Cornhole, Flip cup, and Sailboat racing

Travis Odenbach was having another solid event for him and his Honey Badger team, this time at the J/24 East Coast Championship in Annapolis, MD, but a U Flag penalty in this no-discard 8-race event dropped them to third overall out of 26 boats. In this report by Travis for RCR Yachts, he describes how this 3-day championship had social balance too…

From a competitive standpoint, this fleet was the strongest I have seen it in the last three years. But it was Severn Sailing Association, Pat FitzGerald and his team of volunteers that really came through to put on a very fun on-land part of the regatta.

The Quantum and Sparcraft sponsored beer truck was up and running as teams set their boats up Thursday afternoon. I ran around with my head cut off helping skippers tune their boats in the rain. The organizers had scheduled Dock Talks each day (led by North Sails), cornhole tournaments and on Saturday the longest flip cup table I have ever seen!

The Saturday party included oysters on the half-shell, Maryland crab soups and a great dinner with over 170 sailors eating, having fun and partying into the evening. This regatta has become a great social event, as well as competition. Rarely do we see teams hang around for four hours after the sailing was done. No one wanted to miss the great time that was had each night!

This regatta was amazing on the water and even more fun off the water. My advice to everyone is to put this event on your schedule next year and let’s make it a 30 boat regatta! Thank you to Pat Fitzgerald, Commodore Peter Rich, and to everyone else who worked hard to put this event on. See you next year!