Adam Davis has owned the Hallberg-Rassy 53-footer Second Storm for eight years and has exclusively cruised the comfortable, well-appointed sailboat. Davis berths Second Storm at South Annapolis Yacht Center and has developed close friendships with two men who live aboard boats at the facility: Tony Baca and Ivan Domaniewicz.
Last December, they worked together to enter Baca’s 65-foot powerboat named LookingGlass in the Eastport Yacht Club Lights Parade. Their theme was “A Pitbull Pirate Parade” and the display won the Tom Stalder Award for Best Illumination.
Flush from that success, the friends asked each other out loud what they should do for an encore.
“Someone said let’s do the Bermuda race and everyone agreed that would be something fun,” said Davis, who proceeded to put together a crew.
Baca came aboard as a watch captain, while Domaniewicz served as tactician. They found five other sailors willing to make the 753-nautical mile passage from Annapolis to Hamilton. Davis and crew enjoyed a successful debut in the Mustang Survival Annapolis to Bermuda Race, winning PHRF class in an extremely tight battle.
“We are thrilled with the result because this team of sailors had never even raised a sail together before this race,” Davis said. “We absolutely loved everything about the whole experience. I personally learned a lot and feel much more confident in my sailing ability.”
Remarkably, Second Storm was the first of three boats in PHRF class that finished within nine minutes of each other after more than 100 hours of racing. The Hallberg-Rassy 53 posted an elapsed time of 4 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes and 57 seconds.
Granuaile, a Jeanneau 440 skippered by Matthew Kiely, crossed the finish line just four-and-a-half. Bare Bones, a Sunfast 3600 skippered by John Tis, was less than four minutes behind Granuaile.
“It was a very exciting ending and really amazing that three boats could be that close together after sailing nearly 800 miles,” said Davis, who credited 16-year-old Jamie Taub with spearheading the decisive final push. “Jamie steered for the last two hours, which is when we won the race. He did a tremendous job driving the boat during that crucial closing stretch.”
Second Storm finished atop PHRF on corrected time by almost five hours over FuhGedAboutIt, an Outbound 44 owned by Annapolis resident Stephen Weinstock.
While Davis has plenty of offshore miles under his belt as a cruising sailor, he acknowledges there was a learning curve when it came to preparing for a point-to-point distance race. He and other members of the crew were attracted by the challenge of Annapolis-to-Bermuda as it combines the Chesapeake Bay passage of 130 nautical miles with the Atlantic Ocean crossing that involves traversing the Gulf Stream.
“The various elements of this legendary race are what made it so appealing,” Davis said. “You win by pushing to get the most out of the boat at all times and understanding how the current is going to help or hurt you. I think we were pretty spot-on in terms of understanding what the wind and current were going to do.”
Davis considers the Hallberg-Rassy 53 “an underrated” offshore platform even though it is fully equipped for cruising and carries no racing sails. Davis laughed when he looked around the marina in Hamilton and realized Second Storm was the only Annapolis-to-Bermuda Race participant with a dinghy.
“We had perfect conditions for the boat with beam and broad reaches the whole way. We were pushing 10 knots of boat speed quite often,” said Davis, noting that the Code Zero spinnaker blew out in 16 knots of wind. “I also think we pulled together an incredibly well-rounded team. There was not a problem that arose that we did not have the skill set to address.”
A total of 18 boats in four classes competed in the 23rd edition of the Mustang Survival Annapolis-to-Bermuda Race, which started June 7 on the Chesapeake Bay. Verissimo, a J/160 skippered by John Haiges, captured line honors with an elapsed time of 3 days, 22 hours, 30 minutes and 50 seconds.
Allegiant, a J/42 co-skippered by Albert Bossar and fiancee Maryline O’Shea, was the corrected time winner of ORC 1 class. Allegiant crossed the line fourth on elapsed time but corrected to 5:09:22:24 — almost three hours ahead of Aurora, an X 482 owned by Brett Mastropieri.
Bossar, an Annapolis resident, has owned the J/42 for eight years and enjoyed mixed results in offshore racing. Allegiant captured class honors in the 2019 Annapolis-to-Newport Race and was runner-up in the 2022 Annapolis-to-Bermuda Race. However, Bossar has also been forced to retire from each of those races due to breakdowns or other issues.
