Hot Times in the Cities

Issue: Chesapeake Bay Destinations
Hot Times in the Cities
When the Volvo Ocean race comes to Baltimore and Annapolis this month, we boaters and other ordinary mortals can get in on the fun. Here's your guide to the hot tickets. by Wendy Mitman Clarke photographs by John Bildahl Sometime later this month—no one knows exactly when—a bunch of tired, smelly offshore sailors are going to arrive on the Chesapeake Bay. They'll be in dire need of good food, strong drink, great parties and a group hug from Baltimore and Annapolis—and they'll be getting all of that. And you, as Bay boaters, can do the same if you care to participate in what is arguably the biggest international yacht-racing hoedown in the United States this year, when the Volvo Ocean Race comes to town. Every four years since 1973–74 the crewed round-the-world ocean race that's now called the Volvo Ocean Race or VOR (originally the Whitbread, for the English brewing company that was its first sponsor) challenges dozens of sailors to hang it out on the hairy edge for 32,700 nautical miles or so toward a hoped-for finish—and even better, win. In that first year, competitors raced in a variety of custom and production boats only slightly modified for racing. This year, they're on a handful of high-tech, high-strung 70-foot speed demons (VO70s) with canting keels that can go upward of 30 knots—when they're not suffering dismastings, failing keel rams or other catastrophic things that happen at the bleeding edge of monohull ocean racing. This year's race began last November in Vigo, Spain, and took racers through the Atlantic and Southern oceans en route to stops in Cape Town; Melbourne, Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; and Rio de Janeiro. On February 19 the boats left Brazil and headed for Baltimore, a 5,000-mile leg that would take them through the vagaries of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (better known as the Doldrums), the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle and finally, as the race's website put it, the "minefield" of the Chesapeake Bay. Sometime around April 18 they should be finishing just north of the Bay Bridge for a stop in Baltimore, a round-the-buoys race off the mouth of the Chester River, and then a brief visit to Annapolis. Then, on May 7, the boats will gather just south of the Bay Bridge to start a short leg to New York City. Then it's across the big pond to England (Portsmouth), the Netherlands (Rotterdam) and finally the big finish in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is, in short, a Very Big Deal in international yacht racing. Baltimore and Annapolis were chosen as stopover ports for the first time in the 1997–98 race. With hometown favoriteChessie Racinginspiring the organizers, volunteers and sailing enthusiasts in the sail-crazy cities, the stopover was deemed one of the best ever. Since then, it's only gotten better. This year's stopover will feature top local and national entertainers (including singer John Legend, hot off his three Grammy awards in February), what is arguably the biggest rum-and-beer sailors' kegger in the country, and young sailors with big dreams racing their Optis and one-design dinghies in the shadows of the VO70s. Here's our guide to help you Bay boaters out there find the hot tickets while the race is in town. THE FINISH This is always a little tricky. For one thing, you never know when it will happen, exactly, and there's every chance it will be in the middle of the night. But if you keep an eye on the Volvo website (www.volvooceanrace.org, click on "results and data" and then "position maps") you can get an accurate picture of where they are and how fast they're going, as well as an estimated finish time. (It can't hurt, either, to see to it that you get a phone call from your buddies down in Hampton, Va. or Solomons Island when they see them go by.) If the planets are in alignment, you have a fast boat and can play hooky, you can cruise out and watch them. It'll take your breath away, especially when you realize how far they have come and how hard they've sailed to be here. (It probably goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway: keep your distance. The rule is no closer than 200 feet.) In the past the finish line has been in front of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, but this year the line will be just north of the Bay Bridge near Baltimore Light—unless wind conditions are favorable for a finish in the harbor, says Lee Tawney, secretary of Ocean Race Chesapeake. (If you're boatless, a good bet is to take your beach chair and binoculars to Sandy Point State Park, if the finish is happening during park hours.) THE IN-PORT RACE For the first time, you'll have a chance to see the boats and crews actually compete in an in-port race this year. "You either want to watch the start or the day race just to see how these boats sail," says ESPN commentator and Bay sailor Gary Jobson. "They're quite the challenge." That race is on Saturday, April 29, starting at 1 p.m. on a course around buoys west of the mouth of the Chester River. Race officials won't set the course until that day, basing it on wind direction, but it will be a windward-leeward course with two- to three-mile legs, Tawney says. Again, the rule is to stay at least 200 feet from the boats. This race is for real marbles—points that accrue for each team. So it will be an excellent chance to see the teams and boats sailing like they mean it. BALTIMORE Baltimore's dance card for the VOR is jam-packed, all revolving around the Baltimore Waterfront Festival that will take place from April 27—the day the boats are scheduled to arrive in the Inner Harbor at their temporary docks in front of the Maryland Science Center—through May 3. People will have access to tour the docks and see the boats up close (visit the Ocean Race Chesapeake websitewww.oceanracechesapeake.orgto