Bob Putnam
Racing in the 2024 AYC 3-2-1 Invitational got underway Friday in what some people would call “chamber of commerce Annapolis conditions.”
With the temp right at 80 degrees, sunny, blue skies with puffy white cumulous clouds and low humidity, the nine-knot northerly breeze seemed perfect for the eight teams representing yacht clubs from across the U.S. – and one from the UK – as they headed out to compete in the event’s unique mixture of team and match racing.
As the fleet of Sonars, J-105s, signal boats, mark boats, crew-rotation RIBs, umpire dinghies and spectator craft settled into place in the Severn River just outside Annapolis harbor, event co-chair Derick Lynch opined it was an ideal amount of breeze for this type of racing: “This is great for the competitors; the boats have nice speed for maneuvering and team tactics, and the sea state is very manageable for crew rotations and moving marks.”
It turned out to be fortunate that the highly skilled RC teams could get the racing underway precisely on time, because the perfect conditions didn’t extend past the morning. The first two “flights” of racing took place in six to eight knots of wind. As the third flight was taking place, shortly before noon, the breeze had dropped to five or six knots. The Race Committee completed that race, then abandoned racing for the day when the wind zeroed out completely a few minutes later.
The teams securing the top three places in the medium to then dying breeze were AYC (2 wins 0 losses), the San Diego YC (2 wins 0 losses) and the Royal Thames YC (2 wins; 1 loss). The other clubs, in order of placing, were San Francisco YC (1 win; 1 loss), New York YC (1 win; 1 loss), Newport Harbor YC (1 win; 2 losses), Ida Lewis YC (0 wins; 2 losses) and Chicago YC (0 wins; 2 losses).
There is an interesting aspect to the fact that San Diego YC was able to tie the AYC team atop the standings in the light and somewhat tricky conditions that might favor local Annapolis experience. Three of the sailors on the San Diego team – brothers A.J., Andy and Jack Reiter – all attended local Georgetown University, and have sailed countless times in the Annapolis area. A.J. said, “I probably have about 150 hours sailing on AYC’s J-22s.”
The 3-2-1’s requirement to sail in three separate “disciplines” continued to have competitors comparing notes and remarking about how different the event is. Crews must sail as two-person teams in three Sonars (without spinnaker), as three-person teams in two Sonars (with spinnaker) and as a six-person team in a match race on J-105s.
The team from the Royal Thames Yacht Club also noted something else different from many of their usual competition. In Europe, most of their team racing is done on lakes. In the words of UK sailor, Patrick Rigby, “We don’t have much experience racing in tidal areas.”
The 3-2-1 Invitational racing will continue on Saturday and Sunday, with excellent spectating conditions expected.
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