2024 Chesapeake Bay ILCA Masters Championship
We had a wonderful weekend with 39 ILCA Masters sailors at FBYC sailing in 4 races on Saturday, a fantastic dinner and a RC ready to race us on Sunday if only the wind cooperated. It was a busy week for Jon as the event chairman for the 20th year running. It started with a lot of errands, shopping and planning to get ready and that followed a few months of planning, budgeting and preparing. Thursday I got everything down the club and got organized. We didn’t have our normal Chef Alain this year, so I prepared BBQ ribs and that was all pre-cooked all day Friday as sailors started to arrive and go for practice sails.
Saturday’s forecast called for wind in the afternoon and once the fleet was checked in, rigged and ready to go they were sent out on time. The north wind necessitated sailing about 2 miles south in Godfrey Bay. The first race was started in pretty light wind and 3-4 boats ended up being about 2-3 minutes late for the start. I started right at the boat and worked my way to the right side. Those who sailed up the middle-left had a little more pressure leaving me about 12-14 at the top mark. Noting where that lane of pressure was I went back down that lane on the left/west side of the course while most boats ahead stuck to the layline or even to the right. That paid off perfectly and by the leeward mark I was in 2nd just behind Gavin. The RC moved the course and shortened it. Over the course of the next lap and a half a few boats caught up and passed me, but was able to hold onto 5th place.
Race two had a little more breeze. I again started at the boat and again went to the right, but got hung out there having not entirely learned the lesson of the prior race. I was probably around 25 at the top mark and spent the rest of the racing picking off boats to eventually end up 14th.
By the 3rd race the wind had picked up and shifted east so the weather mark was pointed right at the end of Stove Point. With wind in the mid-teens and gusts to 21 I started at the boat with Dave Waiting and Gavin. They got out to the right and then worked their way left. My mistake was not following them and sure enough I was deep in the fleet by the top mark. When I turned downwind I wasn’t entirely setup for windy downwind sailing and before I knew it I was death rolling. Most of the fleet sailed by as I righted it and a short time later I death rolled again. The biggest casualty was my camera that should have been waterproof enough to survive the dunking and didn’t. 28th in that race.
In what would be the 4th and final race of the day – the wind eased back a bit to the low teens by the start. I again went for a boat-end start and would have won it had I not gotten there early and been OCS. When the X-flag was raised at the start I knew it was at least for me, and maybe others, so as soon as I saw a gap I turned around and cleared myself. I’d find out later two other boats were OCS and I ended up being a witness in a related redress hearing. After my restart I had the boat going pretty well and quickly caught up to the back of the fleet and started picking up places. With at least 10 boats already retired I was able to climb my way up to 14th and finish there.
Following racing it was time to get dinner ready. We assembled a team – Luke, Gretta, Scott, John, Mike, Gavin – thank you! – and worked through finishing the ribs, warming up the green beans and putting the salads together for serving. Everything went great and we were able to serve on time and had everything plated and passed out in a matter of minutes to nearly 70 people. Dessert was a gluten free cake with the event logo on it.
The night was wrapped up with the redress hearing along with some cleaning and prep for breakfast in the morning.
Sunday’s forecast wasn’t for a lot of wind and that’s exactly what we got. We hung around hoping something would develop and by 11 when it was clear nothing was going to develop in time to get some racing in, we called it a regatta. Thank you to everyone who came and sailed – it was great meeting new sailors and hanging out with old friends. And thank you to the RC and all of the other volunteers who helped make this possible.
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