find out when, since at the time of this writing the plans weren't firm. It may also be possible to see the boats at Port Covington Marina where boats needing any repairs will be hauled out). Throughout the festival there will be concerts, regattas and galas, but the hottest ticket is probably going to be the award ceremony and concert at the Hippodrome Theater on April 30 featuring the aforementioned John Legend. As of mid-February, 1,500 of the 2,300 tickets had already been sold at $100 each, Tawney says. Earlier that day, at the World Trade Center at 2 p.m., Gary Jobson will moderate a free, public forum with the race crews and local interscholastic and college sailors. It's one of several events during the stopover geared to young sailors and high school and college sailing programs. "It's to give them a little inspiration," Jobson says. "And they also get some tips on technique." According to Baltimore City dock-master Frances Knauff, the racing boats and several visiting ships will gobble up most of the public dockage in the Inner Harbor—especially on the finger piers and along the harbor's west wall. "We'll have no-docking signs posted where it's not available, or a boat or ship will be there," she says. Even dinghy space will be at a premium for those lucky enough to grab a spot in the Inner Harbor anchorage near the World Trade Center. Most marinas in Baltimore that regularly take transients said they had slips available as this issue went to press, but that's likely to change as the event draws near. ANNAPOLIS After the Parade of Sail from Baltimore on May 4 (remember the 200-foot stand-off), the VO70s will arrive in Annapolis and tie up at temporary piers off the City Dock. Throughout the winter a huge dredge barge could be seen working in the harbor—digging a narrow 18-foot channel for the Volvo boats, says harbormaster Ric Dahlgren (the 70-footers draw just under 15 feet—about a foot more than the harbor had to offer). That deepened channel will be denoted with state marker buoys. "We'll ask that when the Volvo boats are coming or going that people stay well clear of them, not only for security but because they're constrained by depth, and we don't want them to have to maneuver to miss anybody," Dahlgren says. Most of Ego Alley will be closed off to boat traffic during the VOR's visit, which coincides with the May 4–7 Maryland Maritime Heritage Festival. There will be a viewing dock to see the boats while they're tied up in the harbor. Of the many events during the Annapolis stopover, a few stand out. One is on Saturday May 6, when young sailors from several of the Volvo host countries will compete in the Ports Optimist Regatta. There will also be a high school regatta, the Gary Jobson Cup, that day. The hottest ticket in Annapolis is the ponderously titled "Annapolis Salutes the 2006 Volvo Ocean Race," better known as the Eastport party. "It istheone to go to," Jobson says. "Everybody ends up there." Since the first stopover in 1998, Eastport Yacht Club and Severn Sailing Association have cleared their adjacent parking lots and invited 6,000 people to a gigantic regatta bash on the tip of the Eastport peninsula. "I don't think it would be wrong to say it's the largest sailors' party in the United States, if not the world," Tawney says. "It's nice and unpretentious and even the muckety-mucks end up going over there and having fun." The first year it poured rain, "but all you could see was a sea of yellow slickers," says Clare Vanderbeek of EYC, the party's chairperson. "People had a fabulous time regardless," she says, andSailing Worldmagazine dubbed it the best sailors' party in history. Since then it's only grown in reputation and organization. This year's event will feature seven musical acts—among them Dean Rosenthal, The Remnants and Them Eastport Oyster Boys. Phillips Seafood and Red, Hot & Blue will supply the food, and the all-important beer, wine and rum will come from Heineken, Amstel Light, Boordy Vineyards and, of course, Mount Gay. Tickets are $25, and party organizers suggest participants just plan on parking "somewhere in Eastport" and walking to the bash. There will be no public docking at EYC or SSA. As for docking in Annapolis during the stopover, most local marinas that usually accept transients say they should have slips available, but again, we asked the question in late February. Thesooner you call in reservations, the better. Dahlgren says about a third of the main mooring field in front of City Dock will not be available; that's where the VO70s will be. Boaters who usually dinghy into Ego Alley will have to find another place to land; Dahlgren says the best bets will be in Eastport or at Shipwright Street above the Spa Creek bridge. All of the mooring field above the bridge will be available. THE RESTART If you break out in hives maneuvering your boat around a lot of others, do yourself a favor and get a ride on someone else's fair yacht for the restart (or do something really different and watch it from the deck of the Liberty shipJohn W. Brown, which will embark from Baltimore on a special cruise for the race). The restart, at least the area outside of it, is just slightly controlled chaos—hundreds of boats jockeying for position outside a half-mile-wide exclusion zone that extends for five miles, from the Bay Bridge to Thomas Point. This year the restart will happen just south of the Bay Bridge (in the past it has been farther north), and then the boats will be sent northward briefly to round a mark so people participating in the Bay Bridge Walk will be able to see them before they head south down the Bay and on to New York City. Several dozen picket boats as well as the Coast Guard will be on hand to enforce the exclusion zone. It can get a little crazy out there, but the thrill of seeing these boats and racers off—nearing the end of their enormous adventure—is worth it. [04.06 issue]

