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Help us keep it perfect: If you spot a typo or have an idea for a new feature, send it over to secretary@ccwbra.com.

The Cocktail Class Executive Team is excited to introduce the First Annual Class Championship Awards.  Scoring will recognize not only top drivers in all active racing classes, but also recognizes other factors of competition and sportsmanship.   The high-points system is calculated on accumulated wins that scale on a total number of boats that were defeated, and the number of racing classes participated in, as explained below. 

• The Annual National Award –   This will be awarded to each racing class that qualifies in any sanctioned CCWBRA races.  Scoring of points for the Annual Class Championships begins with the race that follows the previous year’s National Championship Race (ie: Tennessee Cup) and it concludes with the current year’s National Championship Race in Rock Hall, MD.  
• The Annual Regional Award-   This award will be awarded to each racing classe that qualifies in any of the four regional CWBRA races.
• The Final Word Trophy – The driver with the highest points total overall, a total of each rdriver ‘s scores earned at a regional or national level
• Constructor’s Award – Recognition for the builder or owner of a boat that has outperformed the highest number of other boats, regardless of the driver.

Purpose: To encourage and reward performance and participation at CCWBRA sanctioned races.

Overview: As with most amateur motorsports, Regional and National class championships have been established for all CCWBRA competitors in good standing, starting with the 2025 season. The formula deriving class standings emphasizes participation, it is not how many races you win, it is how many boats you beat.  All results are compiled from data is compiled from the CCWBRA Secretary or Race Director official results. 

Scoring of points for the Annual Class Championships begins with the race that follows the previous year’s National Championship Race (ie: Tennessee Cup) and it concludes with the current year’s National Championship Race in Rock Hall, MD.

See Complete 2025 Championship Races and Racers Detail

For questions regarding the CCWBRA 2025 Annual Class Championships, please contact secretary@ccwbra.com.

Regional / National Schedule:

National class Championship

1. For a racing class to qualify for awards,  it must be raced at a minimum of any two (2) events.
2. For a driver to be included in the final standings, he/she must race in that racing class a minimum of two (2) races.

Regional class Championship

1. For a racing class to qualify for awards, it must be raced at a minimum of three (3) events. For example, for the 6HP Tohatsu Mixed class points to be eligible, there must be races held for that racing in three of the four regional races.
2. For a driver to be included in the final standings, he/she must race in that racing class a minimum of three (3) races.  A driver will receive points for all racing classes earned at three of the four regional races.

Points Accrual

• Base points, 20, 19 ,18…. (20 for first place, 19 for second place, 18 for third…)
• One (1) extra point for advancing to the finals
• One (1) point for each competitor participating in the race (total # of competitors)
• Examples:
  • 20+1+5= 26 points for winning a race with 5 drivers
  • 19+1+5=25 Points for second place
  • 18+1+5=24 Points for third….
• All competitors not advancing to the finals tie for last place points.
• When a competitor crosses the start line one time, (heat or final), he/she qualifies for points in that race.

Additional awards
“The Last Word” Trophy (High Points Award)

1. All points won in all racing classes at all National & Regional races totaled.
2. A driver may compete only in one race per racing class if normal race rules are in effect.  However, if at the Race Director’s discretion, that rule is suspended at an event, and if a driver competes in more than one race per racing class, only the race with the highest point value is to be included.

Regional “Constructors” Trophy

1. All points won by a boat (regardless of who is driving it) at all Regional races.
2. It is at the boat owner’s discretion to keep the award or present it to whomever built the boat.

“First In” Turtle Award

1. Recognizing the driver with the first capsize of the racing season. 

FYI, the current (top ten) standings in “The Last Word” Award are:

See Complete 2025 Championship Races and Racers Detail

What happens when a magazine journalist finds two guys from the Cocktail Class Wooden Boat Racing Association (CCWBRA) messing about with boats on a pristine lake in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on a perfectly sunny afternoon?

