9/24/2023 Ida May wins Choptank Heritage Race in Cambridge, MD

[ida may]

Today, September 24, 2023, Captain Shawn Ridgley and the Ida May once again won the Choptank Heritage Race in Cambridge MD.  We had an able crew of Charles, Lee, and Claire, from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation/the Sigsbee, as well as first mate, Keith Whitelock, Megan on the jib sail, and David, Tara, and Missy as ballast.  

Because of Tropical Storm Ophelia, only four skipjacks entered the race, and remarkably, three of them sailed into Cambridge from Deal Island: the Ida May, the Han Em Harv, and the Messenger.  The Messenger calls Onancock home, but she has been in Deal Island since the Labor Day race, so all three boats traveled up in tandem.  The Nathan of Dorchester, whose home is here in Cambridge, was the fourth of the racing skipjacks.  

The Tropical Storm was still blowing gusts and showers for the race.  The wind was steady, but with strong puffs of wind that were visible as dark patches on the water.  Capt. Ridgley decided to reef the sails for safety.  We were the only boat to do so.  Everyone else carried full sail.

The Ida May got a good start to the race, but so did the Messenger.  In fact, the Messenger beat the Ida May to the first buoy, but we had a strategy.  Capt. Ridgley made his tack so we fell off behind the Messenger.  Then he made another tack that took us on a course for the first buoy.  We bore down on that buoy with such a tremendous amount of speed that as the Messenger was tacking around it, we shot right past her.  Because the Messenger lost momentum from the turn, the Ida May was able to retake the lead on our way to the north shore and the next buoy.  We had sailed to Messenger's starboard side, and covered her wind.  Still, though, the Messenger stayed right there with us, neck and neck. Eventually, the Messenger took the starboard position, trying to cut off our wind, just as we had done to her earlier.  

It was foggy on the water and rainy, and we could not find the next buoy, which was basically an oversized bright orange beach ball floating on the river.  No one from either boat could see it and we were both getting close to the north shore.  We were so close to the Messenger, that we were having easy conversations with them.

Finally, the Messenger achieved what she was after, covered us, and stole our wind, but that was also when Capt. Ridgley decided to tack and head west.  We couldn't find the buoy to the north, so we decided it must be to the west.  And we noticed that the Nathan of Dorchester had been heading in that direction, so we figured that the local boat must know something.  

We hoped we made the right call and luckily we did! Finally, on our western heading, we saw the next buoy: a little patch of yellow orange on the water.  We jibed around that buoy, sailed towards the shore a little, and then tacked toward the bridge and the open water.  Two more tacks and we were at the finish line, first place!!!  Congratulations to Capt. Shawn Ridgley and owner Gordon Gladden!  

[ida may]