Sunday, September 2, 2013 - Annapolis Race Week opened Saturday to Chamber of Commerce conditions. Clear blue skies and a steadily increasing breeze made for great racing action across the three courses off Annapolis. Sunday's conditions deteriorated somewhat as an approaching frontal system imposed steadily decreasing wind speeds, that saw the final races of the day staged in less than 10 knots.
The front came through last night, and the forecast for today is going to be challenging, especially given the 2+ knots of southbound current that the teams will see around noon.
As you are working on your morning coffee (which is what I am doing), let me run you through some of the notable results going into day three. On the Farr 30 course Cole Allsopp and Brad Kauffman are in a tie for first after six races. Hugh Bethell on Jester is leading the 15-boat J/105 fleet by 3 points over Cedric Lewis' Mirage. Also on this course, J/35 Maggie is well into 1st place - 10 points ahead of T-Bone and Medicine Man who are tied for second.
On the J/70 & J/80 course, Peter McChesney is leading the 28-boat fleet of J/70s (the largest one-design fleet in the regatta) by 9-points. Many of these boats are tuning up for the massive 90-boat North American Championships to be held in Annapolis at the end of this month. Will Crump is keeping the J/80s on their toes with a string of bullets marred only by a (2) in the last race yesterday.
The Northern most course saw Peter Rich move into the lead on day two in the J/24s, tied with Pete Kassal at 18-points. Frederick Caison's Defiant is dominating PHRF C with 7-points after 6 races. And, Draco is leading the 10-boat Cal 25 fleet with 11-points.
Best of luck to the racers today. To relive the action from Saturday, check out the more than 200 photos that are up in our gallery.
