The Sailors
Pirates of the Chesapeake racing is made up of Keith Chapman (helm) and Alec Daunheimer (crew). Keith and Alec have raced together for several years, mainly competing in the distance races held on the Chesapeake. They have done particularly well in the Chesapeake 100 distance race, a race sailed over two days that typically combines a day of survival conditions with a day of drifters. They have overall wins and top class finishes to their credit. Both have raced actively in the West River Catamaran Racing Association racing series with their own campaigns and many series trophies won. Keith Chapman has taken overall season honors for the WRCRA series twice.
Keith Chapman has been sailing almost all his life. He started racing with the WRCRA ten years ago, and has actively raced the Hobie-18, Hobie-20, and NACRA-6.0na, winning many series and taking seasons honors twice. He has crewed on various other boats, including the Tornado for the New England-100 distance race. In the WRCRA series and various distance races he has distinguished himself as somebody who hates to give up and is constantly looking for a way to get an edge.
Alec Daunheimer is a relative newcomer to sailing, having been introduced to the sport through his wife Wendy when they joined the WRCRA in 2001. Alec proved right away that he has the sailing gene, and quickly moved up from the Prindle-18 to the very high performance NACRA-6.0na, and more recently has been active in the A-Cat class, a very technical and competitive boat. Alec has proven himself to be an unflappable team member in the toughest conditions, and equally mentally tough when there’s a long way to go and very little wind to get there with.
In 2006, Alec and Keith teamed together for the WRCRA series in addition to their normal distance racing. In doing so, they moved to the ultra high performance NACRA-20 and began learning the boat in preparation for an attempt at the Tybee 500 in 2007. While there has been a steep learning curve, they have been regaining their old form and grabbed third in the WRCRA Summer/Fall series and first in the Frostbite series.
For more information on the WRCRA and race results, please visit www.wrcra.org
Team Photographer and Webmaster
Wendy
Wendy started sailing at an early age, crewing for her father on his Hobie 18 when she was seven years old. She and Alec decided to get involved in the sailing scene a few months after they started dating, and found the West River Catamaran Racing Association soon after. They started by volunteering to do committee work for the fleet, and pretty soon found an older Prindle 18 for sale within the fleet and started learning to sail. They moved up to a Nacro 2.0 the next year, and then Wendy became pregnant and wasn’t allowed to sail anymore. Since then, Wendy has cheered Alec on from the sidelines and offering her technical skill to the fleet. She has worked on some of the fleet websites and takes photographs during some of the races. She is the team manager for the POTC Tybee campaign.
Ground Crew
This time around, we’ve purchased a “turn key” logistics offered by Team Velocity to those of us with less experience at this race. Adam Domanski from Velocity Sailing will be managing our team, and we look forward to working with him!
The Boat
The NACRA-20 (previously known as the Inter-20) is a high tech, high performance, production racing catamaran. Twenty feet long, eight and half feet wide, with a carbon fiber mast and weighing in around 400 lbs, it makes use of a sloop rig with asymmetrical spinnaker. With high aspect ration dagger boards and rudders and a modern square top mainsail, it is capable of excellent upwind performance, pointing high and going fast. With buoyant bows and flat hull sections, it can make extreme use of the spinnaker off-wind and is easily capable of speeds in excess of 25 knots. It has proven itself as the boat to have in major distance races, having replaced the NACRA-6.0na as the weapon of choice in the final years of the Worrell.
For more information on the NACRA-20, please visit: http://www.performancecat.com