Author: Jon

Saturday

We arrived early to the Selby Bay Summer Solstice regatta to get some practice. I am sailing with Len Guenther aboard Wind Dancer and since we are sailing Flying Scot NACs week after next and I haven’t been on a Flying Scot since 2006 we went for some practice in the morning with his wife and regular crew Barb so she could show me how to do everything. Around noon we headed out with 17 other boats not far from Thomas Point in light and shifty winds.

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In the first race we had a great start and stayed up in the front. In the second race we had a tough time picking the shifts and could only manage a 4th. In the final race we started ok and had a few boats ahead of us for the first leg and had a great second leg to catch up to the leader and we settled for a 3rd.

Rob Whittemore sailed 3 great races today winning all of them and did an awesome job picking shifts. With 2 races planned and 3 bullets in his pocket, we will have our work cut out for us to catch him.  Day 1 Results.

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Sunday

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Day 2 of the Selby Bay Summer Solstice Flying Scot regatta brought over cast skies, light winds and chop again.  The plan was for two races and we started the 1st race right at 10.  We thought we had a good start at the pin end, but the wind quickly clocked right putting us behind the boats who got right sooner.  We played catch up the rest of the race and settled for a 7th.  That put us into a 3-way tie for 2nd going into the last race of the day.  This time we protected the right after the start – a little too much- the wind went left and we were deep into the fleet at the first mark.  From there we slowly picked our way through 5-8 boats to get back up to 5th.

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Congrats to fellow FBYC sailor Rob Whittemore for winning it.  We wound up 4th overall.  Not the result we were looking for, but we accomplished our goal of getting some time on the water and being ready for NAC’s the week after next.  By the end of the weekend our boat handling on the spinnaker sets and douces was superb and we were getting close to nailing some roll tacks in the light air.

Jon Deutsch, Len Guenther, Barb Guenther, Rob Whittemore, Kevin Clark
Jon Deutsch, Len Guenther, Barb Guenther, Rob Whittemore, Kevin Clark

Results | Pictures

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Friday

After driving all afternoon and sitting in evening NYC traffic I arrived at Sayville Yacht Club on Long Island for the 2012 District 8 Championship.  They hosted this same regatta last year which I attended and finished 3rd.  Sayville’s got a great club with a nice beach by the water and a great sailing area and they do a great job with their regattas.

After I got to the club this evening, Ted Cremer and I went out on the water to snap a few photos of the sunset and then we hung around a fire on the beach.  Racing starts tomorrow with 20 boats expected and 5-10 knots of breeze out of the west with a slight chance of rain.

Saturday

Day 1 of the District 8 Championship at Sayville Yacht Club and we had 13 Standard Rig Lasers for 5 races in 5-8 and sometimes fluky conditions.  I went 3-2-3-4-7 and am currently in 2nd overall.

In the first race I had the best start of the bunch at the favored boat end.  I rounded the top mark in 2nd and lost a boat on the downwind which turned to a reach as the wind shifted around.  Held on to finish 3rd.

In the second race I tried again for a boat end favored start, but I was 5 seconds early and got pushed over so I had to go back behind everyone else and restart.  As the fleet went out to the left I banged the right corner and rounded the top mark in 2nd and hung onto that for the finish.

In the 3rd race we had a port end favored line.  Ryan Schmitz wanted to port tack the fleet, but I won the pin on starboard and made him duck me and get tangled up with a bunch of boats further up the line.  Once again we traded tacks upwind and I rounded the top mark in 2nd.  Both Brian Raney and Ted Cremer had great downwind legs and passed me as the wind began to die.  I kept close to Ted at the mark rounding and managed to get more left of him on the upwind so when the wind went left I was able to get in ahead of him and behind Brian.

The 4th race started in good wind and was only 1/2 the distance as the previous 3 races.  With the shorter upwind 1st leg I wasn’t able to use my speed to get ahead of the pack and rounded in 3rd with a lot of boats right behind me.  I went right downwind while the boats that went left made out and I was 6 or 7th at the bottom mark.  Heading up to the finish I closed it up and made a couple nice tacks right at the end to beat out 2 boats by mere feet to take 4th.

