Getting kind of pumped. Spent Sunday fixing up J/120 Heron (Owner Greg Leonard) to get it ready for the Annapolis to Newport race, which starts June 5th and goes till we finish. It normally takes about three days.
The Annapolis to Newport race is one of the most historic and well-known of the US East Coast blue water races. Linking two seaports dating from our nation's birth, Annapolis and Newport, the race provides a contrast between the country's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. Such a challenge is the Chesapeake, that the 1997-1998 Whitbread Round the World Race for the Volvo Trophy added it to the course, as did the Volvo Ocean Race in 2002 and 2006.
The course heads south for 120 miles from Annapolis to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, then east to the Chesapeake Light and hence northeast to Newport. After navigating the shallows and currents of the Bay, navigators have to decide if they want to sail the rumbline to Newport, go in towards the shore or head further into the Ocean. The record time for the race is held by Carrera, Joseph Dockery's Farr 60 skippered by Chris Larson, which set a new course record in 2001 of 42 hours, 58 minutes, 12 seconds. This broke the previous record set by Chessie Racing, George Collins' Santa Cruz 70, in 1999 at 47 hours and 45 minutes, which in turn had beaten the 12 year old record (53 hours and 31 minutes) of Starlight Express, a ULDB 70.
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