and cheering on helmeted racers who look more like SWAT team members than sailors?
If you don’t breathe this rarified air, you may still be able to get in on the action in a few ways. Tickets are sold via the official website (americascup.com) and are available for grandstand seating, VIP spectator boats and the America’s Cup village. The Moorings is offering all-inclusive crewed charters on some of their 4800 and 5800 catamarans. A lucky few will enjoy luxury accommodations, the services of a gourmet chef and a fully stocked bar along with a great on-the-water vacation. The Moorings will also be selling tickets to grandstand seating, the village and Gosling’s Dark and Stormy Island Bar. It’s the next best thing to wine on that superyacht deck.
In case all this sounds too crowded and harried, the AC will also be televised. NBC Sports will provide live coverage of the Louis Vuitton qualifiers and NBC National will cover the final match races. The AC marketing team is also active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, or you can download the AC app for the latest news and results.
Ever since the upstart schooner America dared to challenge Aurora of the English Royal Yacht Squadron to a race around the Isle of Wight, the Cup has represented the pursuit of sailing excellence. The trophy, known as “Auld Mug”, was displayed at the New York Yacht Club from just after the first race in 1851 until Australia II of the Royal Perth Yacht Club broke the streak and snatched it away in 1983.
Many of the races weren’t as friendly as the first one watched by Queen Victoria, and subsequent courtroom drama shaped much of AC history. But it has always been a spectacle, and every few years this contentious competition momentarily blocks out the sun, grabs the world by the collar and demands attention like few other grand prix events can. Winner takes all. And as was famously explained to the queen herself, “There is no second place.”
The competitive sailing season peaks in the winter and spring, when the weather is still too cold for comfortable yachting in northern climes. Each regatta boasts a special charm all its own. Serious racers mark their calendars for the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta and St. Thomas International Regatta, both in March, as well as the B.V.I. Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival and Les Voiles de St. Bart’s in April, and also Antigua Sailing Week, which finishes up the first week in May. Aficionados of classic yachts race in the B.V.I.’s Sweethearts of the Caribbean Regatta in February, the West Indies Regatta in St. Barts and Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in April.
Beginners who want to try their hand at crewing aboard or racing against local island boats can do so at the Grenada Sailing Festival in January, Bequia Easter Regatta in April and Anguilla Regatta in May. Many islands host informal dinghy regattas throughout the year. However, the two big kids-oriented events are the Schoelcher International Sailing Week in February in Martinique, where classes include Optimists, Lasers, Open Bic, Sunfish, and Beach Cats, and the International Optimist Regatta in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. in June, where more than 100 young sailors ages 8-15 compete from more than a dozen countries. There are several great Caribbean regattas in the summer and fall, too, including the Aruba International Regatta and Around Grenada Regattas in August. Puerto Rico’s Discover the Caribbean, the St. Croix International Regatta and St. Lucia’s Mango Bowl are all in November. These last five are smaller events that welcome classes for cruisers. The Caribbean Sailing Association’s website includes dates for every regatta in the region. caribbean-sailing.com
The bite is on year-round! Deep undersea drop-offs and large schools of bait fish make the Caribbean one of the best billfishing spots in the world. Blue marlin reigns as king of catch-and-release, yet tournaments focused on this species also usually include points for white marlin, sailfish and spearfish. There’s no single fishing season since the marlin migrate north and south throughout the year. In fact, it’s possible to find a billfish tournament in which to compete nearly each month of the year. In addition, many of these tournaments are qualifying events for the Offshore World Championship, the largest offshore fishing tournament series in the world, which takes place each spring in Costa Rica. Caribbean qualifiers include the Budget Marine Spice Island Billfish Tournament (January, Grenada), Casa de Campo International Blue Marlin Classic (March, Dominican Republic), Barbados International Billfish Tournament (March, Barbados), the Marlin Madness Game Fishing Tournament (April, Trinidad), Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament (May, Tobago), Saint Martin Billfish Tournament (June, Saint Martin), Caicos Classic (July, Turks & Caicos), Montego Bay International Marlin Tournament (September, Jamaica), and in October, the St. Lucia International Billfish Tournament, Presidential Aruba Caribbean Cup and Martinique Billfish Tournament. Bring your own boat or reserve a local charter boat for any of these events.
There are some excellent gamefish tournaments, too. These are especially great for visitors, including families and budget-conscious fishermen as it’s possible to rent a center console with or without captain for the day. Some of the most fun—and with awesome prizes—are the Bastille Day Kingfish Tournament in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. in July, the Tarpon Thunder Tournament in August in Trinidad, and the St. Maarten Wahoo Tournament in November
By Carol Bareuther, Southern Boating Magazine January 2017
