Wind provides plenty of power for Charleston Race Week 2016

Certain boats seem to thrive in Charleston’s breezy, tide-wrought conditions, and Sperry Charleston Race Week 2016 provided the perfect weather for them. Perennial favorites and past champions battled adversity to rise to the top once again, while new faces joined the podium in several classes.

For three straight days the wind provided plenty of power for the nearly 250 boats racing out of Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina. In the biggest and most competitive class – the 67-boat J/70 fleet – 13-year-old Gannon Troutman was poised to wrap up an amazing victory after leading this tough fleet all week. From Mexico City, helmsman Julian Fernandez Neckelmann – the reigning J/70 World Champion – had other ideas. In the final race, he edged out Troutman by a single point, tying the duo at 21 points after nine races. By virtue of Fernandez’s number of first-place finishes, the youngster from Fishing Bay Yacht Club lost the tiebreaker.

It’s a testament to the level of competition in the fleets that tiebreakers would decide two other titles as well, with the Melges 20 National Championship going to New Jersey’s Russ Lucas’ Shimmer team. They came from behind to catch Daniel Thielman’s California-based Kuai on points with a solid final race. And, the J/24 fleet was just as close as local Charleston skipper Scott McCormick (Giggity) held off a late charge for the second straight year from Aidan Glacken’s NY-based Mental Floss to take the back-to-back class win on equal scores.

A back-to-back Sperry Charleston Race Week winner in the Melges 24 Class, Monsoon skipper Bruce Ayres’ had a tough battle with another past champ – Travis Weisleder. This contest also came down to the final race.

With no end to the brutal wave conditions offshore, Event Director Randy Draftz and his principal race officers decided early in the day to bring the Circle 5 fleet inside the harbor, but where would they go? “It’s tough to find space with 200 boats already racing in the harbor, but with the help of the Harbor Pilots Association and the US Coast Guard, we came up with a solution that seemed to work,” said Draftz.

That solution was something never before tried at Sperry Charleston Race Week – a fourth inshore course inside the Wando River. “We weren’t sure it would work, but thanks to great communication between all the local agencies, every offshore boat got in three good races in perfect conditions in the river,” Draftz added.

The decision to move the offshore boats to a safer spot would prove to be fortuitous for one sailor aboard the New York-based J/88 Easy Eights, thanks to quick action, a detailed safety plan, and Charleston Race Week’s long partnership with Roper St. Francis Healthcare doctor Stephen Shapiro. “We got a report of an unconscious sailor and immediately we put our plan into action with an EMT getting on the boat within minutes,” said Dr. Shapiro. He added that the cardiac arrest patient had no pulse and wasn’t breathing before the onboard AED was applied. Within a few minutes, the stricken sailor was conscious and talking, and he was pronounced stable later at the hospital not long afterward.

Dr. Shapiro credited the J/88 crew with beginning CPR, getting the sails down, and assisting with the safety boat as the paramedics worked. “Both our safety team and their crew did everything right, and we’re all extremely glad that things turned out for the best,” he said. Despite these heroic efforts, Shapiro was still surprised at the awards ceremony later that day when Draftz called him on stage to present him with the prestigious Jubilee Trophy For Sportsmanship. It was certainly well deserved.

Out in the crowd, headsail and spinnaker trimmer Alan Johnson on board John Stevens’ GP26 Sprint 6 out of Grosse Point, Mich., was smiling broadly as he stood on the beach under the brilliant Southern sun. Despite having to overcome a sixth place finish in the first race for not starting properly, the Spring 6 crew finished in third place overall. But Johnson was also celebrating a special occasion: Today was the first day in nearly 20 years that owner Stevens, who is 80 years old, had actually raced. “The guys tell me that he hasn’t been on a boat in that long, but he came on board today and did the runners, and he enjoyed the heck out of it,” said Johnson. “And we even had a little local knowledge by way of College of Charleston freshman Mack Dickson, who was our midbow person. After a tough start, it turned out to be a great regatta for us. Fun to the end.”

Ben Poucher and his Warrior Sailing Team members arrived a little late to the awards party and Poucher was immediately waylaid by a reporter from Charleston’s Post & Courier. The team has been attracting local media attention all weekend, but he didn’t mind it at all, because they were on hand to collect their third-place trophy in the J/22 Class. “We’re all going up on stage,” said Poucher, referring to skipper Sammy Lugo, and crewmembers Scott Ford and David Carras. But he could also have been referring to the crew from the 84-foot Metholius, which sailed in the Pursuit Class non-spinnaker division with a number of military veterans of the Warrior Sailing Program.

“Today turned out to be our best day at the event for both of our crews,” said Poucher. “The guys really jelled and had the boat going well. It’s gratifying to see them do so well.” And gratification is what local sailing organizer Guy Mossman offered when he took the stage at the awards presentation to acknowledge the third place finish by Metholius and her Warrior crew. “The Warrior Sailing Program is such an admirable initiative,” said Mossman to the crowd. “It introduces injured and ill veterans and active service personnel to the sport of sailing. These are people we should all be grateful to. They make up less than one percent of our population, but they defend this nation all over the world, and allow us all to live free.”

The stories are endless throughout the 243 boats that attended Sperry Charleston Race Week, and you can learn more about the boats or check out hundreds of high-quality photos and dozens of on-water and drone videos on race Facebook page, Twitter feed, and Instagram account.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

Breaking News Alerts

To sign up for breaking news email alerts, Click on the email address below and put "email alerts" in the subject line: sdetar@thedanielislandnews.com

Comment Here