The Chesapeake Bay is known by many to be a light air racing destination.  On the first day of the 2008 Sperry Top Sider Annapolis NOOD Regatta, the bay lived up to its reputation, serving up three to six knots of breeze and flat water out of the Northeast.  Despite the challenging conditions, the race committee managed to get off four competitive races and Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad of Newport, RI stayed at the top of the fleet all day to capture the overall lead in the M 30 Class with a low score of five points.  Many of the sailors aboard Barking Mad just finished sailing for two weeks in Miami Beach for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship before hopping a plane to Maryland for the NOOD.  Apparently, the practice paid off as the Barking Mad team seemed to be just a little bit higher and faster upwind than the rest of the fleet.  The team also was the only one to fly its asymmetrical spinnaker all day and showed good downwind speed.

Jim Richardson's Barking Mad - Ian Burman photo

The first race of the day began with Guy Stening’s Optimum Racing team from Australia leading the fleet around the first two marks.  On the third leg, Barking Mad, with Annapolis native and Americas Cup veteran Terry Hutchinson calling tactics, took a flyer out to the right side to gain a lead the team would hold to the finish.  Class President Nelson Stephenson’s Team Bold also passed the Aussies on the second beat to move into second temporarily, but Stening’s team found the downwind speed to pass Stephenson and finish the race in second place.

Race 2 saw Team Bold, Turbo Duck, Mummy and Kinetic tack off the line and head out right on the first beat, as Barking Mad lead the rest of the fleet out to the left.  As the boats converged at the weather mark, the left side came out on top, and Barking Mad led at mark 1, followed by class newcomer John Edwards and his team aboard Rhumb Punch from Solomon’s, Maryland.  While Richardson’s team was able to hold on to its lead, Edwards’ was not so fortunate and Optimum Racing moved into second, where it would finish.  John Podmajersky’s Illusion was third, followed by Bodo and Nick von der Wense’s Turbo Duck, which passed six boats after the windward mark to finish fourth.

The fleet splits at the start of race 2 - Ian Burman photo

In Race 3, the wind lightened as the current running down the bay stengthened, making the course even more challenging.  Barking Mad again got a great start and led the fleet out to the left side of the course, taking an immediate lead.  Illusion went the furthest left of everyone and was rewarded with a second place standing at the first mark, just ahead of Optimum and Turbo Duck.  Jim Allsopp’s Moxie was twelfth at the first mark, but came storming through the fleet to finish the race in fourth.  Jim’s son James, who is a freshman at the US Naval Academy, is helming Moxie in its first one design regatta in eight years.  “I’m just having a blast being out there sailing with James,” the elder Allsopp said after racing.  “We’re still getting some things figured out with setting up the sails, but I’m really amazed with how good he (James) has gotten.”

Jim Allsopp's Moxie - Ian Burman photo

Just when it seemed Barking Mad would run away with every race of the regatta, Bodo and Nick von der Wense’s Turbo Duck won the pin in race #4, led the fleet out to the left side and tacked and crossed everybody near the port tack layline.  “That was the second really good start we got today,” Bodo said after racing “but the first time we didn’t take full advantage.  This time we did.”  Turbo Duck’s lead only increased after the mark as the fleet arrived in the midst of the Melges 32s, who had started five minutes earlier, and the C&C 115s, which were still contesting Race #3, and the boats trailing Turbo Duck were held up in traffic.  Barking Mad passed Optimum in the melee at the first mark and was able to hold second place to the finish of the race. 

For the day, Barking Mad is atop the leader board with five points, followed by Optimum with 12 and Turbo Duck with 16.  Two more days of racing remain and with the fickle Chesapeake conditions we’re experiencing, anything can happen over the rest of the weekend.  Complete Results are below and at www.sailingworld.com.

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Club	1	2	3	4	Total  Points	Pos
1	65	Barking Mad	James Richardson	New York YC	1	1	1	2	5.00	1
2	AUS 7151	Optimum	Guy Stening	Royal Sydney YS	2	2	3	5	12.00	2
3	683	turbo duck	Bodo/Nick von der Wense	CRY&CC/Annapolis YC	6	4	5	1	16.00	3
4	9	Moxie	James Allsopp	Annapolis YC	4	5	4	7	20.00	4
5	55	Illusion	John Podmajersky	NA	8	3	2	9	22.00	5
6	316	TeamBOLD	Nelson Stephenson	Cedar Point YC	3	10	8	3	24.00	6
7	58	Mummy	Geoff Brown	National YC	5	11	7	4	27.00	7
8	56	Snooker	Brant Russell	Cleveland YC	11	7	6	8	32.00	8
9	27	Kaizen	Moise Solomon & Scott Baker	MRMSA	9	12	9	6	36.00	9
10	41	Rhumb Punch	John Edwards	Southern Maryland SA	12	6	11	11	40.00	10
11	691	Adrenalin	Jeff Maludy	North Cape YC	10	9	10	14	43.00	11
12	CAN 64	Kinetic	David Sutcliffe	Royal Vancouver YC	7	15	12	10	44.00	12
13	32	Mulligan	Gordon Fronk	Baltimore City YA	14	8	14	12	48.00	13
14	704	Mummbles	Brad Kauffman	Annapolis YC	15	13	13	13	54.00	14
15	21	Just Plain Nutz	Norm & Cameron Dean	Chelsea YC	13	14	15	15	57.00	15