Please select your home edition
Edition
Selden 2020 - LEADERBOARD

Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Opens Chesapeake Sailing Season

by Sarah Renz 12 May 2022 22:32 HKT 13-15 May 2022
Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta © Paul Todd / Outside Images

Maryland's colonial state capital city is surrounded by vast waterways that stretch deep from the interior into the greater Chesapeake Bay, which is why Annapolis is hailed as a sailor's playground and residents call it "The Sailing Capital" of the United States. This will be especially true when the national Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series hosts nearly 200 racing sailboats and crews over the coming weekend of May 13-15.

As the Chesapeake's popular early-season regatta and an important East Coast destination for keen traveling sailors, the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Annapolis stop draws locals as well as competitors from 18 different states and Canada who come annually for the high level of competition. Teams of professional and amateur sailors will race in a variety of keelboat classes, ranging from 18 to 40 feet, on four individual race areas established on the waters south of the iconic Bay Bridge. This area of the Chesapeake is known for reliable spring winds but also its notorious and tricky currents that provide an unpredictable element to every race.

While many teams will splash their boats early to train and prepare for the expected racecourse conditions, the bulk of the racers will launch Friday morning (May 13) from Annapolis' three active sailing clubs. The regatta's host, Annapolis Yacht Club, along with Severn Sailing Association and Eastport Yacht Club will provide professional race management.

The regatta's bigger boats will race on a course set furthest south near Thomas Point Lighthouse while the smaller boats will be spread across three race areas due east of the entrance to the Severn River. On Saturday, organizers will also host the North Sails Rally Race, a one-day distance race in which competitors will sail a long course using navigation buoys located throughout the bay and finishing off the U.S. Naval Academy. Among the Rally Race fleet will be two-person teams as well as bigger boats scored using a time-correction handicapping system.

The bulk of the regatta's entrants, however, are "one-design" classes; classified as different boat types that are essentially identical in construction. The most popular among the one-design classes today is the 23-foot J/70, which is typically raced with a crew of four or five, coed teams consisting of professional and amateurs together. The J/70 is easily trailered so the class maintains a busy winter racing schedule, and for many teams, the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Annapolis is the culmination of a season's worth of races before teams continue their migrations back to the Midwest and New England for summer racing.

While Annapolis is a popular stop for these traveling teams, the local sailing scene is more robust than ever given the reported increase in sailing participation during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. One-design classes that are traditionally strong at this Annapolis regatta are even more so this year, including the competitive Viper 640, a 21-foot three-person sportboat that's fast, fun and physically demanding. The Viper 640s, with 27 teams registered, will be the regatta's largest fleet and will sail for its Atlantic Coast Championship Trophy—in the absence of 2021's defending regatta champion skipper Tyler Moore.

"Tyler (Moore) sold his boat and is boat-less at the moment," says local skipper Mary Ewenson, who was third overall in 2021, "but there are a few new teams that are very good. My team is light [weight], so given the forecast is for lighter winds, I'm liking our chances this year."

The ever-popular J/22 class, a fixture of this regatta series, which has been held in Annapolis for more than three decades, has 23 teams on the pre-race entry list, with one notable absence in J.R. Maxwell and his teammates, who won this division and the regatta's overall title in 2021. Maxwell and his crew have switched to the 26-foot J/80 division, which has 21 entries, including several from out of town. The J/80 class will contest its North American and World Championship in Rhode Island in the fall, so many of the teams are using the Annapolis regatta as an early start to their world championship training.

The seven-boat Etchells division will also be using the Helly Hansen Sailing World regatta as a stepping stone to its World championship in Miami next spring as the top team in Annapolis will earn one championship berth.

The regatta's toughest local fleet will undoubtedly be the J/105 division. With 23 entries—all but two of them hailing from the Annapolis area—this class enjoys its reputation as a lower-cost, harder-to-win racing experience, and with strict rules ensuring each boat is identical as possible, success comes not from the vintage of the boat, but from the skills of the sailors, the teamwork, and mastery of the racecourse.

Ray Wulff, a top-shelf local who only recently made the J/105 switch from the J/70 class, has been fast out of the gate in some early season local skirmishes. He says he has sailed plenty of "other peoples" J/105s over the past 20 years, but now he's the one with the tiller in his hand. His boat, Patriot, didn't need much work after sitting on the hard in a yard in Annapolis for a few years. He stripped out its wheel steering and swapped it with a tiller, and replaced the halyard clutches, which don't get a lot of use these days anyway.

"We are still learning the fast setup," Wulff says, "but we do a bit of inhauling on the jib, using the weather sheet. We'll keep that that on the weather winch and always play it. We also keep the halyards on the cabin top winches because we are always playing halyard tension. The cunningham? Skip it; sometimes we'll luff the main for a second and grind the halyard up, so the sail looks like the sailmaker intended it to be. A lot of people rely on the clutches and the boat isn't as efficient as it could be."

