Charleston Race Week at Patriots Point

FrickieandBill cropped tbThere was a small seismic shift in Charleston’s sailing scene last year when three local teams bought J/105s and moved them to the Holy City. Among those is Rum Front, which Frickie Martschink and Bill McKenzie purchased in Sept. and trucked down from Marblehead, Mass. This duo has been essentially boatless for the past few years, so they’ve spent their time on the sidelines at Race Week, doing yeoman’s work as on-the-water volunteers. Now, they’ve opted to return to the fray, mostly because they missed the fun of racing in Charleston Harbor.

Martschink, a former construction company owner, real estate broker, and McKenzie, a real estate developer, campaigned an Olson 30 for nearly a decade as part of a multi-owner consortium. “We realized that we both missed what we had loved so much about racing,” explains Martschink, “and that was the Wednesday evening CORA races.”

After deciding to get back in the game, they determined that they wanted a boat that they could keep in the water instead of dry-sailing as they had with the Olson. “We wanted something with a little bigger cockpit and an inboard engine,” says Martschink. “We were familiar with J/105s from years ago. There used to be a class here about ten years ago, but it petered out for whatever reason. The 105 is an ideal boat for Charleston Harbor, so, we decided this would be the boat even though I had only sailed on one once and I don’t think that Bill had ever been on one. Still, it seemed like the kind of boat that could take out a crowd on occasion and let us have some fun racing the rest of the time.”


As it turns out, Martschink’s younger brother Miles was also on the hunt for a new boat at the same time. He and his partner Ben Hagood had sold their J/29 and were keen to get another ride. “Bill and I had a boat lined up to purchase, and that fell through. Then we had another one we were going to buy,” explains the elder Martschink, “but that didn’t happen either. In the meantime, Miles and Ben beat us to the punch. They bought their boat last spring, and we didn’t find ours until September.” Somewhere in between there, local tour boat entrepreneur Bob Scribner also bought a J/105.

Is there a rivalry brewing? “Yeah, you could say that,” offers Martschink. “A good, friendly rivalry though! Before we got our boat, Miles and Ben kept telling their crew that we were too cheap to get a boat. They also told them that until we got a boat, they wouldn’t be able to take everyone on board who wanted to sail. So, after we got Rum Front, we asked a couple of their crew to sail with us, and that’s when Miles and Ben accused us of ‘stealing their crew,’ even though some of them had previously sailed with us on the Olson.  So, yeah, I think we’ll have a good rivalry. But I should also add that Ben and Miles have been very helpful in getting us up to speed on the 105. I guess they don’t want us to have any excuses if we don’t win!

To get ready for Race Week, Martschink, McKenzie and crew are sailing as many local races as they can. “When we got the boat last fall, Charleston had all that rain and we weren’t able to get out much. So we’ll be doing as many races as we can this winter and spring.”
At present, the crew, he says, will consist of longtime local stalwart Patrick Hogan doing tactics, assisted by another accomplished local sailor George Scarborough. Will Sloger will also be in the cockpit, with Martschink as the principal helmsman while McKenzie and his son Mac, a collegiate sailor at Eckerd, will share the duties up forward, along with Sarah Moore, Martschink’s daughter.

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Though this duo hasn’t competed in Race Week in recent years, Martschink says that he and McKenzie are well familiar with the event. “We’ve sailed in Charleston Race Week so many times it’s hard to remember exactly how many we’ve done. I think we did the first one way back when it first started, and probably did most of them up until maybe 2006.”

He praises the event saying, “It’s become a great regatta. Having lived here my entire life and been involved in sailing since I was about 5, this sport has always been part of my life. But I really enjoy sailing in Charleston Harbor, and I enjoy the competition that Race Week offers. One of the great things about this event is the emphasis on fun. And it gives us a chance to reconnect with people that we see just once a year. But I think the event is also a good opportunity for all of us to get younger sailors involved in the sport, for instance teenagers who have just aged out of high school sailing.”

So, what are Martschink’s expectations for Race Week? “Well, we’re really just getting our feet wet with the J/105 right now, but for Race Week, we plan to be competitive. The good news is, there are a couple of 105s not too far away – one a in Hilton Head and one in Savannah, I think – so we’re really hopeful that there will be a good turnout and we’ll have a class at the event.

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