Author: Jon

Sunday was the Salsa Bowl Regatta and I borrowed a Front Runner from Mike Karn to take out and race.  My crew was friend of a friend Bri Paxton, a recent William & Mary graduate who was on the sailing team there.  Being my first time on a Front Runner since spring of 2010 and Bri’s first time sailing an asymmetrical spinnaker, we were a bit boat-challeneged for  first couple races.

Sailing upwind in a Front Runner

By the second two races we had most things running smoothly and were able to sail well upwind and hang with the fleet on the downwinds.  We ended up 4th in a fleet of 5 in 4 races.  It was a ton of fun and thanks Bri for coming and crewing!

Jon and Bri on the Front Runner

More on-board photos from the day of sailing on the Front Runner can be seen here.

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This weekend started with Saturday’s Laser Spring Regatta.  We had 11 Lasers and Radials out at FBYC for the first day of club racing this year.  The wind was light – in the 4-8 knot range.  I continued to have good upwind speed, but terrible downwind speed.  We got in 6 races and I finished 2nd.

Laser Spring Regatta Podium winners

Check out more photos from the awards and the rest of the weekend here.

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Tim Zimmerman is a writer for Sailing World and was a competitor at the 2011 Laser District 11 Championship we hosted a few weeks ago at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and he’s written a nice blog article about his experience at the regatta:

Don’t get me wrong. The regatta itself, the District 11 Laser Championships, was not terrible. In fact, it was fantastic. Hosted by the smoothly-run, beautifully-situated, Fishing Bay Yacht Club down in Deltaville, Va., on the southern Chesapeake Bay, the regatta was blessed with excellent winds, a great crowd of sailors, and a Laser-loving chef, Alain Vincey, who cooked up a spectacular Saturday-evening dinner. Even the camping was nice.

Read the rest of the article on Sailing World’s blog.

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Winning the pin at one of the starts just a few seconds before the gun.  More photos by Paul MacMenamin.

On Sunday for the second day of the Laser District 8 Championship Regatta we had 12-15 knots out of the east.  We sailed three 2-lap windward-lewards just off the beach in front of the club.  I stayed with the leaders and usually made the left side of the course work upwind.  I had good upwind speed, but usually lost a spot or two on the downwind legs.  I finished 3-4-5 on the day, good enough to hold onto 3rd place overall. (results)

2011 District 8 Championship Awards

The trip home went well considering I drained my EZPass account on the way up and had to stop at every toll booth on the way back.  When I got into Richmond the warning lights on the dash started coming on and as I pulled into my driveway the car stalled.  I’m glad to have made it home.

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Laser in front of Sayville Yacht Club

The forecast for today started out looking pretty dismal.  5 knots out of the North West at 11am building to all of 8 by the middle of the afternoon and then dying.  We sailed out to the course in almost nothing.  The committee set the line and right at the time we should have started the first race the wind started swinging around to the South.  A 15-minute postponement later we had a 15-20 knot sea breeze.

My day consisted of some solid sailing with some moments of brilliance and stupidity thrown in to keep it interesting.  I was able to stay with or in the lead pack in most of the races and I was pretty happy being competitive in the 15-18 knot range whereas I traditionally haven’t been able to keep up in that.

Race 4 Start

All in all it was good racing and a fun but grueling day on the water with 5 races.  I finished 2-7-4-3-5 putting me into 3rd overall in the 14-boat fleet.  After racing we relaxed on the deck of Sayville Yacht Club, ate burgers, met some new people and listened to some live music.  I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

The regatta continues tomorrow with 3 more races planned.  I’m really hoping for just a couple knots less of wind so I can show my speed and stay up front.  Fingers crossed.

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Today was my driving day to get to the District 8 Championship at Sayville Yacht Club in Long Island.  I left Richmond at 4:30 in t he morning and arrived at the club around 2:30 in the afternoon.  I lost track of how many wrong turns I made.  It took over two hours to cover 40 miles transiting New York City.

George Washington Bridge

Sayville Yacht Club is located about halfway out Long Island on the south bay near Patchogue Bay.  The forecast for tomorrow is for it to be a little on the lighter side – under 10 knots.  Sunday we should have a little more wind with the south west sea breeze blowing through.

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Saturday I sailed on Wavelength in FBYC’s Race to Urbanna.  I’ve been a member at FBYC for over 14 years and this is the first time I’ve done the Race to Urbanna.  The fleet of about 22 boats started near the entrance to Jackson Creek and sailed out into the bay while rounding Stingray point and then sailed up the river to Urbanna.  We had a good race that was mostly a reach and managed to finish (results) a little over a minute corrected time over our only competition.

The party was fun.  Rosegill was beautiful and I had a great time.  Here’s a few photos:

Racing under the Rappahannock River Bridge

Panoramic of Rosegill

Rosegill barn just after sunset

More photos from the racing and party can be seen here.

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Last Sunday for the Offshore Spring Series #4 at FBYC I sailed aboard Wavelength and brought along Lauren and Patrick for the ride.  We mounted the GoPro camera to the spreaders and here’s a couple of photos from that.  I’ll put together a video in a few weeks.

2011 Offshore Spring Series #4 Spreadercam 1
2011 Offshore Spring Series #4 Spreadercam 2
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