The critical point, he adds is: "The boat doesn't have that many adjustments, which makes the adjustments that you do have all the more important."

In terms of big-fleet and small-course management, Wullf's advice is to do whatever it takes to get clear air—but don't look for it in the middle of the racecourse. "With the [J/105's] giant keel profile and big rudder, these boats throw a lot of bad air and bad water, so we really just try to stay away from other boats and keep our maneuvers to a minimum."

There are several returning—and now legacy—classes of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in Annapolis, the oldest among them being the classic Alberg 30s, which will contest their coveted Maple Leaf Championship Trophy, which means outsmarting Patrick Seidel, of Trappe, Maryland, and his team on Laughing Gull, which went undefeated in 2021. The J/35s, J/30s and J/24s have smaller numbers, but that often results in closer racing.

New to the regatta will be the Beneteau First SE class with owners and crews traveling in from outside the Chesapeake Bay. The Helly Hansen Sailing World regatta in Annapolis will be the first time that skippers of these 24-foot sportboats will have competed against one another and will sail a unique distance race each day before joining fellow regatta participants at the nightly parties hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club.

When the Annapolis regatta concludes Sunday, May 15, one class-winning competitor will be selected to compete in the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship in October in the British Virgin Islands.

For more information on the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series events, visit www.sailingworld.com/regatta-series.

For comprehensive results, visit www.yachtscoring.com.

Related Articles

Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup Day 2
Philip Köster triumphs again in Pozo Izquierdo The 37th edition of the Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup delivered a thrilling second day this Sunday, once again marked by strong winds and the talent of the world's best windsurfers. Posted today at 8:47 pm
A perfect start to the 5th annual AEGEAN 600
Cloudless blue skies, crystal clear waters and perfect 12-15 knots of northerly wind At the very southern end of the Greek mainland at Cape Sounion in Attica, today's start to the 5th edition of the AEGEAN 600 was perfect: cloudless blue skies, crystal clear waters and perfect 12-15 knots of northerly wind. Posted today at 8:39 pm
29er Europeans at Lake Garda day 4
One race, one storm, and one big lay day vibe With qualification wrapped and the fleet now split into six groups—Gold, Silver, Bronze, Emerald, Purple, and White—Day 4 of the 29er Europeans kicked off with early optimism and an earlier-than-usual launch in pursuit of the morning breeze. Posted today at 7:09 pm
iQFOiL Worlds a Aarhus day 1
Full foiling conditions launch the World Championship with four high-intensity races for both fleets The iQFOiL World Championship kicked off today in Aarhus with dynamic and demanding conditions that truly tested the world's top foiling windsurfers. The wind was anything but steady, shifting in both direction and intensity throughout the day. Posted today at 7:01 pm
Rolex TP52 Worlds in Cascais overall
American Magic Quantum Racing win Rolex TP52 Worlds after breezy week in Cascais. Doug DeVos' American Magic Quantum Racing crew were crowned 2025 Rolex TP52 World Champions today in Cascais, Portugal. Posted today at 6:54 pm
Red Bull Sailing Academy Opens
A new hub for current and future superstars to reach the top of their sport Marina Monfalcone, North Italy, made waves yesterday, as sports superstars gathered to open the Red Bull Sailing Academy, marking the beginning of a new era in the sport. Posted today at 12:53 pm
Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup Day 1
Philip Köster edges out Marcilio Browne in one of the closest finals ever Philip Köster edges out Marcilio Browne in one of the closest finals ever as Pozo delivers 50 knot winds and waves. Posted today at 11:42 am
America's Cup: French give the Brits the "Hurry-up
Frustration builds between Cup factions over lack of progress with Protocol. Last weekend's missive from the French America's Cup challenge team is further evidence over the building frustration with progress towards the 2027 America's Cup in Naples. Posted today at 11:12 am
The oldest video footage of Moth sailing
A look back into our video archive, to when the name of this class first settled down We delve into our video archive to find the oldest possible videos that show Moth racing. Are these International Moths, British Moths... or was the name still Olive, Inverloch 11ft, National Moth or Brent One-Design?! Posted today at 11:00 am
GKSS Match Cup & Nordea Women's Trophy overall
It is the first time the Match Cup Sweden title has been won by a Danish Skipper Denmark's Jeppe Borch/ Team Borch Match Race, and France's Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy crowned the new champions of Marstrand in a day of fierce weather for the final of 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women's Trophy in Marstrand. Posted today at 7:14 am
Switch One DesignPredictWind - Routing 728x90 BOTTOMMaritimo M75