Charleston Race Week comes to a close

Meaghan van Liew reports

With chamber-of-commerce conditions ranging across the Lowcountry, Charleston Race Week Presented by Seabrook Island wound to an exciting close today. Brilliantly clear skies, winds of 16 to 18 knots out of the north-northeast, and temperatures in the mid 60s graced the three race courses, giving the 1,000 or so sailors a perfect day for competition. The participants in the non-spinnaker division sailed a 16-mile, reach-to-reach race around government buoys, while those racing on the inshore and offshore courses were treated to two final races to wrap up the event.

Today’s conditions presented a welcome change from Saturday’s blustery winds out of the west when more than one vessel suffered debilitating damage. Inshore, a strong ebb tide lined up well enough with the winds to keep the sea state relatively calm, meaning that managing the many wind shifts and maintaining top boat speed were the key factors for racing success. Offshore, leftover seas from the storm front that blew through on Saturday evening required the competitors to keep their sails powered up in order to maintain good speeds.

In today’s first race among the PHRF Class A boats- the marquee division of the regatta, Don and Lacy Terwilliger’s Beneteau 47.7 Dauntless used her heavy displacement to great advantage in the sloppy waves and frustrated her faster rivals staying close to them all the way around the four-leg course. But Marc Durlach’s Farr 395 Fearless was also in the hunt. With professional sailor Larry Leonard from Quantum Sailmakers calling the shots on board, Dauntless managed to gain ground on each of four legs and took top honors in that race, while Dauntless settled for second. Still, overall honors weren’t really in question as Bill Hanckel’s team aboard his J/120 Emocean stayed close enough in both of today’s races to preserve their lead. They finished the regatta one point ahead of Bulman Scholz’s well sailed Farr 40 Yellow Jacket.

“We just kept changing headsails all the time to stay competitive,” said Will Hanckel after the regatta. “We probably changed sails on every upwind leg, both yesterday and today. That was really the key to our being competitive. We also had some good help with tactics because Jonathan Bartlett from North Sails up in Annapolis was on board for the weekend taking care of that role.”

In that same class, Joe Wood’s crew from Torquay, England on board the Melges 32 Red, encountered some technical problems on the second downwind leg, and couldn’t get their spinnaker hoisted right away. “This is our second regatta on the boat,” said tactician Justin Chisholm. “We’ve learned an awful lot about the boat over the past three days. And though it’s been an uphill battle, it’s been fun. I mean we clocked our speed at one point today on the GPS at 23.3 knots. And we didn’t have the GPS with us yesterday, but we were even faster then….But we thought the sailing out there was just champagne. I mean it was great.”

The action on that same course among the racers in PHRF Class B was fairly tight. Roy Harden’s J/33 Shameless, out of Niceville, Florida, led going into the final race by four points, but it wasn’t enough of a margin with the throw out’s factored in for him to beat Steven Stollman’s crew aboard the C&C 115 or Robert Hibon’s Charleston-based team on the SR33 Temptress. After discarding a 14-point score from Friday’s third race, Stollman’s team won the regatta by two points, with Hibon finished second with Harden third.

The mast man on board Shameless, Bob Hutchison, had some great praise regarding his first experience racing in Charleston. “We really liked the venue here, it’s so much better than Key West Race Week in many ways. At that event, the focus is on the grand prix sailors and all the famous guys, here the focus is on regular people like ourselves. And the competition in our class was exciting. It was basically a five boat event, and that’s something you don’t see very often. Anyway, we’ll definitely come back next year.”

One of the closest contests on the offshore course took place in the J/105 class. Fred Stone’s Charleston-based Puffin and Brian Keane’s Savasana from Weston, Massachusetts were separated by one point going into the final race. Savasana had won the first race of the day by minimizing their mistakes and managing the sloppy waves well. They rounded the first weather mark in second place behind Worth Harris’ Rum at Six. However, on the second beat of this four-leg race, Keane and company jumped into the lead and rounded the last weather mark with a strong lead. Puffin’s crew finished that contest second, meaning that their overall lead had shrunk to just one point. It would be do or die in the final race. As the winds moderated and the seas began to calm, Keane and company punched out a lead and finished first, with Puffin coming in second. That set up a two way tie for overall honors, between those two boats, but then the throw outs were factored in. In the end, the spoils went to Keane’s crew because they were able to discard their worst finish (an 11-point score). The discards meant that Worth Harris’s team on Rum at Six snuck into second place ahead of Puffin by virtue of the fact that they had won one race and Puffin hadn’t.

On the inshore course, there were other tight contests. In the 18-boat Melges 24 class, Steve and Sean Burke, sailing Rick Orchard’s Grins out of Atlanta, Georgia, had been tearing up the aquatic scene with consistently strong finishes (1,3,1,1,1,3), but Reggie Fairchild’s Wireless from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, was close in the standings, just two points back before the final race. And John Lucas’ Spray, out of Charleston, was another two points back.

