Category: ILCA Sailing

ILCA Sailing and Racing. (Prior to 2021 known as Laser Sailing and Racing)

Saturday

Day 1 at the Virginia Governor’s Cup Regatta at Ware River Yacht Club.  We had 10 boats out and started the day in 6-8.  In the first two races I had good starts, picked the shifts right and led both races.  In the final leg of the 2nd race the sea breeze came in at 13-15 knots and we did two more races in that wind.  As I was out there hiking my butt off I realized I hadn’t sailed a single event this year in wind.  I just didn’t have the muscles for it and my results showed.  This was the wind for Henry Amthor and he put up two bullets in the final two races to take the overall lead today.  I made a bad decision to put in an extra tack in the final leg of the 3rd race and dropped to 3rd.  I managed a 2nd in the final race.  With 1-1-3-2 I’m just one point behind Henry in 2nd place and we’ll be sailing day two tomorrow.

Sunday

On Sunday at the Ware River Yacht Club Virginia Governor’s Cup Regatta we had a nice breeze and 3 more races.  The way the wind funneled into the club from this particular direction you would have thought there was far more wind than there was.  At least one fleet scratched out for the day and a few sailors in the other fleets sat it out as well.

Out on the water it was a perfect 12-16 knots all day out of the WSW with a light chop.  Our first two races went pretty well and I put up a 3-2.  Going into the final race the top 3 boats were all separated by just 3 points meaning whoever won the race won the regatta.  Henry and I were both over early and had to go back.  After restarting I worked my way out to the right while Henry went to the left with the other boat who had won the first two races today.  I made the right work and had a pretty comfortable lead at the first mark.  From there I extended on the long close reaches to the wing mark and back and on the final upwind I covered and stayed in front to win the race and the regatta.

Ware River Yacht Club always puts on a good event and it was nice seeing them bring the junior Lasers over to our course.  It was fun starting in 10 boats and we had some pretty close competition.  All in all a good regatta and a good tune up for FBYC’s Annual One Design Regatta next weekend.

2012 Ware River Governor's Cup 1st Laser
By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Friday

I arrived in Muskegon Michigan and got some practice in ahead of the Laser District 19 Championship this weekend.  Dick Tillman was conducting a clinic with some of the sailors and I jumped in and did their practice races with them.

Saturday

Today we raced with 16 Standard rigs and 9 radials at Muskegon Yacht Club which is a lake-like bay connected to Lake Michigan.  The wind started out around 6-8 and we did some short windward-lewards with a mid-course line.  In the lighter winds in the first 3 races it was all about winning the starting and getting the shifts right.  Everyone was getting to the windward mark at the same time which made for some interesting mark roundings.  Later as the wind increased to 10ish the fleet spread out a little more on the first beat.

I finished 6-11-3-5-8 and am tied with 2 other sailors for 4th.  More racing tomorrow!

After racing we went down to the beach at Muskegon State Park and got this photo of the sun setting behind the light-house:

Muskegon Light House Sunset

Sunday

On Sunday a small weather system came through the area in the morning and pretty much sucked out all the wind.  The RC initially postponed us.  We had a whiff of air and they tried to send us out, but that went away before even all of the boats had launched and they abandoned it all and called it a regatta.

Final results and photos.

I got on the road shortly after 1 and arrived back in Richmond just before 2am.  Easiest 800 mile drive I had ever done with almost no traffic and almost no construction.

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing, Video 1 Comment Tagged with , , , , ,

Thursday

I’ve arrived in Toronto ready to sail the Laser Canadian Nationals tomorrow.  Here’s a shot of the car/boat in front of the CN Tower downtown as I arrived at Etobicoke Yacht Club.

Friday

6/22 going downwind.

It was a light air day in Toronto for the first day at the Laser Canadian Championship.  We sailed 4 races with the last one finishing just as the wind died.  There’s a lot of good sailors here so the racing is very close and nobody will give an inch all the way around the course.  I had some ups and downs and am sitting some where in the middle of the fleet.

6/22 rounding the first windward mark.
6/22 Toronto skyline

Saturday

DCIM\100GOPRO

Being late paid off a little bit this morning, I was going to be one of the last to launch when we saw that the RC was sending boats back in due to no wind, so I left the boat parked and hung around for the 40 minute postponement on shore.  When the wind filled we had a nice 8-10 knots out of the south.  On the way to the course my watch died, which would make starts today interesting.  Needless to say it didn’t help.  In the end it was another nice day on the water.

DCIM\100GOPRO

Sunday

The prospect for wind today wasn’t very great. The RC initially postponed us for about an hour and a half before bringing AP down with the intent on towing everyone out in hopes of getting in a race or two before some showers moved in. Some of the locals weren’t too optimistic about it and with a 13-hour drive ahead of me I decided to get on the road. I packed and left just after 11am and found out later that racing was abandoned without actually sailing a race. 

So I spent the day driving to Lake Carlyle in Illinois where I will be crewing on Len Guenther’s Flying Scot Wind Dancer (5055) in the Flying Scot North American Championship this week. 

20120624-215001.jpg
By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

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

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing, Video 1 Comment Tagged with , , , , , ,

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

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing 1 Comment Tagged with , , , , , ,

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

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

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
By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Laser Frostbite Regatta was the last sailing event of the year for the club and the last sailing event of the year for me as well.  We had nice winds about 5-8 out of the north east.  It was cool, but sunny and comfortable with a full set of layers on.  Having not sailed the Laser in 6 weeks I was pretty inconsistent on the water today.  Won 3 races, but wound up 3rd after some deep finishes were factored in.  Kudos to Ron Thompson and Michael Moore who both put up top 3 finishes in every race to finish first and second.  It was a great day of racing and it was nice having the Hampton Roads sailors come join us.

Results are here.

With that event my sailing for 2011 is complete.  I finished the year having sailed 54 days.  Up 5 days from last year.

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

The racing at the Crab Claw Regatta at Severn Sailing Association was marred only by a lack of wind this weekend.  On Saturday we had just enough wind to get out to the course and sail 1 shortened race.  On Sunday we ‘sailed’ out to the course in almost no wind and after waiting around for 2 hours we abandoned having not sailed a race.

In the one race we did sail, I got a good start on the favored port end and headed out to the left with the leaders.  I came right a little too early and was 9th around the top mark.  Downwind I picked up a couple boats and then the wind went right for the shortened course upwind to the finish and I was able to pick off one more boat to finish in 6th.

Even thought the sailing wasn’t so great, the weekend was still a fun time hanging out with the Laser sailors and catching up Saturday night with Lud and Blake who were delivering Impulse from Newport to Deltaville.

Still Annapolis Harbor Sunday morning
Still Annapolis Harbor Sunday morning

 RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Fall Regatta StartThe weather for Sunday at Fishing Bay Yacht Club started out a little questionable.  The wind was blowing 20-25 out of the North at the buoy at the point.  There were 5 of us there to sail and we all decided to take radials out.  We raced inside Fishing Bay in winds in the teens and the Radial sails made for good close racing without any of us being over powered and having to fight the boat.

Ron Thompson and I traded for the lead throughout the races today.  Richard Biggs was not far behind pouncing on any mistakes we made.  With shifty winds in Fishing Bay there were plenty of passing lanes by picking the right shifts both upwind and down.

After 5 races in about 2 hours with off-and-on rain we called it day and retired to the clubhouse for chilli.  All-in-all it was a fun day of sailing and I had to work hard to finish 1-1-2-1-1.  I’m glad this weekend went how it did and I’m even more ready to head up to SSA next weekend for the Crab Claw regatta.

Results | Pictures

*Photo by Lud Kimbrough

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,