SV Bennu is a 1980 Cherubini 44 Ketch, designed by John Cherubini in the early 1970's and built in Delran, NJ. She is a smaller sistership to the other Cherubini Schooner entries and is honored to be included in the new non-schooner invitational class of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. She is a well-traveled boat, and has completed a circumnavigation of the globe. Her current owner, Julianne DeGraw Fettus, has sailed her in the 2021 Annapolis to Newport Race, and has spent time cruising the waters of New England. Her home port, however, is on the Severn River in Maryland. 

Bennu is sailing to support the Severn River Association. Their mission is to connect the people who live, work, and play on the Severn River to restore and protect it for all of our communities. The Association has a range of programs to help restore, protect, and educate about this amazing place. Among their outstanding efforts is their Build-a-Reef program, which has planted 70,000,000 baby oysters in the Severn River since 2018!

Welcome to the 2022 Virtual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race!

While normal sailboat racing happens on the water, this race is completely online. Each participating schooner has teamed up with a nonprofit partner, and is racing to raise as much money as possible for their charity. YOU can participate in the race by choosing a schooner, making a contribution, and sharing this webpage with your family and friends! 90% of gifts will go directly to the charity of your choice. The other 10% will help the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race achieve its mission to promote awareness of the Chesapeake Bay’s heritage; to encourage preservation of the Bay’s resources; to support Chesapeake Bay education and clean-up efforts; to bring historic schooners to the Bay; and to encourage schooner sailing and preservation. 

Please take a moment to learn more about our schooners and the organizations they support. At the start of the race, please come back here to make a donation and support your team!

Donation links will be available from 12:00 noon on Wednesday, August 24 through 3:00 PM on Saturday, August 27. 

Thank you for supporting our schooner community!

Please note: The Chesapeake Bay schooner community could not exist without people like you, and we're eager to keep in touch. If you opt in to email communications when you donate, GCBSR will share your contact information with the schooner you support, as well as the partner nonprofit that will receive your donation. If you do not wish to be contacted, please opt out of communications on the form