Charleston Race Week celebrated its 30th anniversary in style by welcoming 153 boats across 14 classes April 16-19. Skipper Martin Zonnenberg led Quickdraw to first place in the third and decisive race of Pursuit Spinnaker A class on Sunday. This was the Charleston Race Week debut for the St. Petersburg-based J/111, which used this regatta as preparation for the Newport-to-Bermuda Race. It was a tight battle between Quickdraw and Keelforce, a J/120 owned by Rick Moore and skippered by close friend Ryan Hamm — two of the founding fathers of Charleston Race Week. Quickdraw crossed the line first in Friday’s race after Keelforce ran aground, but Hamm and crew turned the tables on Saturday by winning a downwind spinnaker duel into the harbor. Zonnenberg acknowledged that north-northwesterly winds that steadily increased from 6 to 10 knots favored the J/111 on Sunday. “We had a lot of upwind sailing today and our crew did an amazing job. We put in 44 tacks while hugging the jetty and shore going into the finish,” he said. “The current started ebbing just after we started and we saw as much as four knots at one point. We did a good job of staying out of it.” Quickdraw earned the Palmetto Trophy that is presented to winner of the most competitive of the four pursuit classes. “Scott McGregor deserves special credit as tactician, but it was a total team effort,” Zonnenberg said. “This whole event has been a lot of fun. The racing conditions were excellent and the course management was outstanding.” Full results: https://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative/50472