journey to annapolis and the annapolis boat show
The previous month has been a whirlwind of activity for the campaign. On the move from Newport and on to Connecticut, New York and now Maryland, Koloa Maoli and myself have now hit the end of our road here in Annapolis, Maryland. About a thousand miles of sailing since leaving Maine, we will soon be headed back north to Maine. It was a big effort to organize all of the logistics and then bring the boat down to Newport and Annapolis - and points between - but it’s been a great adventure and i’d like to think the campaign has made a lot of progress. Northward bound.
Koloa Maoli was visited by huge crowds all weekend at the Annapolis Boat Show. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and especially huge thanks to my girlfriend Marisa and both the Peters from US Patriot Sailing, as well as all of the volunteers who helped staff the boat.
ANNAPOLIS BOAT SHOW RECAP
The Annapolis Sailboat Show, the nation’s largest all-sailboat show, is always a great event and I was glad to again take part. Just like in Newport, we welcomed hundreds and hundreds of visitors onboard and it was a real thrill and very inspiring to see how positive the reaction is to an American solo around the world racing campaign. When people step onto the boat and discover the concept of solo around the world racing on a Class 40, they are captivated and want to know more. It’s neat to see. The show was also a great opportunity to re-connect with our existing technical partners and strengthen relationships, but also a chance to engage with new sponsors and supporters. In multiple cases, companies that we linked up with in Newport are now brands that we were representing in Annapolis, and in the lead-up to the race. Progress.
During the show, we were located at the corner of K dock, the very northeastern-most dock in the show. Right next to my buddy Peter Gibbons-Neff, also a fellow Marine, who had his Mini Transat on the dock to promote his own campaign, we were both there to also promote our sponsor and 501c3 partner US Patriot Sailing. Engaging with countless folks throughout the course of the weekend, I made the tough decision to pull the boat out of the show on Sunday due to weather concerns. Laying beam-on to the dock in the most windward and vulnerable position of the whole show, Koloa Maoli had already been slammed against a dock for days (thank goodness for new fenders!) and taken some rubbing on my bowsprit on a wood pylon in the middle of the night. My first scratches on the boat. Major sad face emoji. I dipped out on Saturday evening and went back to the boat yard, and instead just attended the Sunday show on foot. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who came by the boat and showed so much interest in the campaign, be it equipment sponsors, a handful of donors and all of the supporters who toured the boat and also bought some swag.
During the boat show, I had the pleasure of meeting three other skippers who are hoping to do the Global Solo Challenge in the future. I’ve been texting with all of them for months, so it was nice to finally meet. In this photo, we are with a skipper from Uruguay named Pablo, as well as Ben from Atlanta and his family, and then Marisa, myself, Peter Quinn from US Patriot Sailing, Chris Manson-Hing from Marlow Ropes and Andy Walker from Getac Computers. One of a few great evenings in Annapolis.
DELIVERY FROM NEWPORT TO ANNAPOLIS
After Newport, I sailed Koloa Maoli doublehanded over to Block Island for a pit stop and then onto Southport, Connecticut and the Pequot Yacht Club. The trip out of Newport was light wind and gorgeous, which made for a very pleasant day on the water with slow-going and a bit of motoring to get in for lunch. Once departing Block Island however, the wind switched around to north and then the northeast, and Koloa Maoli came stomping into Long Island Sound on a 15 or 20 knot northeasterly with a Code 0 up at about 130 true wind angle. Ripping down the Sound in the middle of the night, we had to contend with some commercial traffic before arriving to Southport in the middle of the night. Once we got there, we tacked off and then back under reefed sails to time up a day-light arrival at a higher tide in the morning.
Beautiful photo from a nice day sail in Newport with the legendary Billy Black in a chase boat taking photos.
Once at Pequot Yacht Club, we were delighted to discover a yacht club that was nothing short of incredible. An idyllic little harbor that was well protected, with a super active and accomplished membership, a lot of very nice boats and just a fantastic small town and community. And quite a nice sailing venue at that. The club and event organizers Charlie Reynolds and Phil Dickey were very hospitable and had Koloa Maoli parked right on the fuel dock to allow for tours of the boat. On that Sunday afternoon, I gave a well attended and well received speaking presentation in the upper floor of the yacht club. A week later, I returned to the boat to resume the journey south with a trip to New York.
Taking on some guest crew from the yacht club and around Southport, we departed Pequot Yacht Club on a beautiful Monday morning and sailed downwind again in a northeasterly that hung around better than the forecast ever predicted. Making good time towards New York again under Code Zero, we finally furled it up and motored down the east river right into New York and onto Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ. A few days in New York that included some good sailing with guests and a bit of sight seeing and boat maintenance, and then I again departed and took off for Annapolis.
