Montague crew wins Down the Bay Race

The crew of Jackson Montague’s Hobie 33 Osprey won the 73rd Down the Bay Race on May 26-27. The team was comprised of skipper Jackson Montague, tactician Latane Montague (Jackson’s father), Mason Chapman, Austin Powers, Eric Powers, and Raymond Bay (bow). All are associated with Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville except Raymond Bay.

Latane and Jackson Montague are frequent visitors to Urbanna. Latane owns a marina adjacent to the Town of Urbanna Marina and is the son of Bob Montague of Urbanna and Alexandria. Jackson is Bob Montague’s grandson.

In addition to “line honors,” recognized by the Robert M. Raven Memorial Trophy, Osprey earned the Virginia Cruising Cup by having the fastest monohull corrected Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) time. Osprey sailed down the Chesapeake Bay in an elapsed time of 16 hours, 42 minutes and 13 seconds. Her corrected time was 17:02:40. Twenty-one boats started in Annapolis on May 26, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and 14 finished the 120 nautical mile non-stop race in Hampton on May 27.

Winds were light for the first third of the race. Then Mother Nature unleashed her fury.
A few of the Deltaville or Rappahannock River area boats fell prey to the temptation of their homeports and cut short their battle with the difficult Chesapeake Bay, stated a race press release. Wind gusts of 30 knots were reported.

The race was presented by Hampton Yacht Club and Storm Trysail-Chesapeake Station.