The final race was a seesaw battle around the five-leg course. With a strong ebb tide running near the weather mark and the breeze oscillating in angle and fluctuating wildly in intensity, the Burkes’ Grins engaged in a tight battle with Spray, rounding the first top mark overlapped with Grins slightly ahead. That left Fairchild and his team free to sail unfettered. By the time the boats got back up to the weather mark for their final rounding, Fairchild had moved into second, but Grins had worked out to a substantial lead. The team from Atlanta went on to win the race and overall honors in the Melges 24 class, sailing with impressive consistency all three days. Fairchild and his Wireless team finished second, followed by Lucas, and that was the order of the regatta in this class.

Some of the hottest action took place in the Etchells 22 class where two players rose to the top after six races. Buddy Cribb and his North Palm Beach, Florida team on Victory stayed on top throughout the regatta with no finish worse than fifth, which they were able to discard in the overall scoring. Cribb’s team had a brief scare in the final contest, where they got their fifth place because their nearest rival, Randall White’s team from Greensboro, North Carolina, finished first. But ultimately it wasn’t enough, and Cribb’s crew won the 16-boat class by three points.

The regatta culminated Sunday afternoon at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina as the final awards were given out to the class winners, as well as the second and third place finishers. Charleston Race Week Presented by Seabrook Island regularly gives its highest accolades to the most competitive winners in the PHRF and One-Design Divisions. Those teams win the coveted perpetual awards. The PHRF overall winner gets the Palmetto Cup and the One-Design overall winner receives the Charleston Race Week Cup. This year’s winners prevailed by mere seconds in both categories, and the Palmetto Cup was awarded to Steven Stollman’s C&C 115 Primal Scream, and the Charleston Race Week Cup went to Buddy Cribb’s Etchells 22 team on Victory.



Overall scores:
PHRF Class A
1. Bill Hanckel, Emocean, J/120 10 points
2. Bulman Scholz, Yellow Jacket, Farr 40 11 points
3. Dauntless, Don and Lacy Terwilliger, Beneteau 47.7 15 points

PHRF Class B
1. Steven Stollman, Primal Scream, C&C 115 9 points
2. Rob Hibdon, Temptress, SR 33 12 points
3. Roy Harden, Shameless, J/33 12 points

J/109
1. Steve Rhyne, Mojo 7 points
2. Jon Halbert, Vitsse 8 points
3. Bill Sweetser, Rush 15 points

J/105
1. Brian Keane, Savasana 6 points
2. Worth Harris, Rum at Six 12 points
3. Fred Stone, Puffin 12 points

Heavy Displacement Spinnaker
1. Tom Bell, Whisper C&C 38 5 points
2. James Thompson, Ariel Swan 47 9 points
3. Tim Burke, Dissipation Tartan 30 15 points

Beneteau 35.7
1. Eric Rosenbaum, Frequent Flyer 7 points
2. Dean Forbis, Echo 9 points
3. Frank Parker, Brown Eyed Girl 16 points

PHRF C
1. John Edwards, Rum Punch J/29 10 points
2. Bill Buckles, Liquor Box Tartan Ten 11 points
3. Erwyn Naidoo, Bohica J/27 13 points

PHRF D
1. Frank Silver, Phantom B 25 7 points
2. Doug Frye, Robyn S2 7.9 11 points
3. Dick McGillvary, Adreniline Rush Beneteau First 8 21 points

Melges 24
1. Rick Orchard, Grins (Steve and Sean Burke) 8 points
2. Reggie Fairchild, Wireless, 11 points
3. John Lucas/Marc Durlach, Spray 14 points

J/24
1. Martin Zonjee, Footloose 15 points
2. Mike Veraldi, Quicky 17 points
3. Bill Moore, Dr. Feelgood 18 points

Etchells 22
1. Buddy Cribb, Victory 7 points
2. Randall White, 1299 10 points
3. Wade Edwards, Riva 20 points

J/80
1. John Storck, Jr., Rumor 6 points
2. Brian Robinson, Angry Chameleon 15 points
3. Bob Limoggio, Spank Me 17 points

Tripp 26
1. Dennis Hannick, Radio Flyer 10 points
2. Treez Decker, Hunting Tripp 11 points
3. Rick Paleschi, Little Shanty 13 points

Non Spinnaker
1. Dale Cook, Tohidu Beneteau 423 5 points
2. Peter Hamm, No Surrender Morgan 27 10 points
3. Scott Strother, Destiny Saber 30 Mk 3 11 points

Wavelength 24
1. Elliot Lemonds, Outta Mind 8 points
2. Bob Sheppard, MDR 12 points
3. Bill Stokes, O-Tay 21 points

Charleston Race Week Presented by Seabrook Island is open to all sailboats from 22 to 60 feet. The regatta is sponsored by Ginn Clubs & Resorts, Raymarine, Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, Charleston Boatworks, Bauer International, Inc., O’Malley Avant, West Marine, Latis Yachting Solutions, Hall Marine, CK Bradley, Trident Funding, UK Halsey Sailmakers, SailTime Charleston, and Charleston Yachting.com. Additional information about the regatta, as well as full scores and photos can be viewed online at www.charlestonraceweek.com . Information is also available by calling the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation (843) 722-1030. High resolution photos for print are available upon request.