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MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

SPORTS

SAILING

[photo, Sailboats, Back Creek, Annapolis, Maryland]
  • Boating Waters
    • In the Chesapeake Bay area, boating is a favorite pastime. Long known as America's Sailing Capital, Annapolis, was chosen as the site for the National Sailing Hall of Fame and Museum, in December 2005. Each October, Annapolis also hosts the United States Sailboat Show, and United States Powerboat Show. They are the two oldest and largest shows of their kind in the nation.

    Sailboats, Back Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, October 2008. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Sailboat on Severn River, Annapolis, Maryland] The Annual Governor's Cup Yacht Race starts from Annapolis and concludes each year at St. Mary's City. Competitors race down Chesapeake Bay, turning up the Potomac River to the St. Mary's River in southern Maryland. The 39th running of the 70-mile long overnight race will be held in August 2012.

    For fifty years, Deal Island off Somerset County (also on the Eastern Shore) has been home to the Annual Skipjack Race. Over Labor Day weekend, the Race will next be held on September 5, 2011.

    Sailboat on Severn River, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2001. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Sailboats, Back Creek, Annapolis, Maryland] Since 1989, the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race annually traverses from Fells Point in Baltimore to Portsmith, Virginia. The Race is held each October.

    On the Eastern Shore, in Cambridge, the Annual Schooner Rendezvous is held at Long Wharf at the end of High Street each October.

    Sailboats, Back Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, October 2008. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Sailboats at Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland] Competitive sailboat racing boasts many participants throughout the Chesapeake Bay area. Year-round, Maryland's local yacht clubs host racing series and regattas. In April 2006, Annapolis and Baltimore were chosen as ports of call for the Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round-the-World Race). Numerous sailing schools train future racing champions and recreational sailors.

    Sailboats at Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland, August 2001. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    Since 1991, St. Mary's College of Maryland, competing in the Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association, has captured twelve national championship titles, including two in 2007. In 2009, the St. Mary's Seahawks from St. Mary's College of Maryland beat Yale University to win the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship for the third time in school history. Located on the St. Mary's River with access to the Chesapeake Bay, St. Mary's College locally competes against teams from the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

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