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2017 Governor's Cup

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/06/2017 : 12:21:11

The Governor's Cup is an approximately 70 nm race from Annapolis to St. Mary's College inside the Potomac River. Our start was Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm. We finished Saturday morning at 9:02:51 in 10th place out of 17 boats. Our boat was a Jeanneau 45.2, fitted for cruising, with a roller furling jib, an in-mast furling mainsail, a diesel auxiliary generator, and air conditioning, for crew comfort under way. (We didn't run the generator or AC for fear someone might hear the engine running and think we were cheating.

)

In our class of 17 boats, almost all of our competitors were racers. We were beaten by 2 J 110s, a J 109, a Farr 37, a J 33, a C&C 115, a Schock 35, J 35 and a J 42, all boats with respectable racing creds. We beat 3 J 105s, a J 88, 2 J 109s and a Morgan 45-4, all of which retired from the grueling race.

Although we were racing in a spinnaker class, we sailed closehauled on practically every inch of the race, and never raised the chute. Most of the race was in 25 kt winds, and we saw slightly over 30 kts. We sailed with a deeply furled main and jib and pounded heavily into the chop.

We had 4 crew, including the skipper. Throughout the race, three were on deck at all times, and, taking turns, one went below to sleep. During the race I slept mostly in the cockpit, waking to do my job whenever we tacked the boat.

Despite the wind and the prodigious amount of spray that we took, it was a clear night with a nearly full moon that was so bright that we never needed to use a flashlight to check our sail trim.

I had the helm for a few hours when the skipper slept, and was able to overtake and pass several boats.

After finishing, we anchored, went ashore, ate a huge breakfast, bought some slightly overpriced but very cool tech shirts, went back to the boat, swam briefly in the river, showered, turned on the air conditioning and slept comfortably.

In the early afternoon, we went ashore again, drank a cold beer, ate a huge lunch, bought some more cool shirts, drank a couple more beers, and returned to the boat. We got underway and sailed back to the Magothy river, arriving this morning at about, I dunno, 8:00 am.

We had good winds on the trip back. In the Potomac, we ran downwind, wing-and-wing and surfed on the waves hitting almost 10 kts. Coming up the bay, We were closehauled almost all the way and sailing very fast with partially furled sails. Again, we sailed through the night. At one point, at about 3:00 am, we were at a place where the commercial shipping channel takes a sharp turn. Two big southbound commercial carriers, one big northbound commercial carrier and us all arrived at that point at virtually the same time. In nearly 15 years of sailing the Bay, I have never encountered more than one big ship at a time. (Do you know that it's impossible for any two objects to occupy the same space at the same time?

) They all stopped at the turn, I imagine to discuss it calmly and sort out the proper pecking order. We tried our best to stay the hell out of their way and continue to our destination.

As you can see, it was an eventful two days of the kind of grueling but still glorious sailing that we all love.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Edited by - Steve Milby on 08/06/2017 12:27:04

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3312 Posts

Response Posted - 08/07/2017 : 06:55:35

Sounds like a lot of fun Steve. Good finish considering the competition.

Derek Crawford
Chief Measurer C25-250 2008
Previous owner of "This Side UP"
1981 C-25 TR/FK #2262 Used to have an '89 C22 #9483, "Downsized"
San Antonio, Texas

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 08/07/2017 : 07:24:24

quote:
Originally posted by Derek Crawford

Sounds like a lot of fun Steve. Good finish considering the competition.

Thanks Derek. We were extremely pleased with the results, considering the competition included some of the best racers on the Bay. About 5 of those boats only beat us by 1/2 hour after handicap. Not bad for a boat that's tricked out for serious cruising.

In a prior thread I mentioned that the boat has a really unique mainsail feature. One of the problems with in-mast furling is that you can't roll the mainsail into the mast with rigid battens in it. This boat has the only sail I have ever seen with inflatable battens. After the sail is rolled out, you inflate them with a bicycle pump. They smooth out the sail and support the leech just like fiberglass battens. The sail was made by UK Sailmakers. I have a feeling that the system isn't perfected yet, because, earlier this year we had one of the battens blow out with a loud bang, but it's a very neat concept that gives us a nice mainsail shape. It has separate valves that control each batten, so that you can deflate only the ones that will be rolled into the mast when you reef the mainsail.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 08/08/2017 : 10:43:57

This is the boat we raced, "Healing Power," a Jeanneau 45.2.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 08/08/2017 : 13:17:44

Beautiful boat. And an excellent write-up, steve. Thanks so much for sharing!

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 08/08/2017 : 14:35:21

Thanks Ben. Good to hear from you!

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.