When the Volvo Ocean race comes to Baltimore and Annapolis this month, we boaters
and other ordinary mortals can get in on the fun. Here's your guide to the hot tickets.

by Wendy Mitman Clarke
photographs by John Bildahl

Sometime later this month—no one knows exactly when—a bunch of tired, smelly offshore sailors are going to arrive on the Chesapeake Bay. They'll be in dire need of good food, strong drink, great parties and a group hug from Baltimore and Annapolis—and they'll be getting all of that. And you, as Bay boaters, can do the same if you care to participate in what is arguably the biggest international yacht-racing hoedown in the United States this year, when the Volvo Ocean Race comes to town.

Every four years since 1973–74 the crewed round-the-world ocean race that's now called the Volvo Ocean Race or VOR (originally the Whitbread, for the English brewing company that was its first sponsor) challenges dozens of sailors to hang it out on the hairy edge for 32,700 nautical miles or so toward a hoped-for finish—and even better, win. In that first year, competitors raced in a variety of custom and production boats only slightly modified for racing. This year, they're on a handful of high-tech, high-strung 70-foot speed demons (VO70s) with canting keels that can go upward of 30 knots—when they're not suffering dismastings, failing keel rams or other catastrophic things that happen at the bleeding edge of monohull ocean racing.

This year's race began last November in Vigo, Spain, and took racers through the Atlantic and Southern oceans en route to stops in Cape Town; Melbourne, Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; and Rio de Janeiro. On February 19 the boats left Brazil and headed for Baltimore, a 5,000-mile leg that would take them through the vagaries of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (better known as the Doldrums), the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle and finally, as the race's website put it, the "minefield" of the Chesapeake Bay.

Sometime around April 18 they should be finishing just north of the Bay Bridge for a stop in Baltimore, a round-the-buoys race off the mouth of the Chester River, and then a brief visit to Annapolis. Then, on May 7, the boats will gather just south of the Bay Bridge to start a short leg to New York City. Then it's across the big pond to England (Portsmouth), the Netherlands (Rotterdam) and finally the big finish in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is, in short, a Very Big Deal in international yacht racing.

