Talent-laden fleet of 186 boats in 15 classes!

When Steve Attard took charge of planning the Hobie 33 National Championship, his thoughts immediately turned to Charleston Race Week.

Priority one was picking a venue and Attard realized being part of an existing regatta would dramatically reduce the logistical challenges.

"It made a lot of sense to me because Charleston Race Week provides all the on and off the water support," Attard said. Attard polled the active Hobie 33 owners and there was tremendous enthusiasm for conducting nationals as part of the Charleston Race Week 2023.

"Steve called and asked what I thought about doing nationals in Charleston and my response was: I'm in. That place is great," said Scott Maust, a longtime class member and owner of Hi Tech.

Hobie 33 Nationals are normally held every two years and the venue constantly changes. It is a class tradition that the reigning champ is responsible for organizing the next nationals. That structure was thrown into disarray when 2019 champ Skip Dieball sold his boat. Of course, a worldwide pandemic also intervened and Hobie Nationals were not held in 2021. Attard, who captured the 2022 Midwinter Championship, took it upon himself to make sure Hobie Nationals got back on schedule.

"I've always read the articles about Charleston Race Week and how well it is organized and how great the racing is," said Attard, noting the Midwinters are usually sailed out of St. Petersburg, Florida.

"I chose Charleston because we were looking for something. I heard the currents and conditions were challenging and figured that would be a nice change of pace."

Attard admitted an added bonus is that Charleston is a historic city with world-class restaurants, shopping and attractions. It has been voted America's No. 1 small city for 10 years and counting.

Hobie 33 will become just the latest in a long line of classes to contest championships at Charleston Race Week, which is one of the world's foremost destination regattas. Ten one-design classes along with ORC D will compete on three separate circles set on Charleston Harbor. Veteran regatta manager Taran Teague will once again serve as the overall principal race officer. Chip Till will handle PRO duties on Circle One (VX One, J/24, RS 21, J22/Inshore PHRF), Mark Foster will manage Circle Two (Melges 24, J/70) and Matt Hill will oversee Circle Three (J/88, J/105, Melges 32, Hobie 33).

Bruce Bingman and Ray Redness return as principal race officers for the offshore courses being sailed by the ORC A, Pursuit Spinnaker A, Pursuit Spinnaker B and Pursuit Non-Spinnaker classes.

As usual, the J/70 class is the largest of the regatta with a whopping 40 boats roughly evenly split between professional teams and Corinthian crews. Some of the world's most renowned pros are regulars at Charleston Race Week with most competing in the J/70 class.

Dallas, Texas skipper Bruno Pasquinelli is the defending champion at Charleston Race Week and will have a top-flight crew aboard Stampede. Last year, Morgan Reeser called tactics as Pasquinelli notched two bullets and finished fifth or better in five others on the way to winning by a comfortable 14-point margin.

Other top contenders include Empeiria (John Heaton, Wilmette, IL), Very Odd (David Jannetti, Miami Beach, FL) and Nine (Oivind Lorentzen, Stamford, CT). Henry Filter is a veteran J/70 skipper who races Corinthian but has proven more than capable of competing on even terms with the pro teams.

Last year, Filter and his team aboard Wild Child finished 18th in the overall standings — two spots behind Corinthian champion Francisco Van Avermaete (Juicy).

"Charleston Race Week is one of our favorite events as it is typically the first big regatta to kick off the spring season," Filter said. "The venue is extremely challenging with shifty breeze and tricky currents running in several directions. Throw in the competitive, deep J/70 fleet and you have the recipe for great days on the water."

Filter has sailed at a high level for many years in the Snipe class, representing the United States in the Pan American Games. The Annapolis native and Eastport Yacht Club member is now senior vice president of a financial services company and enjoys mixing it up with the professional teams that come to Charleston.

"Sailing against so many pros can be humbling, but it is incredibly challenging," said Filter, who will be competing at Charleston Race Week for the eighth time. "When you have a good race, you know you have truly earned it."

The second-largest class at Charleston Race Week 2023 is VX One, which will have 29 boats on the start line. Skipper Doug Clark will be making his third straight appearance at Charleston Race Week and seeking his second title after winning by tiebreaker over Chris Alexander in 2021.

"Charleston Race Week is a premier event for our class. It's unlike any event in the country and always attracts a very competitive fleet and the racing is top-notch," said Clark, who placed third last year."

VX One class races in front of the Carolina Yacht Club on a course that is impacted by the confluence of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers along with the Folly Island Channel.

"It's a tricky place to sail. It's a very unique venue because you're dealing with three different currents," Clark said.

Clark is the Director of Sailing at the Coast Guard Academy and annually brings the team to Charleston during spring break. He readily acknowledges spending that time "doing some reconnaissance work" and trying to develop some local knowledge.

Clark and his Sideshow team were the overall champions of the VX One Winter Series after having previously captured the North American championship out of Toronto in September.

Skipper Tej Trevor Parekh sailed Bro Safari to a runner-up result at North Americans and will certainly be a contender here in Charleston. Other top skippers in the class include John Potter (VXI), Jeff Eiber (VX275), Michelle Warner (Tudo Bem) and Kaitlyn Leibel (Another Bad Idea), a talented freshman sailor at Jacksonville University.

Melges 24 is another class that draws numerous pros to Charleston Race Week. Travis Weisleder has dominated the regatta of late, winning three straight championships. Weisleder is not attending this year due to personal reasons but has chartered his boat to Laura Grondin.

Grondin, a two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year nominee, now bears the responsibility of skippering Lucky Dog to a fourth consecutive crown. John Bowden, who has been racing with Weisleder for more than a decade, has taken charge of putting together the program.

