Dan Dickison, the bow man on Bob Johnstone’s TERN 7 commented on SailNet News, "A fleet of 84 boats may not sound like a lot in relative terms, but for the promoters and organizers behind the ninth annual Charleston Race Week, it amounts to an almost 15 percent increase in participation over the previous year's regatta. For competitors, however, the success of an event isn't measured in numbers of boats on the water, it's gauged by the caliber of the racing, and that too surpassed the previous year.

With 20-plus-knot northeast winds buffeting Charleston's South Channel and a full-moon ebb tide working against the wind for most of the three days, the conditions on the two racecourses were tricky for locals and out-of-towners alike. The funny thing is, visiting boats in several classes got the better of their local rivals despite these wily conditions. Tom Coates of San Francisco was nearly unbeatable in the 17-boat J/105 class, posting only one finish below first during the first six races. More often than not, his crew aboard the blue-hulled Masquerade romped away to a horizon job. Their lead in the regatta was so big that they opted not to sail the final race, and instead headed ashore for a round of golf. Second place went to Brian Tedeschi's Rhode Island-based crew on board Tastes Like Chicken, which won the final contest in shifty southwest winds."

The weekend started out with a bang. Blustery SW winds of 20+ knots on Thursday saw Robert Baker’s PLANET B take first place in PHRF over the entire fleet in the fun race which started at 4PM. This is an event characteristic of local sailing with a start off the Carolina Yacht Club dock, a la Cowes Week, then back and forth along the city front around government marks dodging all forms of commercial harbor traffic.

TERN 7 after being a point back after a 2,2,1 the next day, Friday, had not so good a day on Saturday…managing to be over at the start and giving undue emphasis to the accent mark over Forro’s name. But, Bob J wasn’t complaining. The J/105 fleet was the talk of the regatta and the J/125 Raincloud walked away with Class A. A total of 32 J Boats accounted well for themselves as 38% of the entire fleet. . Perhaps the biggest winner of the regatta was Ken Ganch of Chicago, the owner-skipper the J/105 Gonzo, who won the drawing for a trip for two to the Paris Boat Show donated by the event's primary sponsor, Beneteau USA.

Charleston Race Week is gaining momentum. The word is out. "Comparing this event with SORC and Key West, Charleston is our favorite….better restaurants, more interesting racing with the currents and different winds each day, nicer city, better shopping, short distance to the race course, 3 races per day, etc."

Great Lakes and New England boats take note. Announced last weekend is a new J/105 Class Fall Championship spanning two weekends plus a midweek long distance race between Charleston and Hilton Head, October 12 —20, 2002. The idea is to send the boats to Charleston Boatworks right after the summer or North Americans in Chicago for free Winter storage. Hit the new Fall event, Key West, maybe St. Pete NOOD and/or SORC and Charleston Raceweek before going back home for the summer. Download the NOR (pdf).

Don’t knock it. Sailing in a balmy 80 degrees air temp and 74 degrees water temp when there’s gray days and wet snow up North.

-- BobJ

The MASQUERADE crew are from left to right: Mark Chandler, Tom Coates, Isi Isler, Danny Shea, Brandon Paine and Seadon Wisjen. Total crew weight 1029, averaging 171 lbs.