Baltimore and Annapolis were chosen as stopover ports for the first time in the 1997–98 race. With hometown favoriteChessie Racinginspiring the organizers, volunteers and sailing enthusiasts in the sail-crazy cities, the stopover was deemed one of the best ever. Since then, it's only gotten better.

This year's stopover will feature top local and national entertainers (including singer John Legend, hot off his three Grammy awards in February), what is arguably the biggest rum-and-beer sailors' kegger in the country, and young sailors with big dreams racing their Optis and one-design dinghies in the shadows of the VO70s. Here's our guide to help you Bay boaters out there find the hot tickets while the race is in town.

THE FINISH
This is always a little tricky. For one thing, you never know when it will happen, exactly, and there's every chance it will be in the middle of the night. But if you keep an eye on the Volvo website (www.volvooceanrace.org, click on "results and data" and then "position maps") you can get an accurate picture of where they are and how fast they're going, as well as an estimated finish time. (It can't hurt, either, to see to it that you get a phone call from your buddies down in Hampton, Va. or Solomons Island when they see them go by.) If the planets are in alignment, you have a fast boat and can play hooky, you can cruise out and watch them. It'll take your breath away, especially when you realize how far they have come and how hard they've sailed to be here. (It probably goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway: keep your distance. The rule is no closer than 200 feet.) In the past the finish line has been in front of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, but this year the line will be just north of the Bay Bridge near Baltimore Light—unless wind conditions are favorable for a finish in the harbor, says Lee Tawney, secretary of Ocean Race Chesapeake. (If you're boatless, a good bet is to take your beach chair and binoculars to Sandy Point State Park, if the finish is happening during park hours.)

THE IN-PORT RACE
For the first time, you'll have a chance to see the boats and crews actually compete in an in-port race this year. "You either want to watch the start or the day race just to see how these boats sail," says ESPN commentator and Bay sailor Gary Jobson. "They're quite the challenge." That race is on Saturday, April 29, starting at 1 p.m. on a course around buoys west of the mouth of the Chester River. Race officials won't set the course until that day, basing it on wind direction, but it will be a windward-leeward course with two- to three-mile legs, Tawney says. Again, the rule is to stay at least 200 feet from the boats. This race is for real marbles—points that accrue for each team. So it will be an excellent chance to see the teams and boats sailing like they mean it.

BALTIMORE
Baltimore's dance card for the VOR is jam-packed, all revolving around the Baltimore Waterfront Festival that will take place from April 27—the day the boats are scheduled to arrive in the Inner Harbor at their temporary docks in front of the Maryland Science Center—through May 3. People will have access to tour the docks and see the boats up close (visit the Ocean Race Chesapeake websitewww.oceanracechesapeake.orgto find out when, since at the time of this writing the plans weren't firm. It may also be possible to see the boats at Port Covington Marina where boats needing any repairs will be hauled out).

Throughout the festival there will be concerts, regattas and galas, but the hottest ticket is probably going to be the award ceremony and concert at the Hippodrome Theater on April 30 featuring the aforementioned John Legend. As of mid-February, 1,500 of the 2,300 tickets had already been sold at $100 each, Tawney says.

Earlier that day, at the World Trade Center at 2 p.m., Gary Jobson will moderate a free, public forum with the race crews and local interscholastic and college sailors. It's one of several events during the stopover geared to young sailors and high school and college sailing programs. "It's to give them a little inspiration," Jobson says. "And they also get some tips on technique."

According to Baltimore City dock-master Frances Knauff, the racing boats and several visiting ships will gobble up most of the public dockage in the Inner Harbor—especially on the finger piers and along the harbor's west wall. "We'll have no-docking signs posted where it's not available, or a boat or ship will be there," she says. Even dinghy space will be at a premium for those lucky enough to grab a spot in the Inner Harbor anchorage near the World Trade Center. Most marinas in Baltimore that regularly take transients said they had slips available as this issue went to press, but that's likely to change as the event draws near.

