So Long No Quarter J/70
At the end of June I said goodbye to the J/70. It had been a ton of fun and I’m sorry I didn’t get to sail it more, but with school and all of the other commitments I have coming up it was best to downsize my fleet.
Category: J/70 Sailing
J/70 sailing and racing
2016 FBYC Offshore Fall Series #2
Today started out as a pretty light-air day and the wind quickly built for the 2nd race of the FBYC Offshore Fall Series #2. We sailed with just 3 of us – Andrew, Nathan and myself and we sailed a good first race, picking the correct side and finishing 1st in the 4-boat fleet.
As the 2nd race started the wind piped up closer to 20 and two of the teams dropped out and we knew at that point we just needed to finish the race to win the day. Unfortunately for us we were late at the start having been doing some rig tuning and not being closer enough to the line. Hotty Toddy had a 10-boat lead at the start, but by the time we got a mile upwind we had caught up and were neck and neck. We pulled away for another 1st.
2016 FBYC Offshore Fall Series #1
Back racing the J/70 after nearly 2 months we had nice wind and clear skies for the FBYC Offshore Fall Series 1. We had out Louise, Andrew and Patrick and it was Patrick’s first time on the J/70. In the starting sequence Louise had a minor family emergency so we transferred her to the Mr. Roberts and had to sail 3 up. Having practiced 4-up and with no time until the start, we winged it and did our best with only 3 of us.
We weren’t able to quite keep up with E.L.E. but we did well nonetheless and were able to finish 2nd. In between races Louise was back and joined us for the 2nd race of the day. In this race all 4 J/70 were a lot closer and we got behind early on the wrong side of the course upwind. We came back downwind, but weren’t able to get back ahead of Spice to finish 3rd. All in all a fun day back in the boat. Thanks Louise, Andrew and Patrick for sailing!
2016 Leukemia Cup Regatta
For the 2nd year in a row I’ve sail the J/70 in the Southern Chesapeake Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta. We had mostly sunny skies and winds in the 8-12 range with 7 J/70s on the course. Early in the day we really had a groove going and were able to make good boat speed putting up 2-2 in the first two races. A 4th in the 3rd race put us in 2nd overall just one point out of first going into day 2.
Sunday started out with a close race where we finished 3rd. The wind got lighter and we struggled putting up a 6th to hang onto 3rd overall. Thanks Carrie, Brad & Louis for a great weekend of sailing!
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2016 FBYC J/70 Friday Night Series – July 1
Tonight was the first night of sailing the J/70 Friday nights. My Dad came down earlier in the day and we were able to go for a sail in between some storms.
2016 Southern Bay Race Week: Sunday
Sunday ended up being the day for wind. It started out light as we were heading to the course, but as we were arriving it piped right up. We quickly re-tuned the rig for the windier conditions sailing all the way across and up the river near the naval base.
Dave, pictured above, was our secret weapon. As a local Harbor pilot he quickly identified a current line up the right side of the course upwind. On the other side of the current line we had almost 2+ knots of favorable current. At one point we were 50 yards from another j70 going slower on the other side of the current line and they couldn’t figure out why they were so much slower going so far as to check they weren’t dragging something. We made good gains out there before the rest of the fleet started to figure it out.
Downwind in the breeze we played it conservative with the spinnaker keeping the boat under us and getting around the course cleanly.
A second place finish in the 2nd and final race of the regatta gave us 3rd place for the day, but left us in 5th for the regatta.
2016 Southern Bay Race Week: Saturday
Racing Saturday at Southern Bay Race Week started light and we were at the inshore course close to Hampton. We got out there and there was a whiff of a breeze and so they started us, but by the time we reached the weather mark, the wind had died and the current was running and nobody could get around it.
An hour or so later the wind filled nicely allowing for 4 more races. We dropped a spot overall, but closed the points gap with 3rd place.
2016 Southern Bay Race Week: Friday
After arriving yesterday and setting the boat up, we were all set for what would be a very light day for racing on Friday.
The wind eventually filled and we got in 5 races and found ourselves 4th out of 7.
J70 Trailer Dock Box Ventilation
I had seen this idea when I sailed the J/70 Winter Series last year and finally had a chance to add it. In short I cut a hole in the aft end of both dock boxes on the trailer and added a screen with a vent cover over it. This allows a little more air flow into the dock box in case any wetness ends up in there. The vents are on the back of the trailer so no rainwater gets in when trailering in wet conditions.
Parts:
- Louvered Vent
- Piece of screen
- 5200
- Nuts/washers/bolts
Tools
- 2″ hole cutter
Photos:
2016 FBYC J/70 Spring Regatta
Sunday was the Fishing Bay Yacht Club J/70 Spring Regatta with 6 boats racing in 14-16 gusting to 20 out of the West. With Andrew, Evan and Mark on board we had a great crew and were really able to get the boat around the course well in the higher winds. We even kicked it up a gear planning downwind when we could.
We sailed 5 races with some pretty tight finishes with the other boats. In 3 of the races we finished a boat length or less behind someone. The shifty and puffy conditions made it both challenging to stay in phase and hard to keep changing modes to keep the boat going fast.
We finished a consistent 1-3-3-2-2 including having to restart on the final racing having been OCS. Another great day.
The series concludes next Sunday at Spring Series #4.