Flashback to the NASS Race to Oxford, 1998
To celebrate SpinSheet's 30th anniversary this year, we're sharing stories from the archives. This one comes from the November 1998 SpinSheet's Racing Beat section:
More than 200 boats turned out on Saturday, September 26 for the 43rd annual Annapolis to Oxford Race hosted by the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron. The huge fleet, running the gamut from Donnybrook, Javelin, and Trader through J/22s and Rainbows, started between 9 and 10 a.m. downwind in a light northwesterly breeze.
Most sailors knew the northwesterly couldn’t hold out against forecast high air temperatures in the mid-90s and a high-pressure dome off Hatteras. With this in mind, teams began picking their side of the Bay and attempting to keep their bows as close to red #80 of Sharps Island as possible. The breeze slowly and painfully executed its counterclockwise death march that ended with the gentle and warm breeze occasionally smelling of Assateague low tide and coming from as far east as the 140 on the compass.
The nearly 200-degree shift churned the fleet several times, but the ultimate mixing came in the Choptank River. Due to a generally uncooperative breeze, the NASS RC pulled the finish line out to the Choptank River Light. The bulk of the fleet was within the sight of the finish around 5 p.m. when two slick calm stretches essentially restarted the racers who had been clipping at a decent pace under spinnaker with starboard poles on the headstay.
We don’t know the exact numbers, but from our vantage point (aboard the Askews’ sweet Cal 40 Belle Aurore), it appeared that about 150 boats crossed the finish line in a 10-minute stretch, and we finished overlapped with about 20 of them. The huge fleet finishing in such a compressed time period contributed to scoring difficulties which have hopefully been sorted out.
Saturday, September 6, 2025, the 70th Navy Fall Race to Oxford will unfold on the Chesapeake Bay. Find details here.
