WINDFALL PLACES 3RD IN CLASS AT CHESAPEAKE BAY SCHOONER RACE

The schooner Windfall competed in the 19th annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race on October 16-18th, 2008. The race, which benefits the non-profit Save the Bay Foundation, runs a course of 127 nautical miles from Annapolis, Maryland to Portsmouth, Virginia for the larger schooners and an eighty-mile course from Annapolis to Windmill Point for the smaller vessels.

The GCBSR was created by a challenge from the Norfolk Rebel to the Pride of Baltimore, and has grown over the past nineteen years making it the largest all-schooner sailing race in the world. A record number of fifty-six schooners competed this year, and Windfall was the only one from North Carolina.

Windfall finished third in her class, with an elapsed time of 15 hours and 18 minutes

We were lucky to have good winds on the way up to Baltimore and during the race down the bay. Windfall sailed faster than ever – during the race I saw her hit speeds I’d never seen before. We even finished ahead of several of the larger boats. I was proud of my vessel and proud of my crew.

Windfall beat nine other boats in her class, and finished the race before the 2nd place winner. The race committee uses a complicated handicapping system to determine winners, which put the Windfall slightly behind the second place boat in corrected time.

For more on the race, visit www.schoonerrace.org.