The 5th race started in some wind, but a few minutes later the wind had died.  I had a terrible start, went to the wrong side of the course and spent a lot of time trying to make up ground – which was hard to do in ~3 knots of breeze.  The RC shortened course at the bottom mark and i settled for a 7th

Day 1 results are here.  I’m 14 points behind Ryan Schmitz who has put up straight bullets.  I’m 3 points ahead of Brian Raney in 3rd and 9 points ahead of Matt Doherty in 4th. All in all it was a fun day and I’m looking forward to racing tomorrow.

Sunday

We started with a 1 hour postponement on shore before the wind finally filled in for us to sail. From there we sailed 3 more races in 7-11 knots in very choppy conditions. I had some crummy starts and great speed upwind, but wasn’t always picking the shifts right.  In all 3 races I was back in the lead pack usually with a few boats ahead of me.  The racing was close and so were the points. There were about 5 of us going at it with any of us having a shot at 2nd place. In the end I lost the tiebreaker on the last race to Lindsay Hewett who sailed some great races today.

I had hoped for a little more boring of a ride home, but unfortunately just ahead of me on the Goethals bridge a car caught fire.  I was trapped in traffic on the bridge for an hour and thus hit even more night construction on the ride back.

All in all it was another fun trip to Sayville.  I enjoyed the racing and want to thank Ted Cremer and everyone else at Sayville Yacht Club for putting on a great regatta.

Results | Photos | Video

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A bit long overdue… the website has been updated to a little neater cleaner design.  Nothing fancy, but gets the job done a little better than the old design and will render a bit better on mobile devices.

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With two of the board members from the International Laser Class Association – North American Region moving up to positions at the international level I’ve been named as the interim Secretary of ILCA-NA.  I’m excited about the new role and to work with the board and the perspective I can bring with my web savvy and experience as a local sailor and organizer.

I’ve had a lot of fun being the District 11 Secretary for the past 6 years.  I’ve gotten to know so many great sailors around the District and I’ve gotten to help promote Laser sailing in the area. Whether or not I stay on this fall as the ILCA-NA Secretary or move to club leadership positions I think it is a good time to find a new leader for District 11. We’ll take care of that at our annual meeting at the District Championship in September.  In the years to come I still plan on sailing many of the same events I’ve been sailing for years as well as running the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at FBYC. I’m looking forward to a fun and busy summer!

Read the announcement here.

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Friday

Arriving at Surf City Yacht Club

This afternoon I made the trip to Surf City New Jersey to sail the 41st Orange Coffee Pot Regatta.  This is the oldest Laser regatta and has been on my list to do for some time.  This year the event is also the US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination.  Looks like we’ve got a great forecast for wind tomorrow and up to 7 races planned.  The competition ranges from reigning North American Champion to first-time Laser regatta with a ~35 boat fleet expected.  Should be fun racing tomorrow and thanks to Newt Wattis and his wife for putting me up for the night.

Saturday

Orange Coffee Pot Regatta Group Photo

Surf City Yacht Club’s 41st Orange Coffee Pot Regatta turned out to be a great day of sailing.  We had wind that built from about 10 to the mid- to high teens by the last race.  We had a very competitive fleet of 31 boats ranging from pretty elite sailors to those sailing their first Laser regatta.  And we got off 7 races.  Clay Johnson ultimately won the event taking bullets in all but one race.  Granted, he didn’t exactly run away with it, Kyle Rogachenko and Peter Shope definitely gave him a run for it.

Rounding the top mark with the lead pack.

My own racing was a little ho-hum and I found myself getting bad starts and on the wrong side of the course more times than I care to remember.  I had the speed to stay with the lead pack and in one race I had a stellar start and sailed my way to an 8th.  All in all it was fun to make the trip and to sail in the oldest Laser regatta.  Thanks to Newt Wattis and Surf City Yacht Club for hosting the event and everything they did to put it together.

Results | Photos | Video

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On Friday the Annual Down The Bay Race starts in Annapolis, Maryland and races to Hampton, Virginia.  I’ll be aboard Glenn Doncaster’s Sabre 42.6 Nanuq from Fishing Bay Yacht Club.

Here’s the breakdown of the 39 boats that will be taking part. 