Ripping down Long Island Sound with a Code Zero up on the way towards Pequot Yacht Club
Departing New York on the back side of a September hurricane in northerly winds, I was hoping for a fast 20 knot spinnaker run down to Virginia and into the Chesapeake Bay. It was a great and memorable day of sailing for sure, and with a talented crew at that, but the sea state was extremely confused and disorganized. This made for sloppy seas that were not only hard on the boat and it’s sails, but also had a negative impact on our speed. Adding to that, the breeze fell out over night a lot harder than forecast and never switched from northeast to east as it was predicted to. The end result was that we became fairly stuck offshore, dead downwind in light air that was dying off even harder. Already behind where I had hoped to be and going very slow, we dropped sails and motored towards the Chesapeake in light air. Once into the Chesapeake at night, we motored through the night until a light westerly developed which let us reach along comfortably at wind speed, about 7 knots, headed right up the Chesapeake. As that breeze died off late in the morning, we were motoring into Solomons Island, Maryland and arriving right as the southerly wind shift occurred and the afternoon sea breeze was filling in.
Beautiful image from a passing boat as we were approaching Annapolis with the A2 up.
After a lovely evening in Solomons Island, Maryland we departed and motored a bit until the southerly sea breeze filled in, which made for a truly enjoyable spinnaker run into Annapolis, again doing wind speed, about 8 knots of speed in 8 knots of breeze to cap off a close to 400 mile leg from New York, and something like a thousand miles since Maine. With no moorings available in Annapolis harbor due to being very crowded from the boat show, I busted out my anchor and chain, a snatch block and an old halyard to use as anchor rode. Putting everything together, we anchored Koloa Maoli in the main anchorage and felt good about our spot. As my crew departed that day and the following day, I was now alone for a day or two until the boat show began. The following day, the wind picked up as forecast and it began blowing 20 knots, gusting even a bit higher. My small Fortress anchor began dragging, which was quite stressful as I was surrounded by very expensive cruising boats, meaning that I could not really let more scope out and I couldn’t afford to drag. With my only good option being to very quickly decide to pick up the anchor, I did so and then motored for open water and called the boat yard. Fortunately, they had a spot I could come into, and so I did, navigating my way through Back Creek and over to Jabin’s Yacht Yard, which is about the closest marina that can accommodate my draft.
The following day, Wednesday, I moved into the boat show, which is another whole story in and of itself. But the whole thing was far behind schedule due in large part to consistently windy conditions making it harder than expected for boats to get into the show and parked. Finally, myself and Peter Gibbons-Neff with his Mini Transat moved in next to each other, to both support US Patriot Sailing and to promote our various campaigns.
PROGRESS SINCE NEWPORT
Since Newport, we’ve made quite a bit of progress with the campaign. We’re going to begin announcing some key sponsorships for the campaign. With technical partners like Maine Yacht Center, Groupe Wichard (and subsidiaries like Ronstan and Facnor), Marlow Ropes, Getac computers, Solid State Marine Batteries, PYI Inc, Saiutions, Cyclops Marine and more that are constantly coming onboard, we are off to a good start with engaging the best companies in the industry to help us find the right gear for the boat. We’ve also seen a significant up-tick in private cash support in the past two months, both through our 501c3 non-profit partner US Patriot Sailing, as well as cash sponsorships straight to the campaign (Ronnie Simpson Ocean Racing LLC).
Perhaps even more importantly, we’ve continued to add members to the team that are helping us behind the scenes to conduct outreach and to connect with potential sponsors. We still have a very long way to go and nothing is inked yet with major and/ or title sponsors, but things are at least moving in the right direction. To add to that, we have a number of magazine articles, newspaper coverage, podcast coverage and more that are either in the works or hitting newsstands shortly. Combining this increased coverage with some professional photo shoots, a couple of upcoming media shoots and an upcoming professional filming project for a campaign video trailer, and we will hopefully soon have created the package that we need to successfully approach the major sponsors that will ultimately fund this campaign. As it stands right now, we at least have some doors that are being opened and conversations that are being had at how we connect the dots to get the campaign funded. It’s always an uphill battle trying to fund a sailing campaign in the USA, but there is real and tangible progress! At the very least we have more money than we did a few months ago, and can pay our bills throughout the winter and do some more work on the boat, including pulling the keel and rig and going through both of those.
Baltimore bound tomorrow!
