2025 Olivia’s Team Racing Invitational
Olivia’s Team Racing Invitational (OTRI), one of the most creative and inclusive team race events in the country, was hosted by the Severn Sailing Association on July 19-20 with 62 sailors enjoying team racing on the Chesapeake Bay. On the water, the regatta’s 31 skipper/crew teams raced SSA’s fleet of Flying Juniors (FJs) and were tested by classic Annapolis summer conditions. The event has been held annually since 2013 (with one exception during the pandemic), marking this year as its twelfth iteration.
Both days of racing saw a light southerly wind bouncing between 5 and 12 knots. An unwelcome interlude of steamy afternoon rain showers resulted in a vacuum of breeze on Saturday, bringing day one’s racing to an early close.
Per the unique format of the regatta, the first day of racing consisted of 2 v 2 team racing with random pairs assigned. For every race, each skipper/crew duo raced with a new teammate and against two new opponents. By design, the pairings are random. This creates opportunities for sailors of all skill levels to race with and against competitors they might never share a race course with.
Sailors completely new to team racing had the chance to race alongside some of the area’s most experienced talent–in any given race, a team of young opti sailors might be paired with a former national champion with decades of experience. At the Olivia, anything could happen on the water, but the most important rule is to have FUN, because your competitors in one race might be your teammates in the next. We have it on good authority that this regatta has even led to at least one marriage!
For the second day of racing, 3 v 3 teams were formed based on the records from the previous day. The goal of this unique format is to spread the talent equally across teams to create exciting match-ups and opportunities for less experienced team racers to learn from the top players. Like the random pairings used for 2 v 2 racing, this format also forces teams to quickly build camaraderie on the water and continue forming those bonds back on shore.
Due to the weather compressing the racing window on Saturday to only three rounds of racing, 14 teams ended the 2 v 2 series tied with perfect records, which meant the regatta organizers had their job cut out for them on Saturday to make the teams as fair as possible for the 3 v 3 rotation with little data to aid in their decision making.
Six rounds of 3 v 3 team racing occurred in light but sail-able conditions followed by a knockout round and a final round of team racing. While the teams may not have been perfectly equal, the competition was still stiff, with many races coming down to the wire on the final approach to the finish line.
This year also brought an exciting improvement—a beautiful perpetual trophy, engraved with the winners since the regatta’s inception in 2013, donated by the Olivia Constants Foundation. The trophy is on display in the Severn Sailing Association trophy case—it’s a great trip down memory lane to read the past winners and their creative team names. Olivia’s sister, Chloe Constants, presented the trophy to this year’s winners.
Many thanks to Principal Race Officer John White for running 34 races over the weekend in challenging, shifty breeze, Deputy Race Officer Bob Rutsch for mustering a top-notch squad of volunteers and keeping everyone organized on both the start boat and finish boat, and Pam Corwin and Megan Kelchner for herding all the cats on shore to keep the rotations rolling quickly. A huge bow of appreciation to the one, the only Ted Morgan for photographing all the action on Sunday, and the rest of the volunteers for contributing to a FANTASTIC event! We’ll see everyone next year–stay tuned to the SSA social media channels for the save the date for OTRI 2026.
1st Place:
Jon Jon Weed & Ty Ryan
Charlie Anderson & Emily Shioutakon
Marina Conde & Indiana Theurer
2nd Place:
Patrick Dolan & Reed Tindall
Hayden Clary & Taylor Collison
Conor Mastromarco & Lilly Coppelstone
3rd Place:
Jed Lory & Viana Johnston
Bradley Adam & Rachel O’Neill
Karina Bertelsmann & Tyler Philips
Additional awards were given to the following teams:
Best Team Name and Costume: Brad Julian & Tyler Skibo Lei-Line
Youngest Combined Age: Quillan Moran & Sam von Schwartz
Oldest Combined Age: Bradley Brown & Josh Moan
The Olivia Constants Team Race was created as a memorial regatta for Olivia Constants following a tragic sailing accident in 2011. Per the Olivia Constants Foundation, Olivia’s Team Race represents the way Olivia would have liked to have a sailing event - lots of fun and some racing in-between.
Photos by Ted Morgan:https://spinsheet.smugmug.com/SpinSheet/2025-Events-SpinSheet/SSA-Olivias-Team-Race-Invitational-2025
