Cate Muller-Terhune was thrilled to capture the J/70 class championship at the Annapolis stop of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series.
The victory earned Muller-Terhune and her Casting Couch crew an automatic berth into the 2025 J/70 World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“I’ve never been to South America and it’s something I’m really excited about. I can’t wait to go,” Muller-Terhune said.
It turns out their performance in the three-day regatta held on the Chesapeake Bay earned the Casting Couch team another trip. Muller-Terhune was declared overall winner of the Annapolis event and earned a berth in the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Caribbean Championship.
Muller-Terhune and crew will travel to the British Virgin Islands in October to compete against the overall winners of the other five stops on the series.
Casting Couch posted a pair of first place results and a couple seconds in totaling 16 points, four better than runner-up Hedgehog, to top the 25-boat J/70 class. Allan Terhune called tactics for his wife, while Dave Hughes served as headsail trimmer and Colin Kirby as bowman.
Casting Couch entered the final day of racing tied atop the standings along with Savasana, which was disqualified from the seventh and final race and finished third as a result.
“It was a challenging regatta and, honestly, a protest is what helped us out,” Muller-Terhune said. “My team was great and worked really well together, which really made my job easy. We sailed upwind incredibly well. I think we were probably the fastest boat in the fleet upwind.”
Muller-Terhune does not do a whole lot of sailing with her husband, who is a professional with North Sails and maintains a jam-packed schedule. Allan Terhune, who was a finalist for the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year after garnering a gold medal at the Pan American Games, has vowed to crew for his wife more often this year.
“It was a great weekend of sailing in Annapolis and really awesome to have a lot of breeze,” Muller-Terhune said. “It was great to get out on the water again and have some fun and winning was an added bonus.”
A total of 218 boats in 17 classes competed in the Annapolis stop of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, which just continues to get bigger and better. Typically shifty conditions made local knowledge important and 15 of the 17 winning skippers hail from the greater Chesapeake Bay region.
There was plenty of wind throughout the weekend and organizers were able to complete multiple races all three days.
This year’s regatta saw the addition of two new one-design classes with the Harbor 20 and Albacore joining the fray. Annapolis resident Bell Carty was presented with the Sportsmanship Award in recognition of her efforts to coordinate the Harbor 20 fleet’s first year of participation in the Regatta Series.
Carty skippered Puffin to a third place finish in the 18-boat Harbor 20 class, which was won by Ed Holt aboard Trinity. Tyler Russell served as co-skipper for Holt as the tandem closed the regatta with three bullets to post a low score of 12 points — a whopping 20 less than runner-up Yellow Jacket (Scholz-Sullivan syndicate).
Albacore class was the other first-time participant and attracted 19 entries, including a strong contingent from Canada. Class legend Barney Harris sailed Gale Warning to victory in five races and placed second in three others in totaling 19 points, just four clear of Toronto resident Stephanie Mah aboard Lucky Jador.
Mah was the one who reached out to regatta organizers with Sailing World Magazine to request adding the Albacore. She did so after participating in the St. Petersburg stop of the series and coming away impressed.
“It’s a really well run event with a lot of great classes. I figured it would be great promotion for our class,” Mah said.
Harris, a West River Sailing Club member, captured three consecutive Albacore world championships from 2009 through 2013 with close friend Dave Byron as crew. It was fitting those two veterans would become the first Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta series winners in class history, securing a North American Championship in the process.
“Dave and I have sailed the Albacore in a lot of high-level regattas for 20 years so have a ton of experience and work really well together,” Harris said. “We were very pleased with the turnout for this regatta and Annapolis Yacht Club was very accommodating.”
Jimmy Praley and his top-notch crew aboard Robot Flamingo captured the Viper 640 Atlantic Coast Championship, which featured 24 boats. North Sails professional Austin Powers worked the middle and Max Vinocur handled the foredeck for Praley, who won four races and finished fourth or better in four others in posting 25 points, five fewer than Shelter Island, New York entry Glory Days (Jay Rhame, Peter and Rachel Beardsley).
“We did our absolute best to minimize our mistakes and stay as consistent as we possibly could,” said Praley, a member of both AYC and Severn Sailing Association. “Austin and Max did a superb job as usual and we sailed relatively conservatively to avoid any deep results.”
The Robot Flamingo team has been on a roll, capturing the 2023 North American championship then winning the Sarasota Sailing Squadron’s Winter Series.
J/30 class conducted its East Coast Championship as part of the regatta and brothers in law Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello sailed Bebop to victory by winning five of 10 races.
J/80 was the largest class in the regatta with 26 boats and Sarah Alexander skippered More Cowbell to a come-from-behind win. More Cowbell trailed by five points going into Sunday’s action and posted a pair of seconds to overtake Kopp-Out (Thomas and Jennifer Kopp), which absorbed a 12th in the seventh and final race.
Tactician Jonathan Bartlett was the only male member of the crew that consisted of former collegiate sailors Ginny Minninger (foredeck), Sarah Russell (mid-bow) and Katja Sertl (headsail trimmer).
“We sailed conservatively and focused on getting good starts. Jonathan did a fantastic job of keeping us in phase and the entire crew did a really fantastic job all weekend,” said Alexander, a first-time winner of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta.
Skipper Ray Wulff and the Patriot team notched three bullets on the way to topping J/105 class, which had 24 boats. Wulff finished with all single-digit results in totaling 26 points, 11 better than runner-up Mayhem (Doug Stryker).
Sam Vineyard came down from Massachusetts to call tactics for his close friend with Jamie Gilman (bow), Tyler Raven (mast), Michael Komar (headsail trimmer) and Dawn Kass (pit) completing the crew. It was the second straight Sailing World Regatta win for Wulff, a relative newcomer to the class.
“All credit to my crew. They carry me around the course and make it look easy. I really enjoy sailing with friends, having fun and keeping it light,” said Wulff, an AYC member. “Our goal was to sail consistently and stay out of trouble. There were 80 boats in our fleet so we tried to stay away from the other classes and let our boat speed do the talking.”
Division I, which was overseen by Severn Sailing Association, completed 10 races for the three classes that raced all three days. Jeff Todd steered Hot Toddy to the top of J/22 standings, finishing third or better in seven of the 10 starts.
Chip Carr trimmed and Chris Ryan worked the bow aboard Hot Toddy, which won the Sailing World Regatta for only the second time after amassing a slew of seconds or thirds.
“It was a really tough fleet with some great competitors, but we sailed well and had very good boat speed,” Todd said. “We’re a bunch of old guys who have been doing this for a long time.”
Patrick Seidel and his crew on Laughing Gull put forth an impressive performance to capture the Maple Leaf Trophy as Alberg 30 class champ. Barbara Ewing (pit) along with brothers Josh (bow), Matt (headsail trimmer) and Michael (mainsail trimmer) crewed for Seidel, who got the gun in eight straight races before placing second. Laughing Gull clinched the regatta and did not need to sail the final race.
Other local winners included Mark Hillman (Hillman Capital Management, J/24), Britton Steele (BrewJax, Melges 15) and Gregory Hyrniewicz (Caramba, Etchells).
