Author: Jon

The 2017 edition of the FBYC One Design Long Distance Race started out with a pretty dismal forecast.  I had planned to sail the Laser and without somewhere to store a beer cooler in such light wind I took Matt Braun’s offer to crew on a Front Runner with him.  The race started in light air and slowly built as the afternoon went on.  We had a 2nd row start and had some trouble getting to clear air up the first leg.  On the second leg those who went closer to Stove Point were rewarded with breeze a little sooner.

We put our game faces for the 2nd half of the race and caught every shift and puff and clawed our way back to the top 3rd of the fleet.  The race got a little interesting about halfway through when a barge came down the course just as boats were exiting the channel.  Thankfully everyone had maneuverability and was out of the way by the time they came through. Thanks again Matt for a great day of sailing!

 

RESULTS | PICTURES

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I sailed the FBYC Cut Channel Race aboard Excitation this year and the race had a bit of a twist to it: boats could sail clockwise or counter-clockwise around the same 31nm course. We were among the boats that had read the SI’s earlier in the week and not gotten the memo that it changed the night before until we figured that out about 5 mi into the race and by then it was too late to be competitive.  It was still a beautiful day to sail across the bay and thanks Mayo for having me along.

Cut Channel Race Start

RESULTS | PICTURES

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The forecast for the Open House Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club improved as we got closer to Sunday and it ended up be great sailing conditions for the few mile progressive start distance race.  This race featured boats from 14′ all the way up to 48′ and they were all handicapped against each other with the slow boats starting first and having a head start over the faster boats. The first boat over the finish line wins.

I sailed a Front Runner with Alan as crew and were among the 24 boats racing under mostly cloudy skies with the wind out of the ESE at 9-11.  As one of the slower boats we were about the 5th group to start and there were 2 other Front Runners racing with us.  The start was across the Piankatank River near Godfrey Bay and took us east and upwind towards the mouth of the Piankatank River.  Sailing down the river we stuck to the North shore near Fishing Bay and Stove point to stay out of the current.

That ended up being the key to the race as we extended out a lead and were able to get far enough ahead of the faster boats that they weren’t able to catch up.  It also helped us that 1/4 of the race was close reaching rhumb line sailing where putting up a spinnaker didn’t really help any.  On the final leg to the finish the J/70 E.L.E. made a pretty good charge and we edged them out finishing less than 1/2 a minute ahead.

Big thanks to Matt for letting us borrow the boat and for Alan doing a great job crewing in his second race.

RESULTS

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I made another trip to Dallas in May to visit Jess that started out with a few delays getting there.  The plane I was scheduled to get on at LaGuardia had gotten hit by another plane on the way to the gate.  It was fun watching the commentary on twitter and contributing to it.  Fortunately, the damage was minor with no injuries and just an inconvenience for all of the passengers affected.

The first night in Dallas Jess and I joined Tim on his Flying Scot and we sailed down the lake near the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden where they were having their Thursday night concert series. We listened to a Michael Jackson tribute band while we relaxed on the water having drinks and eating dinner while we were surrounded by Stand Up Paddle boarders.  I had never been to a raft up where the Flying Scot was the ‘big boat’

5/11 Sunset Concert Sail

5/11 Sunset Concert Sail

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT-SQpRhXAS/?taken-by=jondeutsch

On Friday Jess and I went to Fort Worth and had the most Texas date ever – steak dinner followed by a rodeo followed by a honky tonk.

5/13 Fort-Worth Stockyards

On Saturday I got to sail a snipe for the first time on a very light-air day at Corinthian Sailing Club. Lauren let me sail her boat while Andrew and Jess practiced their light-air boat-handling for Nationals later this summer.

5/14 CSC Saturday Morning Snipe Sailing

5/14 CSC Saturday Morning Snipe Sailing

Sunday we relaxed and I made the trip back to Richmond.

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Late last year I came by a Snipe and began getting it back into sailing shape this year.  One element to getting it sailing was to get a road-worthy trailer under it.  After trading some cash and an old AppleTV I got a used Laser 2 trailer that would fit the snipe nicely.  I replaced some of the hardware, addeda jack and new wiring and lights. The hardest part would be building the bunks and what made it harder was the fact that I’d have to do it while the boat stayed upside down in my backyard.

We made a pattern for the bottom of the hull by using a jig to draw a line on the board that matched the shape of the hull.  See the device here.

The shape fit the hull perfectly and just needed to be mounted to the trailer.

And the boat finally upright on the trailer:

More pictures of the trailer build starting here.

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