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LIGHT AIR AND CURRENT CHALLENGE ANNAPOLIS NOOD SAILORS

25 APRIL 2008 • With it's myriad rivers and currents, the Chesapeake is never an easy place to sail. Those that know it well had an advantage on the first day of the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD Regatta.

After three crazy, light air races on Friday, Brian Porter on Full Throttle leads the pack, some six comfortable points ahead of Sean Scarborough on Rhino. In third is a relative newcomer to the class – Henry Colie on Babs.

As published by Tony Bessinger, Sailing World Annapolis, Annapolis, Annapolis. Those who have spent time sailing here know the Chesapeake's fickle personality, especially in the spring after big rains. It's all about current and light air, and the first day of the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD was no exception. The outbound current prevented most sailors from being over early, except in the big fleets, but the current also gave skippers fits when it came to tactics and weather mark roundings.

Phil Eval is sailing with the Brinksmanship Melges 24, skippered by C.B Currier. Eval trims jib, calls tacks, and tries to "keep general sanity."

"We had a moderately good day," says Eval, "we had a few meltdowns, C.B. and I have just moved from an Alberg 30 to this boat, it's different, but the Alberg 30 is a pretty competitive class and we had a lot of fun. I'll say this for posterity, I'd rather sail an Alberg 30 than a J/30 any day, and I've sailed them both, the Alberg is actually a pretty fun boat to sail, and we still have the Alberg, and we'll race it a little bit, but Currier wanted to get into something a little more high performance. We've got one of the oldest Melges 24s in the fleet, it's number 30, and it was built in the first year the boat was being built. I love the Melges, I started sailing them when they first came out. What's interesting is the learning curve in the boats. We did really well back in 1996, then I got out of the class, and these guys have gotten much hotter; much better."

As far as tomorrow's plan, Eval needed some inspiration. "After a few more rums we'll figure that out." We asked Eval what was the biggest challenge today, the current or the light air? "The learning curve, and the light air certainly, but really the learning curve for the Currier. There are a lot of pros in this class, and I'm not trying to be cocky at all, but there were some real good guys behind is a couple of times, and we were saying what are those guys doing back there? I'm looking at these pros, and C.B.'s no slouch as a sailor, but I'm looking at these guys. At the end of the day, in one-design racing, it's one or two little meltdowns that happen during the race and you can't get that back. We're still working through the basics."

FULL RESULTS