"I'm well aware the pressure is on. I've been asked to drive the boat that has won the last three Charleston Race Weeks and would like to continue that streak," Grondin said.

Grondin is a veteran of the Melges 24 class and has competed against Weisleder for years. She will have Bowden trimming the head sails, Jackson Benvenutti aboard as tactician, Alex Bowen on the bow and Chandler Self in the pit.

"I've sailed against Travis for many years and Lucky Dog is a good boat that is always well prepared," she said. "John is doing everything possible to ensure the standard stays high, so we're going there to win."

Grondin placed third in the three-regatta Bacardi Winter Series. She expects to get stiff competition in Charleston from Richard Reid (Zingara) and Harry Melges IV (Zenda Express), who finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the Winter Series.

Melges 32 class will make its Charleston Race Week debut with a solid fleet of seven boats. Back in its heyday, the class held stand-alone events and did not join other regattas. Now participating as part of an elite regatta is a way to boost the class numbers. Clarke McKinney raced his Melges 32 at Charleston Race Week in 2019 as part of an ORC class. He was thrilled to see there would be a one-design class this year and did not hesitate to register Wild Horses, which he co-owns with Hawk Caldwell.

"When I saw a handful of boats were already registered, I jumped on the bandwagon," McKinney said. "I think we're all looking forward to racing one-design as opposed to ORC, which is where we are for most regattas these days."

McKinney is a longtime professional with Quantum, which is the presenting sponsor of Charleston Race Week. He hails from Solomons Island on the Chesapeake Bay and routinely competes against another well-sailed Melges 32 in local regattas.

Another top contender in Melges 32 class is Fearless, skippered by Mount Pleasant resident and Carolina Yacht Club member John Lucas. Fearless is the boat that beat Wild Horses in 2019 while racing under the ORC rating rule.

"Fearless has a tight team that has sailed together a long time and they will be tough," said McKinney, who has never raced Wild Horses in a one-design regatta until now.

Eight of the 13 boats entered in J/24 class are from South Carolina with most coming from the immediate Charleston area. Dan Rogge, a Carolina Yacht Club member, and skipper of Matadora, said the local fleet is always extremely competitive and coming together at Charleston Race Week only raises the stakes.

"I think all the boats from the area want to win this regatta in particular because of its history and tradition," he said. Rogge steered Matadora to a third place finish at Charleston Race Week 2022 and is hoping to take the next step to the top of the podium. He views Ice Cube (Michael Quaid) as a benchmark and believes a number of other boats could come out on top.

"You would like to think that each year you make some improvements and show some growth. We feel like we have the talent to be very competitive again this year," Rogge said. "We had a strong summer series but haven't sailed much lately and have some rust to shake off."

There is somewhat of a home-court advantage for the Charleston-area boats early on, but Roggie said the traveling boats such as Evil Twin (Jaspar Van Vliet), CAN 5254 (Nathan Breset) and See You Later (Andrew Postell) compete at numerous national regattas. "We're familiar with the currents and how they play off the rivers that meet in the harbor, but that advantage does not last more than a couple days," Roggie said. "We need to get a strong start to the regatta because these traveling teams are very strong. It's tough when you have boats come from out of town and you get schooled in your own waters."

The J/88 class has been a longtime staple of Charleston Race Week and always draws a strong fleet. That is certainly the case again this year with Exile (John and Jordan Leahey), Albondigas (Justin Scagnelli) and Deviation (Iris Vogel) all returning after placing second through fourth in 2022. Deviation was runner-up at the J/88 North Americans that were held off Chicago in September and featured 25 boats. Exile and Albondigas finished third and seventh in that event.

"Deviation is always a solid boat to beat, while Exile has a very good program as well," noted Scagnelli. "I would like to consider our boat a top contender because we have a really good team this year. But, just like every Charleston Race Week, any boat could win." Scagnelli will be racing with a heavy heart after losing boat partner Tim Price to a heart attack in February. The New Canaan, Connecticut resident was 46 years old.

"Tim was always dedicated to the boat and crew. He would have wanted us to stay together, so I'm doing everything I can to keep the Albondigas program going," Scagnelli said.

Blow Boat!! was the surprise performer at Charleston Race Week 2022, coming out of nowhere to win J/105 class. Skipper Rob Marsh got the old gang back together and proceeded to place first or second in six of 10 races to edge Skimmer (Miles Martschink) by two points. J/105 class was considered the most competitive among one-designs and Blow Boat!!was presented with the prestigious Charleston Race Week Cup as Boat of the Week.

Marsh, who owns a boat dealership and storage facility on Maryland's Eastern Shore, had not participated in competitive sailboat racing for 13 years before convincing five childhood friends from New Jersey to compete in Charleston Race Week. Sadly, Marsh will return this year with one less member of the crew as Jeremy Macan died of a heart attack.

"We lost one of our main men, which is tough. Our whole goal this year is to honor Jeremy," Marsh said. "We're excited for some great competition. The J/105 class is filled with great people and is very Corinthian."

Marsh has been sailing with Randy Dickerson for four decades and Paul Krzenski for half as long. Those two are back to help Blow Boat!! repeat, but it won't be easy as Skimmer and Dead on Arrival (Joe Highsmith), the second and third place entries from a year ago, will be coming after the champs.

"At our age, all we want to do is mid-pack or better while enjoying the Charleston hospitality," Marsh said.

Competitors are invited at 8am each morning to join Scott Nixon / Quantum Sails and Shea Gibson / Sailflow Weather online for interactive forecasts, local knowledge, and expert tips: competitors get your questions ready and prepare for your day on the water!