Farr 40 Blue grabs 2nd in A2N Race
by Oakcliff Sailing 14 Jun 2021 05:49 AEST
2021 Annapolis - Newport Race © Oakcliff Sailing
This year's Annapolis to Newport race went off without a hitch for our two Farr 40 teams: Oakcliff Red and Oakcliff Blue.
After a week of training in Oyster Bay, the teams delivered the boats to Annapolis where they got a taste of just how powerful the ocean can be. They powered through 12 foot seas and 25 knots winds that left most of the crew seasick and dreaming of land. When they finally made it to Annapolis three days later, they had all had a few well-earned offshore stripes and enjoyed a couple of days doing the final tune-ups and some practice sailing in a gorgeous seabreeze. The race started in light winds on Saturday but, to the delight of all the racers, a seabreeze picked up immediately after and they spent about 18 hours on a long upwind beat out of the Chesapeake Bay.
Blue rounded the Chesapeake Light Tower ahead of Red and both boats flew their A2 kites for the better part of the two and a half day trip to Newport. With the exception of some fog towards the finish, the teams saw champagne conditions with sunny skies and 8-15 knots of breeze that left their foulies hanging in the bow for most of the trip.
Blue crossed the line first in the ORC 2 division, and ended up second on corrected time and 3rd in ORC overall. Farr 40 Red finished a few hours later and finished about mid-fleet in ORC 2 (with almost half the crew being new to distance offshore racing!). The team on Blue credits their teamwork, diligence, and active trimming for their well-sailed race.
Romance on the Seas
When the teams arrived in Newport, there was also a special surprise aboard Farr 40 Red. Crewmember Jamie Fales proposed to his girlfriend and Oakcliff supporter Ku'Uipo Curry by the finish line at Castle Hill (left) after bringing the ring along on Red for the race in the ditch bag (just in case the boat went down, we knew what our priorities were XD). We congratulate them and are happy Oakcliff could play a role.
Full results available here...