ANNAPOLIS
After the Parade of Sail from Baltimore on May 4 (remember the 200-foot stand-off), the VO70s will arrive in Annapolis and tie up at temporary piers off the City Dock. Throughout the winter a huge dredge barge could be seen working in the harbor—digging a narrow 18-foot channel for the Volvo boats, says harbormaster Ric Dahlgren (the 70-footers draw just under 15 feet—about a foot more than the harbor had to offer). That deepened channel will be denoted with state marker buoys. "We'll ask that when the Volvo boats are coming or going that people stay well clear of them, not only for security but because they're constrained by depth, and we don't want them to have to maneuver to miss anybody," Dahlgren says.

Most of Ego Alley will be closed off to boat traffic during the VOR's visit, which coincides with the May 4–7 Maryland Maritime Heritage Festival. There will be a viewing dock to see the boats while they're tied up in the harbor.

Of the many events during the Annapolis stopover, a few stand out. One is on Saturday May 6, when young sailors from several of the Volvo host countries will compete in the Ports Optimist Regatta. There will also be a high school regatta, the Gary Jobson Cup, that day.

The hottest ticket in Annapolis is the ponderously titled "Annapolis Salutes the 2006 Volvo Ocean Race," better known as the Eastport party. "It istheone to go to," Jobson says. "Everybody ends up there." Since the first stopover in 1998, Eastport Yacht Club and Severn Sailing Association have cleared their adjacent parking lots and invited 6,000 people to a gigantic regatta bash on the tip of the Eastport peninsula. "I don't think it would be wrong to say it's the largest sailors' party in the United States, if not the world," Tawney says. "It's nice and unpretentious and even the muckety-mucks end up going over there and having fun."

The first year it poured rain, "but all you could see was a sea of yellow slickers," says Clare Vanderbeek of EYC, the party's chairperson. "People had a fabulous time regardless," she says, andSailing Worldmagazine dubbed it the best sailors' party in history. Since then it's only grown in reputation and organization. This year's event will feature seven musical acts—among them Dean Rosenthal, The Remnants and Them Eastport Oyster Boys. Phillips Seafood and Red, Hot & Blue will supply the food, and the all-important beer, wine and rum will come from Heineken, Amstel Light, Boordy Vineyards and, of course, Mount Gay. Tickets are $25, and party organizers suggest participants just plan on parking "somewhere in Eastport" and walking to the bash. There will be no public docking at EYC or SSA.

As for docking in Annapolis during the stopover, most local marinas that usually accept transients say they should have slips available, but again, we asked the question in late February. Thesooner you call in reservations, the better. Dahlgren says about a third of the main mooring field in front of City Dock will not be available; that's where the VO70s will be. Boaters who usually dinghy into Ego Alley will have to find another place to land; Dahlgren says the best bets will be in Eastport or at Shipwright Street above the Spa Creek bridge. All of the mooring field above the bridge will be available.

THE RESTART
If you break out in hives maneuvering your boat around a lot of others, do yourself a favor and get a ride on someone else's fair yacht for the restart (or do something really different and watch it from the deck of the Liberty shipJohn W. Brown, which will embark from Baltimore on a special cruise for the race). The restart, at least the area outside of it, is just slightly controlled chaos—hundreds of boats jockeying for position outside a half-mile-wide exclusion zone that extends for five miles, from the Bay Bridge to Thomas Point. This year the restart will happen just south of the Bay Bridge (in the past it has been farther north), and then the boats will be sent northward briefly to round a mark so people participating in the Bay Bridge Walk will be able to see them before they head south down the Bay and on to New York City. Several dozen picket boats as well as the Coast Guard will be on hand to enforce the exclusion zone. It can get a little crazy out there, but the thrill of seeing these boats and racers off—nearing the end of their enormous adventure—is worth it.

[04.06 issue]