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Here is the crew aboard Nanuq as we started the Down The Bay Race this morning. PHRF had a bit of a crowded start with some boats wanting to be in other boats space. The wind started out pretty light but we did get a couple hours of good wind as we passed Thomas Point light house. Later this afternoon the wind has died to under 4 and we are currently off Sharky’s Point lighthouse using all of the current we can find to get south.

This was shot over two days with the Nikon D7000, 3 GoPro Hero2, an iPhone 4s and a Canon SD-1400.

 PICTURES | VIDEO

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Friday

I arrived in Marblehead Massachusetts for the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Eastern Yacht Club.  The wind was a bit light so I only took a short practice sail.  Expecting close to 100 boats tomorrow.

Marblehead Harbor

Saturday

First day of racing for 83 boats at  the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead MA.  The wind was light and patchy for 3 races for the 44-boat Standard rig fleet.

In the first race I got a good start and worked my way up to the right.  At the top mark I was about 8th and stayed there for the reach.  On the downwind I went way right and I was the 4th or 5th boat through the gate.  Upwind I lost a few more boats and ended up 15th.

The second race started in very little wind and I got a terrible start and just fell behind everyone.  Up the first beat it got even lighter and we continued racing in 3 knots.  I was near the end of the pack until the last upwind where I was able to claw back a few boats to finish 32.

The wind shifted about 40 degrees and picked up a tad for the 3rd race which we started around 4:30pm.  I had an ok race and pretty much hung mid-fleet the entire way around the course.  We finally got back to shore at 6pm having been on the water since 10:30am.

I’m tied for 22nd which puts me just into the top half of the fleet.  We’re expecting another light day tomorrow.

Today was also an experiment with having the phone with me.  I’ve got a waterproof case for it which is tied into my lifejacket.  Between races I was able to take a few pictures and post tweets.  I’ve been posting updates for the ILCA-NA on twitter:@LaserACC.  The case makes it too cumbersome to do anything else other than tweet and take pictures.

Sunday

Sunday was another light day and we were on the water a long while for just 2 races.  At mid-day we got a bit of breeze and got one race in while the wind waned.  I had a pretty terrible start and was just never able to get far in moving up.

With just minutes remaining before the time limit we started another race.  Determined not to have another bad start, I worked my way up 1/3 of the way from the boat and took advantage of the line sag to get a front line start and quickly punched out.  I worked my way out to the right lay line and rounded the top mark in 4th.  I lost a boat each on the next two legs.  As I rounded the mark to the final downwind leg I lost the main sheet from the blocks and ended up sailing a crippled, jury rigged boat the rest of the way around the course to salvage a 10th.

15-32-21-36-10 finishes put me in 22nd overall which kept me in the top half of the fleet.  Eastern Yacht Club was beautiful as was Marblehead.  Having heard about Marblehead from Sonar and Flying Scot sailors from my club for such a long time- I’m glad I made the trip.

RESULTS | PICTURES

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Jon on Laser in front of Wolf Trap Light House

The conditions were perfect on Sunday for a nice long sail to Wolf Trap light house – 27 nautical miles round trip.  At the beginning the wind was out of the SSW at 10-15 which meant after one tack in Fishing Bay by the marinas I was able to lay Wolf Trap 2 hours and 40 minutes later on starboard tack.  As I approached the light house the wind dropped to 5-8 and moved to due South.  On the run home it kicked back up to 10-15.  Total trip time 5 hours 45 minutes.

Sailing to Wolf Trap route
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Thursday

Double Eagle got just enough breeze to get out and practice with 3 other J109s ahead of the 2012 Annapolis NOOD Regatta. Friday is the first day of racing in a boat of 12 boats.

Practice Day on Double Ealge

Friday

Not much racing on the first day of the Annapolis NOOD regatta.  The J109 fleet went went out to the course in fog and sat around postponed.  The fog lifted when a thunderstorm came through just south of the racing area.  There was a little wind after the storm and we got to do some sailing, but the race committee never had steady enough wind to set a course and blew off the day by 3:30.

Rain on Day 1

We did get a little video from the top of the mast:

Double Eagle from the top of the mast

Stopped by the party and caught up with some of the other Fishing Bay Yacht Club members at the regatta this weekend.

FBYC Sailors at the Annapolis NOOD Regatta

PICTURES | VIDEO

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