After a 35-year hiatus, skipjack racing has returned to Heritage Days to highlight the culture of the Chesapeake Bay.
WATCH: Historic skipjack races return to Chesapeake Bay
"On your marks... get set... go!"
The traditional call to start echoed across the water as these historic vessels took to the bay once again.
"Oystering is backbreaking work. So when they play, they really play," one observer noted.
These skipjacks are doing exactly that at the Heritage Day skipjack race, while also testing their vessels for the upcoming oyster season.
"These guys, they live and work on the water. So, this is like a big thing," said one participant.
The boats have been laid up for the summer, and their crews are now getting them ready to start oyster season this winter. Many haven't unfurled and shaken out their sails yet, and crews don't know the seaworthiness of their boats until they get together for events like this.
Skipjacks are working oyster vessels that were specifically designed not to damage oyster reefs.
"Skipjack is uniquely Chesapeake Bay. These are not ocean-going," explained one expert.
Unlike typical sailboats with large keels that extend deep underwater like "big shark fins," skipjacks don't have that feature because it would be destructive to oyster reefs. Instead, these are practical, home-built, sturdy workhorses of boats.
Organizers hope that bringing back these races after over three decades will create a new love for Chesapeake heritage.
"We are recreating a new generation of feeling the love and camaraderie, and yet fun competition," said one organizer.
While most of the working skipjacks are gone, these remaining vessels carry on the tradition. At the height of skipjack use in the 1880s, there were about 1,400 of them. Now, only about two dozen remain.
Organizer Susan Schneider says there's nothing that better represents Maryland than the comeback of the skipjack.
"It's a story of Maryland," Schneider said.
"It built our waterfront communities. It built Annapolis, the packing houses at one time."
"So it's the story of our country, it's the story of the Chesapeake Bay, and it's certainly the story of the state of Maryland as we go into our 250th anniversary."
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