So he was delighted yesterday when his boat made a virtually mistake-free run to a first-place finish in the A-2 class of the prestigious overnight Governor's Cup.
For most of the 70-mile race from Annapolis to St. Mary's College, Richter watched his crew of eight sail a perfect race down the Chesapeake Bay aboard Pressure Drop, which he owns with his father Randy and mother Janet.
"We sailed the boat extremely hard through the night," said Warren Richter, who will be a senior at St. Mary's College this fall. "Nothing broke and everything worked perfectly. We made it in nine hours, 15 minutes."
It was such a successful journey that Warren happily took a nap in his dorm room after arriving at 3:15 yesterday morning.
"We run as a family and share everything as far as preparation is concerned," said Warren of hisparents, who live in Arnold.
Also yesterday, Lee Jerry of Crownsville guided his boat, Chain Shot, to first place in the A-1 class and took home the most competitive of trophies, the Waldschmitt Award for best in fleet. The award is presented to the winner of the class having the smallest corrected time interval between first- and fifth-place finishers.
Rockville's Ben Collins, who is legally blind, will receive a certificate of recognition for becoming the first Special Olympics sailor to compete in the Governor's Cup. Collins sailed on the Donnybrook, steering the boat across the finish line to win the A-0 class for the biggest yachts in the Cup race.
Collins kept the crew of Jim Muldoon's boat in a light mood through the night with a keen sense of humor, especially when he joked, "Oh, my, I'll be blinded for life" after someone took his picture in the dark of the night.
Results:
Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) A-O*
1. Donnybrook Jim Muldoon Washington 7:50:22
2. Altair Tom Johnson Annapolis 8:04:02.
Racing Class: PHRF A-1
1.Chain Shot Lee Jerry Crownsville 7:51:41
2. Valkryie David Andril Arlington, Va. 7:53:10
3. Esp d Cps II D. Vosberger Shrhm, N.Y. 7:58:14
