2019 Crab Claw Regatta
Saturday
Severn Sailing Association hosted the Crab Claw Regatta and 2019 Laser District 11 Championship Regatta. It just so happened that East Carolina’s football team was playing at Navy this afternoon so I figured out how to do both.
The skies were overcast with temperatures in the high 70’s and the wind out of the North at 11-13. I sailed the first two races in some lumpy seas making it critical to keep the boat flat to go fast upwind. There were some shifts to hit as well. Downwind it took a while to figure out how to catch the waves – by the 4th time I went downwind finally started to figure it out just before I headed in.
The fleet did 2 more races while I headed in to attend the ECU vs Navy football game.
I’m in 20th after day one and hope to improve once I can drop 1 of my DNS’s.
Sunday
Day 2 of the Crab Claw Regatta and Laser District 11 Championship at Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis and we were greeted light winds and a postponement ashore while we waited for the wind. It came soon enough and along with the clearer skies we ended up with 12-14 knots of wind out of the North. We were out in the north sailing area looking upwind at the bridge.
In 3 races I had pretty good starts usually winning the boat or close to it and crossed most of the fleet on the first upwind. I didn’t quite have the upwind speed as some of the fast guys, but held my own when I remembered to round the offset and didn’t hit any marks. By the 3rd race I started to get the boat dialed in a little better and had better speed and didn’t make any mistakes leading to my weekend best of a 4th. Ended up 15th overall and it was great to sail with some competition to tune up before the FBYC Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters in October. Luke, Eric, Mike, Scott and Dave all sailed great this weekend and were fast all the way around the course. Thanks to Scott, Dorian and the fleet for hosting!
One other bit of news coming out of the weekend – Scott Williamson is going to take over as the District 11 Secretary. It’s a post I’ve held since the end of 2006. The Laser fleets in the mid-Atlantic remain a great group of sailors and it’s been fun to see the ups and downs of the fleets and to help play a part in connecting sailor and getting them out sailing. Thanks for taking this on Scott and I look forward to continuing to see the sailors I’ve met throughout the district for many years to come.
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