“I’ve always learned from the failures and rebounded stronger,” said Bossar, who works in international economic development for the federal government. “It always feels amazing to win. I feel like we maximized the opportunities the sail gods gave us in this race.”
Allegiant got out of the Chesapeake Bay in 18 hours and 34 minutes, setting the spinnaker just past Cove Point and staying on starboard gybe in 20-25 knots of wind.
“We absolutely flew down the bay. That is the fastest this boat has ever done the bay portion of a distance race,” Bossar said.
Navigator James Branson took a somewhat conservative approach in the Atlantic Ocean, plotting a course just south of the rhumb line. “We had a specific approach on how we wanted to sail through the Gulf Stream and we executed,” Bossar said. “We were dialed in the whole way with our drivers and trimmers working really hard.
Bossar and O’Shea are getting married in October and have decided to take time off from work for a honeymoon prior to the nuptials. Allegiant spent just a few hours in Hamilton before departing port for a delivery to Newport, Rhode Island, where it will begin the Newport-to-Bermuda race on June 21.
“We didn’t want to choose between the Annapolis-Bermuda and Newport-Bermuda,” Bossar said. “I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. You have to be a little crazy to attempt that double.”
Mike Maholchic has skippered an entry in the Annapolis-to-Bermuda Race seven previous times without capturing class honors. His best result came in 1998 when Nirvana, a Tartan 415, placed second.
Maholchic, president of Reisterstown-based Facility Engineering Services, had not raced in five years and had to put together a brand new crew for 2024 Annapolis-to-Bermuda. John Groskoph and Frank Cirii served as watch captains while Bob Cantwell was aboard as navigator
Groskoph has two sons — Jake and Sean — who are varsity sailors at the College of Charleston. They joined the crew and brought teammates Evan Chenard, Hadley Walsh and Miles Wolff along for the ride.
Stormy Weather had a similar passage as Allegiant, exiting the Chesapeake Bay in 16 hours, 44 minutes and 40 seconds thanks to running-reaching conditions in 15 to 18 knots of wind.
“We had a fantastic run down the bay, which was probably the key because that got us really pumped up and gave us great energy,” Maholchic said. “That is easily the fastest I’ve ever gotten out of the bay and it got the whole crew fired up.”
Stormy Weather topped ORC Cruising class on both elapsed and corrected time, crossing the finish line more than six hours ahead of Leopolis, a 42-foot Performance Cruiser skippered by Askold Sandursky. That gap grew to more than 16 hours once handicaps were factored in.
“It was really like a dream race. Everything just fell into place perfectly,” said Maholchic, an Eastport Yacht Club member who primarily resides in Bedford, Wyoming.
Annapolis-to-Bermuda Race Results
(boat name, design, owner, hometown, elapsed time, corrected time)
ORC 1 (7 boats)
1, Allegiant, J/42, Albert Bossar & Maryline O’Shea, Annapolis, 4:03:42:35, 5:09:22:24
2, Aurora, X 482, Brett Mastropieri, Hunt Valley, 3:23:27:23, 5:12:50:48
3, Bay Retriever, J/99, Kevin Sherwood, Springfield, VA, 4:12:32:57, 5:17:25:24
ORC Cruising (4 boats)
1, Stormy Weather, Swan 44, Mike Maholchic, 4:06:31:45, 5:11:56:41
2, Leopolis, Performance Cruiser, Askold Sandursky, Huntingdon Valley, PA, 4:12:48:25, 6:04:33:15
3, Caledonia, Moody 44, Gordon Miller, Austin, Texas, 4:22:15:47, 6:04:33:15
PHRF (6 boats)
1, Second Storm, Hallberg Rassy 53, Adam Davis, Leola, PA, 4:04:48:57, 4:01:48:05
2, FuGedAboutIt, Outbound 44, Stephen Weinstock, Annapolis, 4:06:01:52, 4:07:08:36
3, Granuaile, Jeanneau 440, Matthew Kiely, Severna Park, 4:04:53:27, 4:10:59:05
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