The 127 mile Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race (GCBSR) starts October 17th. This year’s fleet includes several schooners familiar to us here in Gloucester ___ Adventurer 65, Hindu, Liberty Clipper, Light Reign, Norfolk Rebel, Pride of Baltimore II and Virginia. http://www.schoonerrace.org/fleet13.htm
Every boat will have a tracker to enable watching the race live. Keep your eye on the race website for a tracker link to be posted prior to the start. The Chesapeake can get pretty rough, and this has often been the case. To add interest you can get real time wind info as well as the forecast along the route from the NOAA site. I did this race in Green Dragon six times and am familiar with the bay and many of the boats, so it’s great sport watching on the internet. An all-nighter at the computer in a safe, dry, warm place with a little rum is not a terrible alternative to racing.
There is an all-day pig and oyster roast / awards ceremony at the Portsmouth, VA Visitor Center. I got these shots from the adjacent Marriott Hotel.
Al Bezanson
Good Morning Gloucester 
Link to the tracking info. Each boat will have a Kattack transponder. If you are a sailor you may enjoy racing vicariously and second guessing what some of the skippers are trying to do while keeping your eye on the wind and the tide. There are four classes and the boats are handicapped (ratings available on the website.) Also see https://www.facebook.com/GreatChesapeakeBaySchoonerRace
Virginia has the course record and she is racing against Pride of Baltimore II. Both have won while racing against each other. They have to deal with America 2.0, a new high tech rocket that won in 2011. She will have a 10% penalty on her handicap for the previous first place.
As of Wednesday AM the forecast is for light air at the start, then S at night (trouble), later turning WNW and gusty. If it blows hard from the NW, as it often does, crossing the mouth of the Potomac gets pretty wild. (If NOAA says NW 20-25 kt; add ’em together says I)
http://www.schoonerrace.org/
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GCBSR start time is 1340 today (Oct 17th)
Weather data at Thomas Point (near the GCBSR start)
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=tplm2
Hourly forecast off Cedar Point (about 40 miles south)
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=38.31151&lon=-76.32247&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical
The race course is close to due south all the way. The traditional gaff-rigged schooners will have slow going into a light southerly. They will be stemming the current for the first three hours. Likely to finish first under these conditions is the new high tech America 2.0
http://www.scaranoboat.com/c18/America-20-p41.html
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