Well, the race certainly didn’t go as planned. Of the 67 boats registered to compete in this year’s edition of the Annapolis to Newport race, 63 started and only 30 finished. The other 33, our team included, retired.
During the week leading up to the race, we had been monitoring a 500 millibar system that had been pushing down towards the route. Chelsea had been watching it for days, and had been reporting to the crew what the behavior of the system was. She and I had many conversations about the likely behavior of the front, including best and worst case scenarios. The worst case scenario called for 25-30 kts sustained with puffs up to 35 or 40. The wind direction also had us going upwind down the Chesapeake. The system was due to hit us at the bottom of the bay, bringing along with it a wind shift that would result in another upwind slog for the open ocean portion of the race. Even more concerning was the predicted 10+ feet sea state with short intervals. These were definitely boat breaking conditions.
Safety is always the first priority. I wasn’t going to put the crew or the boat in a position that would risk safety. Race committee ended up postponing the Friday starters until 5pm instead of the originally scheduled 11am. I spoke with Chelsea again before we set off and we made a plan to monitor the weather via the grib files we would be downloading during the race, and we would sail to the end of the bay to see what the reality of this weather system was before making any decisions.
We raced down the bay, having a great time together as a crew and doing everything we could to eek out every bit of speed from our sails despite the often light and drifting conditions. We never stopped, even in 0 knots of wind because we were hyper-attentive to the currents, always routing so we had the current with us as much as possible and minimizing any adverse current’s effect on us. When we finally reached the end of the bay, it became very clear very fast that the gale conditions were in the range of our predicted worst case scenario.
I was not surprised when I saw the reality of the conditions, as I had observed a few boats on the AIS ahead of us turn around when they reached the mouth of the bay. I spoke with Chelsea, Beth, and Leah when we sailed into the gale, and after some deliberation, I ultimately made the call to retire. The worsening gale conditions were not safe for our crew to continue the race and exit out of the Chesapeake Bay, so we pulled into Norfolk.
We were, of course, disappointed to retire, but the whole crew agreed it was the prudent decision and we don’t regret making that call. We’re incredibly proud to have gotten to the point we did. After all, the hardest part of offshore campaigns is getting to the start line. Not only did we do that, but we did it fully funded. We're the first ever all-female crew to compete in the Annapolis to Newport race, and we're very proud of that accomplishment as well.
We’d like to thank all our friends, family, and supporters for enabling this dream to become a reality, and for following us along the way and checking in. And I would like to assure you that this is not the end of Leading the Change!
We started this campaign with a passion for gender equity in sailing, youth development, as well as a love for our environment and a desire to be good ocean stewards. We’re looking forward to carrying this momentum to advance our missions.
Since the retirement, the crew scattered for the rest of our sailing season. Emma, Leah, Callie, and I all went right into racing the New York Yacht Club Annual. Ellie has been doing the 420 circuit. I ran into Lily, Chelsea, and Beth at Block Island Race Week last week. Also during this interim, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with a lot of people about the future of Leading the Change! And I’ll tell you: the future is bright. The vision for Leading the Change! is evolving in big and exciting ways. The project is currently in development, and I can’t wait to share what it’s going to look like.
Thank you again to everyone who donated, and cheered us on. We couldn’t have done any of this without you, and we are eternally grateful.
Stay tuned for more updates!
