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CAROLINA SAILINGCharlestonRace WeekCements itsStatureBy Dan DickisonThe Melges 24, Temerity, owned by Michigan sailorCharlie Hess, rounding the mark. Photo by Tim Wilkes.www.timwilkes.com.Not every sailing community is as fortunate as myhometown of Charleston, SC. We have some of thebest-protected waterways in the country—specifically,Charleston Harbor—and we enjoy an abundance of dedicatedindividuals who rally anytime an event needs participantsor volunteers. That was definitely the case whenCharleston Race Week took place in mid-April, and 137 boatsand crews congregated on the Holy City’s murky brine.Celebrating its 13th year, Charleston Race Week hasgrown rapidly in the past four years and now consistentlydraws competitors from all over the country. Among theteams entered this year were boats from California andMichigan, Texas and Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, andeven Canada. These sailors come to race one-design, theycome to compete under PHRF, and they come because theevent perennially delivers on its promise of spirited competitionand Southern hospitality. And none of that would bepossible without the more than 150 volunteers (50 on landand about 100 on the water) who set marks, score races, rescuewayward boats, sell T-shirts and plan for much of theyear to carry off this four-day extravaganza.Meaghan Van Liew, deputy director of the SouthCarolina Maritime Foundation—the organization that comanagesthe regatta—credits the diligent volunteers asmuch as the competitors with the success of this event.“We’ve been very fortunate that there is a lot of enthusiasmamong the sailing crowd here to support this regatta,”explained Van Liew. Most of those volunteers are organizedthrough the Charleston Ocean Racing Association, whichfounded the event and now partners with the foundation tomanage it.Though it serves as the season opener and the unofficialapex of competitive sailing in South Carolina each year,Charleston Race Week is also an important fundraisingactivity that benefits the foundation’s tall ship, the Spirit ofSouth Carolina. This 140-foot vessel is used as a unique educationalplatform for young students from around the state.According to Van Liew, since becoming a fundraising eventin 2005, CRW has raised between $20- and $50-grand eachyear to support educational programming.Aside from the dollars raised for the tall ship, highlightsfrom this year’s regatta included a bumper crop of Melges24s (26 in all, with several pro sailors in the fleet) as well asa cadre of Viper 640s (nine boats) whose owners are workinghard to resurrect this speedy one-design. There werealso superb performances turned in by boats like BillSweetser’s modified J/109 Rush from Austin, TX (five firstsand three seconds), and Patrick LeGoff’s Prelude, a Beneteau10R from Florence, SC, which competed in the non-spinnakerdivision. (seven bullets). And cap those with the factthat several sponsors kicked in some sweet prizes—Raymarine once again gave away over $9,000 worth of electronicspackages, and Selden Mast awarded a carbon-fiberspinnaker pole, among other prizes.Despite all that glitz, two essential factors ultimatelycharacterized CRW this year. First was a spate of superbweather that provided conditions ranging from vexing sixknotzephyrs to rousing 20-knot sea breezes. This gamut ofconditions coincided with a full moon late in the regatta,meaning strong tidal currents were the norm. And secondwas the uncommon efficiency demonstrated on the waterby the race managers. Past editions of CRW have experienceda few glitches, but this year every competitor wastreated to an abundance of races (seven contests for mostclasses). And on each of the three race venues, the actionwas so tightly orchestrated that competitors rarely hadmore than 10 minutes of downtime between the finish ofone race and the start of the next. Aboard numerous boats,it became a challenge just to wolf down a between-racesandwich and still get your bearings for the next contest.The back-to-back race format seemed to suit plenty ofcompetitors. Perhaps the closest contest of all took place atthe head of the Melges 24 fleet where Travis Weisleder’s allprocrew on board Carloan.com out of Richmond, VA, battledKristen Lane’s Tiburon, CA-based Out House. Both boatsentered the final race tied with 11 points. With America’s44 June 2008 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com