The 2007 PHRF Race Report
After a couple of year of light winds we certainly had a change for this years event. With winds out of the north the PHRF racers were looking forward to some quick times to complete the circumnavigation of Kent Island.
The circumnavigation is approximately 36 nautical miles and usually takes 5-8 hours to complete. The “normal” start of the regatta is near the G1 marker where Prospect Bay, eastern Bay, and the Miles River meet, in the area known as Bald Eagle. The course then heads down eastern bay to Bloody Point, back up the bay under the Bay Bridge to Love Point, and finishing north west of Kent Narrows in the Chester River. The PHRF racers followed this course, with the winner, Hal Holts and crew aboard Kestrel, completing the circumnavigation actual time of 5:49:21 with a corrected time of 4:54:49 minutes.
This year some RWYB cruisers opted for the reverse course in order to take better advantage of the northerly wind. This meant they headed north out of Mears Marina and battled the wind up to Love Point, then turned toward the Bay Bridge, which resulted in a great wing-on-wing sail down the Bay to Bloody Point. Rounding the turn at Bloody Point ensured a glorious sail up Eastern Bay back toward the red nun #2, just south of the Kent Narrows Bridge.
Though everyone has their own story to tell, my story occurred aboard sailing vessel Rising Tide, a 40ft. Beneteau. At times, I felt like I was on top of the world looking down at the water below as we heeled into the wind with our keel seeking the sun. Our captain sang sea chanteys as our first mate hardened up the jib. We managed to get wet a few time as our ship’s bow dove into the waves and then sent them back as she came up, only to head back into the next one.
Al Holt and the Kestrel Crew Celebrating their Victory!
"Krestrel" crossed the finish line first, well ahead of the rest of the pack to take both line honors and the beautiful Run What You Brung trophy. This is Al's second win of "The Cup".
| KENT ISLAND RACING FLEET - RUN WHAT YOU BRUNG RACE 2007 - 29th SEPTEMBER 2007 | |||||||||||||||
| Course | Boat Name | Class | Sail # | Skipper | PHRF | Spinnaker | PHRF | PHRF | Race | Finish | Run | PHRF | Adjusted | Points | Comments |
| Class/Flag | Adjustment | Rating | Time | Start | Time | Time | Adjust | Time | |||||||
| Time | |||||||||||||||
|
30.3 |
Red Dragon | J-35 | 40105 | Chris Bardwell-Jones | A-2/2 | 1 | 72 | 0:01:12 | 9:30:00 | -9:30:00 | 0:36:22 | -10:06:22 | DNS | ||
| 30.3 | Katz Meow | Cal 33 | 73325 | Aaron Katz | B/6 | 1.15 | 144 | 0:02:46 | 9:30:00 | -9:30:00 | 1:23:38 | -10:53:38 | DNS | ||
| 30.3 | Sea Ya | Catalina 30 | 93192 | Gordon Learn | C/7 | 1 | 183 | 0:03:03 | 9:30:00 | 17:27:16 | 7:57:16 | 1:32:25 | 6:24:51 | 6 | |
| 30.3 | Surprise | C&C 34 | 93418 | Paul Behnke | C/7 | 1 | 165 | 0:02:45 | 9:30:00 | 16:59:22 | 7:29:22 | 1:23:19 | 6:06:03 | 3 | |
| 30.3 | Shark Bait | Albacore | 5990 | Charles Stone | D/E | 1 | 213 | 0:03:33 | 9:30:00 | -9:30:00 | 1:47:34 | -11:17:34 | DNS | ||
| 30.3 | Kestrel | Olson 30 | 32334 | Al Holt | A-3/3 | 1 | 108 | 0:01:48 | 9:30:00 | 15:19:21 | 5:49:21 | 0:54:32 | 4:54:49 | 1 | |
| 30.3 | Makai | Catalina 380 | 122 | Tony Ogden | B/6 | 1.15 | 141 | 0:02:42 | 9:30:00 | -9:30:00 | 1:21:53 | -10:51:53 | DNF | ||
| 30.3 | Halcyon | Niagra 35 | Neil Ross | C/7 | 1 | 171 | 0:02:51 | 9:30:00 | -9:30:00 | 1:26:21 | -10:56:21 | DNS | |||
| 30.3 | Huck's Finn | Dehler 36 | 93489 | Jeff Leigh | A-3/3 | 1.15 | 96 | 0:01:50 | 9:30:00 | 15:46:09 | 6:16:09 | 0:55:45 | 5:20:24 | 2 | |
| 30.3 | C'est La Vie | Beneteau 345 | Jeff Leininger | B/6 | 1.15 | 141 | 0:02:42 | 9:30:00 | 17:11:14 | 7:41:14 | 1:21:53 | 6:19:21 | 5 | ||
| 30.3 | Carpe Ventum | Hunter 43 Legend | 50515 | Chris Schultz | A-3/3 | 1.15 | 114 | 0:02:11 | 9:30:00 | 16:45:09 | 7:15:09 | 1:06:12 | 6:08:57 | 4 | |
And ... the final verdict ...
Universal acclaim for the Run What You Brung as by far the best regatta on
the Eastern Shore (if not the entire Bay) and a resolve by participants
to return next year!
We know when the Harvest Moon will appear next year, so make a note of the
date - 27 September 2008!
Chris Bardwell-Jones cbj@bardac.com. Chris is the organizer for the KIRF - Kent Island Racing Fleet. KIRF has a series of PHRF racing events running from early spring through early winter terminating with a Frostbite series.