Cindy Ross, contributor to Pennsylvania Magazine, caught up with Tom Kerr and his Cocktail boat at Lake Nockamixon, near Quakertown, to get the scoop on these one-of-a-kind race boats and the organization behind this “one-design” racing class.  Armed with lined notepad and camera, Ross sought to capture the essence of the Cocktail Class phenom.  Fred Allerton came as a jockey for a second boat.  After snapping photos of Rajic #46 and Swamp Rocket #28 skimming and flying across the otherwise placid lake, and after gathering all background necessary for the magazine feature, Ross was quick to take command of Swamp Rocket #28.  In the resulting article, Ross shares her thrill of getting up on-plane for the first time and riding a few inches above the water – in “zooming” formation with Kerr in Rajic #46. 

Read the Full Story Here

Worthy of clarification:  Charles MacGregor designed the Skua in 1939.  It was, however, three siblings of the Bluefeld family and their spouses (referred to in the article as the “four families from northern Virginia”), who in 2007 modified the MacGregor design and built a prototype Cocktail Class racer in their father’s workshop overlooking the Corrotoman River in the Northern Neck of Virginia.  The goal of developing a fleet of small, inexpensive, easy-to-construct, race boats was initially a family affair.  But they also saw the possibility that others, too, would enjoy building and racing these fun boats.  The Bluefeld’s inspiration and dedication is what led to the formation of CCWBRA, which today brings delight to so many.

Many thanks to Pennsylvania Magazine and Cindy Ross for granting permission to reprint this story.  This is just one of the many features in the May/June 2025 issue of Pennsylvania Magazine, a fine publication featuring topics of special interest, including history, people, places, and events that make living in Pennsylvania (or visiting) a wonderful experience.

For more information on Pennsylvania Magazine, or to subscribe, go to:

https://pa-mag.com 

The CCWBRA Nationals were held at The Rock Hall Yacht Club on the eastern shore of Maryland. This Club has been hosting CCWBRA events for 10 years and other regattas and events since 1937! Thank you to The Rock Hall Yacht Club, its members and staff for providing such a welcoming venue for us. 

This Year we celebrated our 10 Year anniversary of Racing together with three day of racing, camping, partying and general merriment. 

We had 26 boats 65 friends and family (including 28 drivers!) 

Special mention should go out to Mr. Rick Loewen and family for driving a specially outfitted RV command center all the way from Florida, The Walker Family for driving from Tennessee with their amazing boat and racing trailer, Kim and Gretchen Granbery for grinding east coast traffic from Connecticut. 

This Regatta was setup up on the south facing beaches of Rock Hall Yacht Club on Lawyers Cove of the Chester River (Large Branch of the Chesapeake Bay). The weather was awful in the days leading up to the race day, However Race day was a sunny and hot day with calm seas. A group of Regatta volunteers got together and set a standard “Rock Hall “ design with a few extra turns and a challenging hairpin turn at the 2nd mark. The course was stretched out a bit for the 8HP class. 

Race Directors Todd Steffes  and Capt. Peter Urbani had amazing help with a great group of volunteers managing the starting line, race committee, pit area and safety. For this event we took advantage of the many folks from out of town to cross train them to the CCWBRA Regatta procedures. This will help them host regattas of their own back home. 

The Nationals are always a long day due to the many engine classes and large turn out of drivers. After tucking the boats away and cleaning up we gathered at the Club House for an awards ceremony and dinner prepared by club Chef Mike G. Many thank you’s to Sue Steffes for planning, organizing and decorating the event! 

One highlight of the evening was when Curt Bluefield (another of our beloved founders) stood up and walked us all through a history of The Cocktail Class Wooden Boat Racing Association and his families role in laying the foundation for what we are today! It was truly a heartfelt experience to have so many friends still racing together after more than 10 years. 

There were 20 people that stuck around for the absolutely bad weather on Sunday……Commodore Pete kept his promise and made an epic breakfast of Biscuits & Gravy under the large pavilion. 

Kent Island Regatta was held and sponsored by The Kent Island Yacht Club!

