Author: Jon

Sunday was a day of touring Athens.  We started out with a bus tour visiting Panathinaiko Stadium – this is where the first modern Olympic games were held a little over a hundred years ago.  We saw how the seats were rebuilt with marble and how the competitors and judges entered through a cool tunnel.

Next we headed to the site of the acropolis and climbed the many steps to the top. The place was crawling with tourists and it was cool to see what had been built there so far and what was still there or had survived.

From there we took the bus through the city center seeing the business district and some other government buildings and art installations.

In the early afternoon a group of us got lunch in the old town and then went for a walk to the Temple of Zeus.  Vengat and I walked through the Acropolis museum and saw all of the smaller and more detailed pieces that had been removed from the acropolis and were on display.  It helped to fill in some of the details not seen when up on the hill.

For dinner the group took a bus to the coast on the water to the Moorings Restaurant where we got some more greek food and wine. We capped off the night with drinks at a bar near the hotel.

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For the past 14 months I’ve been working on a Master’s Degree in Information Systems at Virginia Commonwealth University and one of the final parts of the program is an international trip to Greece and Cyprus. We left VCU Friday night flying to Germany and then to Athens.

It was a lot of travel without a lot of sleep and it went about as well as it could have.  Once we arrived in Athens we checked into our hotel that is located in an old part of town very close to the historical sites. Several of us went out to explore just after dark and went around many of the historic and tourist sites. There were so many restaurants and we found one quaint street with nothing but small restaurants with outdoor seating and live music in a cozy atmosphere.  We made plans to go back there later in the week.

View from the top of our hotel:

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The RG65 season is underway at the Richmond Model Yacht Club on Lake Rooty and we had nice weather for the 2nd race day of the series. Unfortunately, No Quarter had radio problems and became uncontrollable after the first race.  I still got to borrow a couple boats to sail – thanks Rob & Marc.

I’ve wanted to get a slightly bigger boat that would enable me to sail it in the choppier water in Deltaville.  I haven’t decided what I want yet, but a new member came who was interested in getting into the RG65 class and I ended up selling him my boat on the spot.  The RG65 was fun to sail and great for Lake Rooty and I’ll sure I’ll find another boat in the coming months.

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Jimmy Buffett has been on my to-see concert list for a long time and Jess got us floor seats to see him play at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. We made a weekend of it going out for dinner in  Charlottesville before the concert and spending the night at the Inn at Darden.

Caroline Jones opened and was great.  The floor seats were awesome and we had so much fun!

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Sunday saw the conditions lay down a bit from the winds we saw Saturday and we were back out on the ocean sailing under overcast skies and 10-15 knot winds in rather large and lumpy swells.  I made it out to the race course, but felt absolutely awful out there as we waited to get racing started. After being so uncomfortable out there I left before the first race and would get an early start on the trip back home.  I would later figure out that the breakfast bars I had been eating hadn’t been agreeing with me and had actually been making me feel bad all weekend. Make that a lesson for next time.

Even though I didn’t get as much sailing as I might have wanted, it was still nice to enjoy some warm weather, see some old friends and get away for a bit. I am looking forward to more sailing in a few months when it warms up in VA.

PICTURES | REGATTA WEBSITE | RESULTS

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After postponing on shore in what was looking to be some gnarly winds, the race committee took everyone out to the harbor for some short course racing in an alternate format.  I made the decision to bail on the day and jump on the committee boat for a front row seat. The alternate format meant todays races only counted as one race in the regatta.  In the end it wasn’t as bad as it felt on land or was predicted and I was a bit bummed to skip sailing it.

PICTURES | REGATTA WEBSITE | RESULTS

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The first day of the Florida Masters was a nice one with temps in the 70s, partly cloudy skies and 86 boats in two fleets. We sailed outside in the ocean. The wind started around 7 or 8 out of the WNW and shifted around to NNE and built to 11-13.  We got in 3 races for both fleets with the radials starting under the prep flag and the standards starting under U-flag after general recalling twice each of the 3 races.

In the first race it was lighter and a little lumpier and I picked the wrong side of the course on the first beat and found myself pretty deep at the first mark.  By the second leg the wind had shifted much more north making it a parade upwind and down.  I topped it off by hitting the same leeward mark both times I went around it and settled for 21st place finish.

After moving the course west and orienting it with the wind out of the North we got our 2nd race started.  I was mid-line and had a great start and legged out to the left.  I got to the layline and sailed right in to the mark and found myself first around.  I lost a couple boats on both downwind legs and settled for an 8.

For the 3rd race I started closer to the pin and had to pinch above a few boats barely laying it.  I stayed to the left of the course and by now the wind was 11-13 – requiring some sitting out and occasional hiking.  I was making the boat move well upwind and even started figuring out how to work the waves downwind so I didn’t loose boats.  I finished 5th and after 3 races I’m first Apprentice Master and 14th overall in the Radial fleet.

PICTURES | REGATTA WEBSITE | RESULTS

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The trip to West Palm Beach went pretty smoothly for a 850mi journey with only 1 brief slowdown for construction traffic.  I spent the night in Jacksonville Florida and finished the trip this morning arriving at Palm Beach Sailing Club around 12:30.

The forecast for this week is going to be for quite a bit of wind on two of the days.  Having not sailed much in the last year and not at all since October, I’ve opted to join the radial fleet this weekend.

After unpacking I went out to practice in 10-11 knots out of the east, mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s.

I got out into the bay and the wind current was ripping, so I sailed around the harbor and got used to the Radial again. In the distance I spotted Rambler 88 and sailed by it.

The boats were put away, I went for a run and ready to camp out at the club and go racing tomorrow in a 30+ boat Radial fleet.

PICTURES | REGATTA WEBSITE

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