THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610200054
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY LENGTH: 108 lines
As the sun knifes into the water, drenching the Bay in gold and crimson, tall ships that were built for speed stand motionless on the horizon like paper cutouts. Flags flying from their masts flutter listlessly.
The start of the 7th annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race Thursday has been anything but great. One hundred twenty-seven miles to go from just above Annapolis to Norfolk. Light winds out of the south not even strong enough to prevent the larger boats from drifting backward in the current.
And worse, 30 hours or so from now, if they're still moving, a storm big enough to flip boats over and rip out their sails.
A few may make it, but surely many more will be forced to run for shelter or take a battering on the notoriously mean Chesapeake.
Twenty-six schooners, throwbacks to the great days of shipping on the East Coast, crossed the starting line. How many will make it to the finish at Thimble Shoals and limp to the Norfolk Waterfront?
``We've got two topsails; let's put them up,'' says Shon Walter, owner of the Norfolk-built Jolly Rover. Walter, a Granby High graphic arts teacher, is determined to get the most out of his steel-hulled, 80-foot tour cruiser. ``But I don't want to wallow around here all night and then get beaten up by a storm.''
Meanwhile, others built for speed and light winds creep ahead of the pack.
Woodwind, a 74-foot staysail schooner from Annapolis that won last year's race, enjoys an early lead, partly because it astonished the strong and powerful Seljm of Great Britain by crossing ahead of it at the starting line and forcing the larger boat into a long, slow 360 degree turn.
Woodwind's maneuver was correct but greedy, the owner of the Seljm huffs. Portugese-born Patrick deBarros of Charlottesville represented Portugal in several Olympic races. He's on the first leg of a seven-year cruise around the world. Guests on his 112-foot, 130-ton symphony of teak and fiberglass take off their shoes before going below. He has a professional crew of five trained to win.
Seljm, named for an 8th century Turkish navigator, flies deBarros' personal Portugese battle flag from its stern.
Woodwind, a replica of the classic, fast schooners built for the Bay in the 1920s, is just as determined. It nosed out the just-built schooner America in last year's race.
Throughout the night, Seljm and Woodwind eye each other on radar as they make lazy zigzags across the Bay.
At one point, they pass about 10 boat lengths from each other. Woodwind's crew cheers lustily. Just seeing another boat after hours in silence gets their adrenelin pumping. Nobody wants to go to bed.
Meanwhile, miles behind and drifting helplessly, several boats, including the Jolly Rover, decide they'll never outrun the storm under sail and turn on their engines.
``The tide turned on us, and we were all going backward,'' Greg Muzzy, the owner of the Liberty Clipper of Boston, recalls.
Friday, the wind, still out of the south, begins to pick up.
Shortly after 11 p.m., it dies to a dead calm.
Then, within seconds, the wind whips around from southeast to the southwest, and screams at what some say was 70 miles an hour, lashing the boats with icy rain.
The Eskasoni of Galena, Md., is nearly knocked over, then takes off like a freight train. There's no time to get to the sails. All three of them are ripped to shreds.
``Pan pan, pan pan,'' a distress signal just short of ``mayday'' crackles on the radio from someone else - no one knows who.
Norfolk's Flutterby is doing nearly 9 knots with only a jib flying. Eerily, owner Tom Donan notices, churned-up phosphorescence reflects off the low clouds. ``It's wild,'' he thinks.
Eleven miles from the finish line at Thimble Shoals, Jennifer Kaye, daughter of Woodwind owners Ken and Ellen Kaye, is piloting the boat in her first storm.
The rain, laced with sleet, is stinging her face. Waves are breaking across the deck. The boom is dragging in the water. Her first concern is a tugboat pushing a barge. The captain tells her she'll be OK if she maintains course and speed.
She refuses help. ``I'm going to stay at the wheel until I drive us out of the storm,'' she yells to her father, who is navigating below. ``Let's use the storm for the finish.''
Once safely by the tug, Woodwind makes its last tack and drives across the finish line.
Woodwind's crew doesn't know it, but the far-faster Seljm has crossed the line just ahead of the storm.
Four schooners complete the full course under sail. Several ride out the storm at Solomons, Md., and motor the rest of the way. Many had not reported in by midday Saturday.
Seljm finished in a corrected time of 29 hours, 39 minutes. Woodwind was close behind, at 29 hours and 52 minutes. Flutterby's followed with 35:45. And Ocean Star of Portland, Maine, came in at 36:44.
The number of finishers doesn't matter. At the dock near Nauticus, Ron Weller, a passenger on Woodwind who stayed out on deck the whole time sums up the experience of a lifetime.
``I just wanted to take it all in and be present for every second of it,'' he says. ``It's an experience we'll never forget.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Ken Kaye adjusts the sail on the bowsprit of Woodwind at the
Nauticus docks after the 7th annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner
Race. Woodwind, last year's winner, crossed ahead of Seljm at
Thursday's start, but Seljm edged out Woodwind at the finish
Saturday.
Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Monica Mathews adjusts the stern line of the New Way on Saturday
after the Philadelphia-based schooner completed the 7th annual Great
Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. by CNB