KIYC is located on the southern tip of Kent Narrows. Its been home to many powerboat races for decades. Each year they generously invite us once a year to enjoy full access to their club and restaurant.

Special thank you to Vice Commodore Jeff Smith, The KIYC staff and members for being so welcoming to us again this year.

This event was a special day in the history of CCWBRA. We have grown in size to be able to have two events on the same day! The same day we held this race, we held a race at Pickwick Lake in Tennessee! Both event had a great turn out and most importantly everybody had fun!

We had 12 Boats and 16 Drivers. Race Directors Keith Carew and Capt. Pete. Sara Orthwein, Kaylie Jasinski, Kimberly Shubert formed the Race Committee. Capt. Lou Linden, Jim Schmicker and John Rigdon ran the starting line. The Team from Prop Talk Magazine provided their back up digital timer so that TN races could use the official timer. The weather was hot and sunny with only a few swells drifting in from the channel. We ran our standard course due to a north east wind keeping the seas calm.

There were several people that stopped by to check out the action and get information about how to get involved. A special mention was a 17 year old young man named Jessie that drove all the way down from West Chester PA for the opportunity to test drive a cocktail racer during our lunch break. Turns out this he was a natural and he was zooming around for 20 mins with a huge grin. We hope we got him hooked.

The third attempt at a first annual Tennessee Cup was a wonderful event. The weather did everything it could to dampen our spirits, but it cooperated long enough for us to have our event. The State Park welcomed us with escorts to the Race area as well as offering all support to make the event successful. This is a great venue!
Special thanks to so many but the long-range travelers were the stars of the show. On the first heat, we had a photo finish between our two Pennsylvania Racers Tom Kerr and Fred Allerton. We also welcomed Rick and Terry Loewen (Tohatsu Winner) and Ray Crowley from Florida. We had Toms Kerr’s Son, Caleb Kerr from Texas. Caleb is a professional photographer and took some wonderful pictures of the event. A special thanks to Lee and Deb Edmonds that made their second trip to Pickwick as they helped support our first attempt in 2019. Jack and Nancy Pettigrew made the trip from Virginia where I made my first Race over 8 years ago. Of note, Susie Allerton handled our scoring while Lee and Deb handled the starting sequence. This event would not have been possible without the support of these wonderful people.

We would not have a Tennessee Fleet without my friend Vernon Hart. Vernon, with his children built three racers over the last six months. These boats are works of art and his son Corbin won the Early Classic on his first Race! Vernon’s daughter Clare brought home the women’s trophy in “Pixie Dust”.
Team Walker was impressive with both a beautiful boat and apparently the one to beat in the Late Classic and Post classes. Thank you, Cameron, for bringing your wonderful family and keeping most of the trophies in Tennessee. Sam and Wendy Weary, also of Tennessee, made the trip and have always been great supporters of CCWBRA.

Two tow ins (no Turtles), both with boats owned by the Race Director. One special award for extra ballast (taking your anchor on the racecourse) and one for making the most turns around a pylon (lost steering).

We had a lot of new racers that did a great job of being safe and truly enjoying a day of racing. We watched the new racers improve with every heat and I challenge all competition to compete with the Tennessee fleet.

I have a special thanks my family and friends and especially the rescue boat crew. Wally Witham, William Fransioli, John Fryman and Matt Struna all contributed greatly to our success.
And most important of all, my wife Lori for putting up with me.

We plan to have the Second Annual Tennessee Cup on September 17th, 2022.

Chris Norman
Tennessee Cup Race Director
Moonshiners Fleet Captain

The Commodores Cup was held at The Maryland Yacht Club in Pasadena , Maryland. Thank you to Shawn Justice Commodore and Carl Treff Vice Commodore, The Historic Maryland Yacht Club and it Members for sharing access to this club and its amenities! This Club is located on eight acres of waterfront at the end of Fairview beach. Our racing course was just outside of the channel on Rock Creek , leading to the Patapsco River and Bay. It should be noted that The United States Coast Guard and USCG auxiliary provided a perimeter of protection just outside of our safety boat patrol ( run by Carl Treff ). The boat traffic was very heavy to the east of our Race Course there were hundreds of recreational boaters anchored in a cove and enjoying the warm sunny day. You could heard them cheering for the drivers out by the 2nd and 3rd marks . This was a great display of how regattas and the general public can safely share the waterways.

