Anyone who's been on Chesapeake Bay knows the scene: Flat calm, hot sun, no wind. It happens in July and August and occasionally in spring or fall. Whoever is out there suffers -- even the top ocean racers in the world.
Eight entries in the Volvo Ocean Race got a rude introduction to baking on the bay yesterday as winds died and boats slowed to a crawl after entering the Chesapeake on the 875-mile leg from Miami to Baltimore. The zephyrs left leg leaders News Corp, Amer Sports One, Assa Abloy and illbruck fighting for inches, waiting for a sea breeze.
"It's going to be a long, tense day," News Corp skipper Jez Fanstone reported by e-mail, "as we make our way slowly up Chesapeake Bay in a dying breeze. Fifteen minutes ago Amer Sports One closed to within three boat lengths as they brought up the last of the old wind.
"With 100 miles to go anything can happen in these fickle conditions. I don't think I've ever been in a more intense yacht race."
By nightfall, race organizers were considering shortening the course by 20 miles and staging the finish at Chesapeake Bay Bridge instead of off Fort McHenry in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Even so, said spokesman Mark Howell, "We could be looking at a 1 a.m. finish. The wind is up and down like a yo-yo."
The fluky breezes helped Assa Abloy, which is second in the overall standings behind illbruck. Assa was more than 20 miles behind the lead trio but closed the gap and eventually passed illbruck by slipping up the Eastern Shore of Virginia while the leaders languished in the middle of the Bay.
"We just hugged the shore and stayed in the breeze while the others were in the center of the Bay," said tactician Chris Larson of Annapolis, who phoned from Assa in late afternoon. "Then we sailed right by illbruck in the light stuff."
As darkness fell, Assa was in 10 knots of southerly wind, a half-mile ahead of illbruck near Point Lookout, with leader News Corp five miles ahead and Amer Sports One in second place, halfway between the two.
"The wind shut off several times during the day," said exhausted skipper John Kostecki on illbruck, which went from first place to fourth. "The last time it did, we got caught. It's typical Chesapeake conditions. There's not a lot you can do."