High Winds Create Record Times for Gov Cup; First Special Olympic Sailor Competes

Northeast winds created a colorful spinnaker run down the bay for the 33rd running of the race.                 Photo by Robin N. Kendall

Northwest winds created a colorful spinnaker run down the bay for the 33rd running of the Governor‘s Cup yacht race yesterday. For 148 sailboats, new course records were set in the overnight race from Annapolis to St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s original capital. Blind sailor Ben Collins, set a new record too, becoming the first Special Olympic sailor to compete in the Governor’s Cup – the oldest and longest overnight race on the Chesapeake Bay.

Calling it one of the best Governor’s Cup races yet, captains reported winds of 16-20 knots with gusts to 25 knots. The first boat to finish the 70 mile race crossed the line before midnight, making this one of the fastest races in years.

The course is about 70 miles and this year’s conditions were the opposite of last year, when racers dodged lightning bolts and heavy rains, and the first boat didn’t cross the finish line until nearly 10 a.m. with many straggled in later in the afternoon. The race began on Friday at 6 p.m.

This year marked a new beginning for the Governor’s Cup and Maryland Special Olympics Sailing Program with the inclusion of Special Olympic athletes. Blind sailor Ben Collins of Rockville, Md., became the first Special Olympics sailor to compete in The Governor’s Cup, which is organized by St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Collins raced onboard the Donnybrook and handled the wheel when crossing the finish line on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.

Collins said, “It was very exciting and the other sailors told me when we passed by the Thomas Point Lighthouse and Solomon’s Island.” “I want to sail onboard the Donnybrook again,” he added. Collins’s sailing coach Tom Croteau said, “This race brings Ben up to the next step in sailing.” Croteau remarked that Collins has an innate timing of the race start and can call the time within a few seconds.  

Lee Jerry of Crownsville, Md. and his crew onboard Chain Shot took home the Waldschmitt Award for the best in fleet. The most competitive of the trophies, this award is presented to the winner of the class having the smallest corrected time interval between the first- and fifth-place finishers.

Heidi Bay, of West River, Md. Captain of Wildfire, won the Alumni Trophy. To be eligible for the Alumni Trophy, two or more members of the boat’s crew must be St. Mary’s College of Maryland alumni. The award is presented to the yacht with the highest percentage score, which is computed by dividing the number of boats defeated in a class by the number of boats registered in the same class.

Smidge’s captain Maury Benbow of Yardly, Pa. was honored with the Bickell Award, named for a racer who lost his life in a tragic accident sailing in the 1994 Governor’s Cup. The trophy is awarded to the skipper and crew whose finish position shows the most improvement over last year’s performance. The skipper must have commanded the same boat both years. “The Bickell Award is a fitting memorial for a man who enjoyed no greater challenge than making a boat and its crew into a winning combination,” said Torre Meringolo, vice president for the SMCM Office of Development.