Remember when SpinSheet covered the Whitbread Around the World Race coming up the Chesapeake?
Walter Cooper captured the May 1998 SpinSheet cover showing the crew of Chessie Racing executing a spinnaker peel after the re-start for Leg 7, Ft. Lauderdale to Baltimore. SpinSheet’s Dave Gendell reported:
The (870-mile) Leg started Sunday, April 19 in a booming southerly off the beach on Ft. Lauderdale. After parading around a couple of spectator-friendly turning marks, the fleet turned east and north for the Gulf Stream. An old-fashioned, downwind boat speed drag race ensued. The bulk of the fleet stuck with the relative safety and predictability of the stream and their competitors, but the Dutch entry BrunelSunergy, broke from the pack and bolted east. A complex front overtook the bulk of the fleet and put them hard on the wind, while BrunSun pulled a classic “end around,” riding the stubborn edge of the southerly.
BrunSun was eventually overtaken by the northerly and took her place at the head of the fleet which was pounding upwind against the Gulf Stream. With a strong northerly generating big waves by pushing against the four-knot stream, the 24 hours approaching Hatteras and the stretch from Diamond Shoals to the mouth of the Bay proved as hellish as any part of the nine-month marathon.
Regatta leader Paul Cayard (EF Language) says, “It was as hard as you can get in the whole race. The noise onboard was unbelievable. I was sick for a couple of days, and Marco Constants broke his arm. It was a hell of a race.”
Chessie skipper George Collins reiterated, “No one in the fleet got any sleep.”
Once the fleet entered the Bay, in the wee hours of April 22, boat-on-boat tactics took over. The majority of the haul up the Bay was spent sailing in an easterly breeze. The fleet compressed, and by the time Swedish Match reached the Bay Bridge in second place, seven Whitbread 60s could be spotted simultaneously, despite grey skies and a hazy horizon. A chilly and brisk northeasterly wind set in for the leg’s final miles, and jibs were changed to Code Zeros which were exchanged for kites for the push up the Patapsco to the Fort McHenry finish line.
A large spectator fleet was on the water and along the shoreline to welcome the fleet. It was a historic day for the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t present the horror show many had anticipated. It took the fleet about 12 hours from the Bay Bridge-Tunnel at the Virginia Capes to the finish line. Kvaerner navigator Marcel van Treist reported, “The Chesapeake Bay was a lot easier than we thought. It was good to be able to negotiate it during the day.”
Chessie entered the Bay in sixth place, but her widely anticipated homecoming was spoiled when she was passed before the finish by Merit Cup, who had the fastest trip up the Bay, and by Dennis Connor aboard Toshiba. Toshiba enjoyed the talents of Mike Powers who was signed on to provide local knowledge for the leg. Despite bumping the bottom off Poplar Island, Toshiba nipped Chessie by 10 seconds in front of thousands of fans at the finish line.
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