Racing Results

Bay Retriever

S2 9.2C #146

As of 2025-05-24 08:54:26:

Depth 8.3 Winds 159 at 8 gusting to 0

Last high tide 11.4 feet at 2025-05-24 03:11:29, low tide 2 feet at 2025-05-24 05:05:28

Bay Retriever takes first!!

Racing Results

Member, CBYRA, PHRF of the Chesapeake Bay, US Sailing

Primary club: BCYA

Sail No. 93253

PHRF Rating 198 (S2 9.2C SSAS RF)

Interested in crewing for Bay Retriever Racing? Click here!

Previous five entries

2003-10-25

Bay Retriever returned to the PHRF-C spinnaker fleet for the 2003 Harbor Cup.
On a brisk late-October morning, a crew of 8, including five UMBC Club sailors,
left the dock in Baltimore for the three-hour trek under engine to the starting
area. Once there, we arrived early enough to get a practice set, jibe, and
take-down in before the start (and also before the wind built). The race
was an 18 mile return-trip to Baltimore, including a 1.78 mile leg upwind
towards the Bay Bridge before turning North towards the Patapsco. At the
windward mark, Bay Retriever was right were she was supposed to be, just in
front of the boats that she owed time to, and also in front of several boats
that owed her time. Downwind, we discovered that the Bay Retriever
spinnaker, built six years before the boat in 1972, was in fact not the size it
was supposed to be, and is approximately 5 feet too short (or around 100 square
feet too small). Despite this, as we approached the mark to turn for the
reach up the Patapsco, two of the three the Catalina 27s were STILL behind us,
right where they were supposed to be. As the true wind was still 15-18
gusting to 20, and the 31 year old spinnaker is probably 1/2 oz, and several
boats in front of us were having trouble keeping their boats controlled
(including the Sonar that blew out their spinnaker), we doused the chute and set
the #1. As we got further up the river and more in the lee of the land,
the winds died off enough and we fell off enough to re-set the chute. This
time, though, the spinnaker pole ends first refused to open, then refused to
close, making driving difficult as the sheet dropped out of the end every couple
of minutes. Overall, Bay Retriever finished 11/14, 18:15 out of first.

Yes, there were SEVERAL boats still behind us as we closed on the finish.
The one immediately behind the skipper's head is a boat that rated 27 sec/mile
faster, and this was 3/4 of the way through the race!

2003-09-23

Bay Retriever challenged Sally Tomato for the final race of the series. Despite leading the most of the race, Bay Retriever found herself in a hole and lost 6 minutes in the last 20 minutes of the race. We still won the series, though.

2003-09-16

With a full complement of 7, including a true brain trust/afterguard made up of the Simmons brothers of the Annapolis J/24 fleet, Bay Retriever took on Sally Tomato in a shifty 6-10 knot breeze. On a 3.2 mile course, Bay Retriever and Sally Tomato had several close passes, including one serious duck by the Bay Dog on the second windward leg. Although Bay Retriever couldn't take the gun, she corrected over Sally Tomato by over a minute and a half! As the winds died and we were forced to make several quick, short tacks, emphasis went from strategic planning to the perfectly-executed tacks from the relative novice jib trimmers who carried Bay Retriever to victory.

2003-09-09

On a breezy, gusty night with 12 knots sustained and bursting to 16, the Retriever Crew fought hard into the wind against Sally Tomato but couldn't keep up on the long reaching leg. As the first long race in quite some time, though, it did demonstrate dramatic improvement over previous races, and Bay Retriever finished just over two minutes corrected behind her competition.

2003-09-02

On an atypical light air night (wind speeds ranged from 1-4 knots on the trip out), Bay Retriever headed to the BCYA starting area with a doublehanded crew. Six minutes before her starting gun, the wind jumped to 15 knots. With just enough time to reef the main and get in to position, Bay Retriever had a perfect pin-end start on the favored end of the line at full speed. After that, it was time for Sally Tomato to play catch-up. Despite the reefed main and the light crew, Sally was still behind at the windward mark. Because of the change in winds, the RC shortened the course and wasn't clear about where we were going. After agreeing with Sally to head right to the finish, we altered course slightly. Sally managed to pull away a little, but crossed only 7 seconds ahead - well within the handicap correction. Go Retriever!

Next five entries