These sailors don?t don matching uniforms or trek across the globe in gale-force winds like the highly trained athletes in the Volvo Ocean Race.
And though they often guzzle a beer after a race and let some of the strict sailing rules slide, they still consider themselves competitors or maybe even Volvo “wannabes.”
“It can get tense,” said Howdy Straterhoff, a 47-year-old Baltimore researcher who sails competitively every Wednesday night with the North Point Sailing Association.
The association has 36 registered boats that race Wednesday nights in the Patascpo River. They sail five different classes of up to 13boats each. Weeknight races are usually a 5 to 6 mile course, which can mean up to 2 hours of time on the water.
North Point?s members try not to take themselves too seriously.
“It?s very similar to people who play softball, it?s a chance to get together for the camaraderie,” Straterhoff said.
Straterhoff is a crew member of the Windemere, a 1971 Allied Chance 3030 owned by Ted Diehl, the race committee chairman of the North Point Saling Association.
“We are a budget racing club,” Diehl said, “We?re from a blue collar neighborhood.”
The sailing association has been around for about 26 years, when Edgemere Harry Young, the owner of Young?s boatyard wanted to “get some competitive sailors,” Diehl said.
Diehl said the association is much more “laid-back” than some of the sailing groups based out of Baltimore and Annapolis.
“People like the low-pressure and very friendly atmosphere, there is very seldomly yelling,” Diehl said. “You go to Baltimore and it?s a screaming match.”
But even if the atmosphere isn?t as intense, the sailors are still there to compete ? unless life interferes.
“There was a boat called Cookie that we were always keeping tabs on,” Straterhoff said, “They had a baby, so they?re not racing as much.”