There were over 15 boats present and at least 20 drivers. We even had several members drive all the way from our Tennessee Fleet to join us! Wow, what a tremendous effort and show of support from the Walker family!

This race had an unusually high amount of mechanical gremlins playing games with our boats. The Pit crews were pulling out all the stops to keep these little boats buzzing. Including tearing apart and fabricating entire steering hubs, multiple throttle issues, faulty fuel connections, and even a little cursing and duct tape! Bravo Crews.

Regardless of the Gremlins everyone had the opportunity to get on the choppy course . In the afternoon there was a stiff east wind at 5-10 kts. Remarkably everyone managed to stay upright. It was a very long course and to quote one seasoned 8 HP driver, ” What a spirited ride!”

Please see the Photo Gallery for the awards ceremony that includes photographs with the beloved Commodores “Cup” that each victor get to hold and pose with for bragging rights.

The first annual Camp David Cup was held at a Bucolic private residence nestled upon a rolling hill at the confluence of Freeman Creek and The Sassafras River. The CCWBRA would like to warmly thank the entire Cantera family for being such amazing hosts. Special thank you to Benji Cantera for his work and tireless energy in his first role as a CCWBRA race director. The Camp David Cup is a special trophy that will reside at Camp David and have the name(s) of the days top driver (selected by committee) engraved forever upon its placard. This Years winners were John Rigdon and Frank Cantera. Racing was exciting and the course was new and unique due to the shape of the river. As expected several boats and motors had mechanical issues due to being off for a season (Global pandemic and all that). We had many of our regular drivers showing up but also several new families stopped by to check out the racing action and give it a try. It should be noted that Mr. Kim Granbery drove many hours from Connecticut to join us. Mr. Granbery along with his family are some of the founding members of our organization and really nice people. Thank you to all our members that came to this event and gave a strong kick of to our racing season.

Thank you to all racers, volunteers, and support teams for making the 7th Annual Lake Placid Race on March 10^th a terrific, fun race day on Lake Apthorpe, Florida!  Congratulations to the winners, and to all participants! We celebrated the CCWBRA 10 year anniversary with commemorative medals and due to COVID, this race and Governor’s Cup 2020 were the only two official races held so proudly display those 10-Year CCWBRA Anniversary celebratory medals!

Two new drivers were welcomed to the race this year.  After their racing debut at the Governor’s Cup race, Corey Kenneally and Peter Raymond churned up the calm waters of Lake Apthorpe with their stunning Tohatsu-powered boat Bozmania #311.  Welcome to the Cocktail racing circuit!  

To shake things up this year, the traditional zig-zag course of Apthorpe was replaced with a course similar to Rock Hall’s – with the boats swinging around left and right turn buoys then back to the first buoy for the fifth (and last) turn.  

Proving that old habits are hard to break, two Cocktail boats in separate races (one multiple times) went too sharp and off course after the first turn.  Like good horses, these boats had a good mind and simply followed the hairpin turn of past years.  By the time each of these “seasoned” drivers realized the mess his boat was in, and corrected course, the boat astern of him had become the boat ahead.  

Thanks to perfect weather and promotion in the local newspaper, the Highlands News-Sun, a record number of spectators flocked to Lake Apthorpe to cheer on the racers!  Thank you, Highland News-Sun for excellent coverage before and after the race.   

And a special “thanks” goes out to Carl Staron and his “people” for providing and operating the Safety Boat and for miscellaneous other site accommodations. 

Check out the official Race Results. 

See you at next year’s race!

Fred Allerton and Tom Kerr, Co-Race Directors