CCWBRA 2019 NATIONALS

Race Directors, Todd Steffes and Vice Commodore, Capt. Peter Urbani kicked off this year’s CCWBRA Nationals Regatta on Friday, August 16, 2019.  Racers and members began showing up at the Rock Hall Yacht Club for testing and registration from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.  Benji & Anneliese Cantera brought the Muriel Eileen down to the RHYC with their fleet of four boats, “The Mosquito Fleet,” and showed up ready to race.  

Saturday began with a fog over the bay, but sunny skies were the order of the day.   Twenty two cocktail class boats and 29 racers made for some exciting and competitive Cocktail Class racing.  Racers competed in 12 events in 5 different motor classes. 

We kicked off the day with the Early Classics class with Fred Keer taking 1st place in the Mixed division with his boat 1891, 2 Cycles Gladiator, Tara Carew taking 1st in the Women’s division with Russ Bowler’s boat, 40 Flying Kiwi, and Frank Cantera, taking 1st in the Youth class, in his boat 115 Ball Breaker.

Followed by the Late Classics, with 7 racers competing in the Mixed division where Russ Bowler in 40 Flying Kiwi took home the 1st place title, Tara Carew claiming 1st place in the Women’s division in Jack Pettigrew’s 82- Havin’ Fun, CCWBRA Commodore, Keith Carew, taking 1st place in Heavy division driving Jack’s boat 82 Havin’ Fun.  The class wrapped up with the Youth class and Morgan Carew took home the 1st place title also in Havin’ Fun.   Thanks to Havin’ Fun, the Carew took home possibly the first every hat trick of a family racing team bringing home all 1st place titles in the same class.   

Next up was the Post ‘79s class.  Out of a large group of 10 racers competing in the Mixed class, Steve Brendlinger in 999 Kamikaze, claimed the 1st place title.  Sara Orthwein took 1st place in Women’s in 1314 SNAFU and Zack Ditmars pulled off another first place victory in the Heavy class with 67 Molotov this year.  

In the Tohatsu 6HP Mixed class, we had 6 racers competing in our first-ever Nationals race for this class.  The racers all competed in one Mixed class and are required to ballast up to 200 pounds.  Annaliesse Cantera ran a race with great starts and great skill and proudly walked away with a 1st place victory in 100 Con Con, with Keith Carew taking 2nd in Rich Faulkner’s boat, 13 Mother’s Ruin, and Jax Shubert with 3rd place in the newly rebuilt (paint barely dry) 35 Ms. Stoli NFL owned by Urbani Family.  

We ended the day with the 8HP Mixed class, with 9 racers competing for the coveted title in the fastest motor class.  Similar to the Tohatsu 6HP Mixed class, racers race in one class and ballast up to 200 pounds.  With six racers moving on to the finals, it was a nail bitter around some of the buoys but a clean race.   Darryl Kepler, who has been our longest reigning National Champion in the 8HP class, was not about to give up his title and clenched a first place victory again in 777 Silver Bullet, with Steve Brendlinger, giving him a run for his money and taking 2nd in 999 Kamikaze.  Todd Steffes brought home the 3rd place award, pulling off his first placing at Nationals since his 2011 first place victory.  It was a long time in the making but some new motor additions this year for 20 Hot Toddy paid off! 

Other than a small break for a storm that was looming on the horizon, we had a fantastic day!   Thanks to Capt. Lee Urbani for running the safety boat, Todd Steffes for donating his Grady White 24 to be used as the safety boat.   We stress safety at our Skipper’s meeting and we had a safe race with only SNAFU needing a tow due to motor issues after two boats could not avoid a minor collision around the 2nd buoy.  

At the awards ceremony, our Nationals winners were presented with special pewter cup awards from Camelot Pewter in Virginia engraved by our very own, Jack Pettigrew.  Huge thanks to Jack for all of his hard work again this year!  The complete official results can be found on www.ccwbra.com. 

Thanks also to all of the volunteers who make these races possible, including but certainly not limited to, Todd Steffes and Peter Urbani, co-Race Directors, Sue Steffes for organizing the dinner event, Jim Schmicker & Keith Carew on Race Committee calling all the starts and finishes, Jeff Weeber for running the pit area and keeping the races on schedule, Lena Cantera for capturing the day for us with her camera, Kimberly Shubert & Dawn Urbani on Scoring Committee, Tom Kerr on Inspections, Jax Shubert, Rock Hall Yacht Club for hosting our event and the entire Walker – Moonshiner team for attending from Tennessee and bringing their own very special blend of Strawberry Wine!  We hope everyone had a great time and hope that you will join us next year for our special 10th year Anniversary Nationals event!

Official 2019 Nationals Race Results